[holidays] three months on a volcanic plain

Quite frankly, I loved Iceland when I was there and that's why I blog about it so much. It is so quaint and the construction of some of the Iceland Review articles is so sweet you could eat them. This one is by an American but about something I always wondered - those summer shacks out in the middle of lava fields with people sitting on the verandah.

Do they sit there for months? Now I know. Zoe explains:

I’m currently staying in the countryside at a summer house in Flúdir, south Iceland. The small wooden house is set on a hillside dotted with dozens of similar looking cottages. On a clear day Iceland’s second largest glacier, Langjökull, can be seen in the distance but today fluffy white clouds punctuate the sky, dominating the view.

It took my friend and I about an hour and a half to make the drive here but the deafening silence (bar the sound of the golden plover or lóa) of the countryside gives the impression that we could be in the middle of nowhere.

The barbeque is being fired up and the potatoes are ready for roasting. The afternoon sun is blaring down and the humidity more characteristic of the tropics than the Arctic Circle. The temperature in the hotpot is approaching 39ºC.

The popularity of summer houses in Iceland is phenomenal. It seems that every man and his dog own one or are in the process of having one built. And those who don’t have one can easily rent one from their labor union.

The unions in Iceland own summer houses all around the country. Each year, members can apply to rent a summer house for a reduced price for a few days or a week. My friend and I are currently visiting some friends who have rented a place for the week. It cost 50,000 ISK (USD 840, EUR 600) for the week and sleeps 12 (13 if you include the couch) – a bargain in this notoriously expensive country.

Icelandic summer houses are made from wood and, unlike in other Nordic countries where they are painted a bright color such as red, blue or yellow, they are usually left unpainted. Those that are painted are done so in a more subtle color such as brown or dark green.

Union-owned summer houses are usually fully equipped with all the modern day comforts one desires, but probably doesn’t really need, while on holiday, such as a flat screen television and an outdoor hot pot. The summer house I’m staying at now is only a few months old, and as such, somewhat resembles an IKEA showroom full of brand new matching home accessories.

There’s not a lot to do here but sit back and relax. But at least you know you’ve found the right place to do that when the silence makes even Reykjavík feel like a big city.

That last remark is right. Can you imagine sitting on a verandah and all there are are similar houses two hundred metres away? What would you do? Wave to your neighbours? Then home to Reykyavik [below]?