As promised, in the midst of the heat and humidity which characterize early August in Central Kentucky, we bring you Part 2 of our Icelandic double-feature. This week’s edition highlights the work of Jeroen Schrage, a professional videographer based in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. We are delighted to bring you Mr. Schrage’s take on Iceland’s dramatically unique landscape as is beautifully depicted in his recently released film entitled, Beyond the Lighthouse. The film “opens with a shot of an iconic looking lighthouse perched atop a giant cliff. From there you’ll see one of the country’s famous black sand beaches, one of Iceland’s many epic waterfalls, a lava field, several fjords, a glacial lagoon, as well as views of some of the world’s most stunning mountains. You’ll even get a glimpse of some of the famed Icelandic horses!”

We told you before that Iceland’s desolate yet beautiful scenery is forged by fire and ice, a reference to the island’s multitude of volcanoes and the numerous glaciers that have carved out this unique landscape like no other place on Earth. Indeed, the interior of Iceland is so barren and moonlike that the Apollo astronauts did some of their training there. The area is classified as Europe’s only desert. Now that you’ve viewed last week’s video of Iceland (and soon will be an Iceland veteran having enjoyed this week’s installment), you may notice that Iceland is virtually treeless. The island’s growing season is short and there is very little topsoil, so the few trees that exist there are small and grow extremely slowly.

As mentioned above, you’ll get a glimpse of Iceland’s famed horses in this video. Being a travel agency based in Lexington, Kentucky (a.k.a. the horse capital of the world), we’re always interested in horses! So, here’s an interesting tidbit: Icelandic horses are known for their unique gait, the tolt (similar to that of a Tennessee Walker). Icelanders claim the tolt makes the ponies very comfortable to ride for hours at a time. If an Icelandic horse is taken abroad to a competition, it can never return to Iceland, in order to protect the local herds from disease.

We hope you enjoy Part 2 of Dramatic Iceland: Beyond the Lighthouse, and if you become inspired to visit Iceland for yourself, give us a call and one of our advisors will be glad to help you plan your own Icelandic adventure!

The Avant Team