Wrap up well, grab your boots, this remote place is closer than you have ever thought. Iceland's way to the European Union seems to be paved so it's time to get and see what's happening there before adventure trip addicted herds notice the news... and right before stupid EU rules and the spirit of Catherine Ashton leaves any kind of trace there.

Let's get straight to the point: looks like I'm going to Iceland this summer. It's not for some action sport experience nor for sightseeing, I just plan to spend some time breathing boreal air, touching volcanic sand, listening to the birds, eating with and talking to people.

I was like 14 years old when I first read about Alþingi (Althing), the national parliament of Iceland. I found irresistibly mysterious the fact that this parliament was founded in 930, whilst parliamentarism's role model England's one got to a similar constitution some 300 years later. Also, Hungarians are apt to spiritually and emotionally connect themselves to smaller, often ill-fated nations with a somehow weird historical background. For example, Icelanders' names have something in common with Hungarian surnames of the ancient ages. Their given names are followed by their father's given name plus an 's' plus either son (if it's a boy) or dóttir (if it's a girl). Well, in old times, before Saint Stephen I, the first King of Hungary integrated our country into the Christian community of Europe the father's names served as distinctive nomen added before the given name, in some cases just as it was or followed by a -fi, later often transformed into -fy (son/daughter of) affix (other version of generating surnames was using the denomination of the genus, say wider family). This patronymic tradition can still be captured on fixed hungarian patronymic surnames like Jakabffy, and it supposedly had special significance as massive groups like of the Armenians who settled down in Transylvania opted for taking this type of Hungarian surnames.

Back to the subject: if there is a (remote) place on Earth an earnest natural environment engineer should visit it's Iceland indeed. Plenty of flawless little farms, well-organized, well-financed, well-maintained natural parks and preservation projects. So I'm not reluctant to pack my sack and change my CO2 share saved during my "flightless" years for a plane ticket.

I'll take my Lomo and bring plant samples (non-protected plants of course).

By then, Icelandic athmosphere from Jónsi.   

Photos: John Freeman, Teone/Flickr, Ronan McLaughlin, Dave Walsh, Life Magazine, Arnar Voldimarsson, E.J.Peiker, Flip, Dustin Warrington.

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