Raving Ravens

A little trip to Iceland - The winners' video

Remember the SAD cars competition we were running in June where you could win a trip for two to Iceland with a tent, a rental car and some excursions? Well, the winners were two sisters from Belarus who had a lively video and loads of likes. 

This August they travelled around Iceland for two weeks covering just about every corner of the island. They had a lot of fun exploring the oddities of Iceland, dance around the hot geothermal springs, jumping, running and singing. They even went snorkling between the continents, cave exploring, river jetting and whale watching. Not a bad little trip - and all free thanks to SAD cars :)

Here is their fun video from their great little trip to Iceland:

 

 

Wanna go? It can't fail. No matter what goes wrong, as long as you get home in one piece it's always an adventure :)

Hjörtur

Russell Crowe and Patti Smith's surprise concert in Reykjavik

As I told you last Monday Russell Crowe spent the summer here in Iceland shooting not only a new movie, but also a music video with Alan Doyle. In August there was a festival in Iceland called Reykjavik culture night and the day before Russell tweeted about his desire to perform at the festival. 

Before the day was over he had booked three gigs in Reykjavik during the festival. In two of them he brought a surprise guest - Patti Smith. Here is a recording from one of the attendants to one of the concerts:

 

Hjörtur

Caught in the storm - farmers amazing rescue work in Iceland

Two weeks ago, a fierce snow storm hit Iceland unexpectedly. At this time of the year we occasionally get the first snow, specially up in the mountains. The storm that hit Iceland Monday two weeks ago was a full blown winter storm with heavy snow fall in the North of the country. As the gatherings of sheep had not yet started tens of thousands of sheep got cought in the storm and thousands got killed. In the following days farmers and rescue squads where in the mountains searching for life sheep.

The sheep is well dressed in their warm wool and can withstand some really bad weather. If the get frozen stuck under a thick layer of snow they don't stand much chance though. Here are some amazing images from the rescue work:

 

 

A snowmobile transporting sheep and rescuers through the storm. Photo: Erna Erlingsdóttir

The snow was a few meters deep in some places. Photo Erna Erlingdsóttir.

Dogs and avalanche poles where used to search for the sheep in the snow. Here is one freed after 6 days and still able to run! Photo: Erna Erlingsdóttir

We have a live one! Photo: Erna Erlingsdóttir

Three sheep. One life, two dead. Photo: Erna Erlingsdóttir

Refueling. Photo: Erna Erlingsdóttir

People, dogs and vehicles were pushed to the extreme. Photo: Erna Erlingsdóttir

The sheep had seeked shelter under this rock. 22 found, 15 dead, 7 alive. Photo: Erna Erlingsdóttir

A river of sheep that have been rescued from the storm. Photo: Gísli Haraldsson

They are still finding life ones, after two weeks, though most found now are dead. Farmers and rescue workers have done an amazing jobs there.

Hjörtur

Testify - Alan Doyle and Russell Crowe's new music video from Iceland

Russell Crowe spent the summer in Iceland shooting a new movie called Noah. After seeing the great landscape Russell got his friend Alan Doyle over to shoot a music video to the song Testify. And it looks good :)

Enjoy:

 

Greenland - A Thousand Shades of White

6 students from the UK and the Netherlands went to Ilulissat fjord in Greenland and wandered off into the white wilderness to study the ice and the climate change. Those students became climate change ambassadors. 

This video is a collection of images from their travels in various location in Greenland: 

 

You can read more about their project here: 

Climate Change College

Hjörtur

Reykjavik Tourist Video from 1926!

Visit Reykjavik just dug up this old film somewhere on the net which was shot by tourists in Reykjavik in 1926. It shows what the capital looked like and though it's been 86 years, most of these houses are still there, we still have the same three men as the entire police force and some of those kids do look familiar. Maybe I know their great grand children... Heck, maybe I am their great grand child ;)

 

In the beginning of the film you can see as they sail ashore. Make notice that this is at midnight! The big building there is now Radisson Blu 1919 though it is a bit further from the harbour today, as a landfill was created some decades back. You sometimes see crowds gathering in the spot where the crowd is starting at 0:39, but nowadays they're in line waiting for a hot dog at Bæjarins Bestu.

Most of the shots are taken at the corner of Austurstræti and Pósthússtræti standing outside Landsbankinn, which still stands and is still the same bank. Well, same name at least ;) The church is the Domkirkjan (cathedral) by Austurvollur. 

If you're an Icelander watching this, show it to the eldest in your family and see if you can recognize some of the faces :)

Do you see anything you recognize from your visits to Reykjavik?

Hjörtur

Monster caught on video in an Icelandic lagoon

This video of what looks like a monster worm was made at Lagarfljót, where legends say a giant worm or a monster of some sort lives. I've never seen it myself, but I remember when I was in school for a few weeks in Hallormstadarskogur, a forrest village by the lagoon, I used to stare out to the lagoon in the hope I'd see the worm monster. 

A few years back I took my kids sailing there and we visited the captain in the bridge. We watched the monitors to see if there was anything unusual and at one moment, there was something on the screen that was very much out of the ordinary, a little bit like a monster. It never surfaced though so we couldn't tell for sure if it was the monster or not.

This week someone finally managed to get a video of the alleged monster. You can view the video here:

 

The video is no fake, however it is debated what it is we see there. Looks a lot like a giant worm!

What do you think? Could it be the worm monster?

Hjörtur

 

ps. I've been nominated for the ShortyAwards for travel, so if you like my posts, my tweets and my pics, your support would be higly appreciated: ShortyAwards - Hjörtur

The Death Rail - Urban Skiing in Iceland

Yep, I said Urban Skiing!  That is skiing in urban settings, as you'd maybe already guessed. Two chaps, Nick Martini and Rory Bushfield visited Iceland and with a full size payloader accompanying them they could create the most awesome tracks for urban skiing in Akureyri, the capital of Northern Iceland. 

Starting in a school where they said they found some excellent rails (or maybe just some excellent looking audience... ) they got bolder as it kept snowing, finally going for the 35 feet drop!

Check out their cool video:

 

Hjörtur

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Underwater Christmas Party - at the bottom of Silfra, Iceland.

The Sportdiving Club of Iceland had it's Christmas party last Saturday. This sportdiving club takes sportdiving very seriously so when they throw a party, it is of course underwater. The Christmas party is no different. 

With a fully decorated and lid Christmas tree they had their party in Silfra in Thingvellir, Iceland. Silfra is one of Iceland's most popular diving spots with one of the world's clearest water you can dive in. You can check out the video :)

 

All the sound is recorded on location but the Christmas songs are played with underwater speakers. This is how scuba divers celebrate Christmas in Iceland :)

Hjörtur

ps. Make sure you follow Raving Ravens on Facebook!

pps. The tree is actually for sale at Jólatrjáasala FBSR in Reykjavik!

Made in Iceland - A young girl exploring the wilderness of Iceland

Klara Harden has posted a fascinating video on Vimeo where she gives us a glimpse in her wanderings around the wilderness of Iceland. Hiking on her own in the magnificent Icelandic landscape she documents it with her video camera, both the good moments and the bad. 

 

It's worth watching till the end! Thank you Klara for sharing your adventure in Iceland with us.

Hjörtur

You can see more from Klara on Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo.