To Eyjafjallajökull, please!

Iceland, one of the most volcanically active landscapes on Earth is an inspiring mix of natural wonders, including breathtaking glaciers, bubbling hot springs and rugged fjords. Apart from Reykjavík, the tiny capital of Iceland, only few other pocketsize villages, remote farms and hamlets are scattered along the coast. All of them have (at least) one thing in common: their names are hardly pronounceable… We represent here a brief introduction into understanding the names of places and sightseeing spots in Iceland.

Let’s start with the capital, Reykjavík, which means “smoky bay”. The legend has it that the capital was founded by Norse settler Ingólfur Arnarson, who decided to throw the pillars into the sea and settle wherever the pillars would wash up. And when he saw the smoke rising from the geothermic area beyond the shore, he named the town smoky bay (the ending Vík means Bay). When you visit the capital, you’ll surely come across Hallgrímskirkja, the biggest church in Iceland, which was named after the revered poet and minister Hallgrímur Pétursson. But let’s move further, to the names of the places. Akureyri originally most likely meant a fertile ground – the area was very fertile back then and also the weather was favourable. Laugarvatn means hot spring lake – and rightfully so, there are many hot springs by the lake. But as funny as it might seem, there is another meaning behind the word Laugar and it describes the place where you wash clothes. A similar name is Laugavegur, the name of the most famous shopping street in the capital – and it is assumed that people really washed their clothes here back in the good old days…

If you have managed to read the article until the very end, you deserve a reward: we reveal what the word in the title of the article means: Eyjafjallajökull is a compound word which means island mountain glacier! Now book the tour with us and off we go!