anskupo

Ehkä yksi maailman upeimmista paikoista. Näin talvella ei ketään muita missään.🤍
Lilluttiin kuumassa kuopassa, erämaassa keskellä ei mitään, vuorien ympäröimänä.
L O V E L O V E!
Islanti vaan on.🇮🇸🤍

An Icelandic special. To rid oneself of a number of saved links.

Wellandgoodtravel (Apr. 1) has some assistance in searching for the possible elusive hot spring:

'TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHICH HOT SPRINGS TO GO TO IN ICELAND?
You’re in luck—I love hot springs and saunas, and when I went to Iceland, I sought out the best. I visited 12 of its geothermal bathing locations in 12 days.Now, there are 60+ hot springs in Iceland. Some are organized spas, some are VERY rustic natural springs, and some are hard to get to'.

The Reykjavík Grapevine (Apr. 13) on the history of Iceland's (swimming) pool culture:

'Having opened to the public in 1937, Sundhöll Reykjavíkur is Reykjavík’s oldest swimming pool. Like so many of Iceland’s iconic buildings from the first half of the 20th century, it was designed by state architect Guðjón Samúelsson, but the project was initiated by Progressive Party MP Jónas frá Hriflu. If anything or any place can be pointed to as the origins of Iceland’s swimming pool culture — something that finally got Iceland on the UNESCO heritage list last year — it is this particular pool.
In the early 20th century, Icelanders built swimming pools all over the country — at least, anywhere that ample supplies of hot water could be procured. And then they built swimming pools where supplies of naturally hot water were not to be found. The result of this is that almost every single suburb of Reykjavík and every single small town outside of Reykjavík, has a swimming pool. This begs the question: why?
Well, as may now be obvious, the fact that Iceland has incredible amounts of hot water is not the exclusive reason for the pools, though that is helpful. The real reason is that very few Icelanders knew how to swim in the 1920s. That’s not a good thing for a country that counts fishing among its major industries. This meant that every year, very many people drowned, often in situations where simply knowing the basics of swimming would have been life-saving.
Hence, in 1927 the Icelandic parliament passed a law making swimming lessons mandatory for all schoolchildren. Given the climate in Iceland, it thus became urgent to build warm water pools in which to hold lessons, lest every Icelandic kid would catch pneumonia.
The sudden abundance of soothingly warm swimming pools in an otherwise harsh climate resulted in the only places falling within the scholarly definition of “The Public Sphere” in Iceland being the pools. It is there that people debate politics, where they meet, catch up, whatever you call it. It was also in the pools — or the change areas before entering the pools — that they got clean, which was something we had a far more difficult time doing prior to the 1930s. Out of this emerged our distinct pool culture'.

icelandic.naturist

A wonderful hike led up to this hot spring, which was very refreshing. It's always nice to be naked in nature. It makes you feel connected to mother nature and all stress and worries go away.
#naturism #befree #skinnydipping #secretplace #hotspringsiceland #bodyfreedom #nakedinnature #nudeisnotlewd #naked #freespirit #enjoyinglife #hotsprings #lovetheskinyourin #befree #gonaked #feelthefreedom #daretobare #friendship #enjoythemoment #enjoylife #capturethemoment #freedom #freethebody #friends #soakingspirit #soaking #soak #hotspringsiceland #hotspring #iceland #icelandicnature

Stomping

TheCoolDown (Feb. 3) looks at touristy problems. In Iceland:

'Some popular tourist attractions, like geysers in Iceland, are best enjoyed from afar, especially as they can prove highly dangerous for visitors and wildlife.
One Redditor discovered that the "leave it as you found it" message can often go ignored, as they witnessed a group of tourists stomping around geyser land'.

More tourists = more problems?

The Reykjavík Grapevine (Apr. 16) reports on the link between tourists / tourism and bacteria in (hot spring fed) pools:

'In a conversation with Vísir, CEO of the South Iceland Health Inspection Authority Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir claimed that unchlorinated pools and lagoons could contain unhealthy bacteria brought in by tourists. She described the proliferation of unchlorinated lagoons as worrisome.
The single most polluting factor in pools is unbathed visitors, with no way of knowing what people bring in when entering the pools in dirty underwear or activewear, she went on to say.
“I think businesses should implement harsher rules regarding the swimwear. People enter the pool in dirty clothes and some of these pools are unchlorinated. Therefore, all the bacteria brought in by tourists contaminate the pool,” she said.
According to Sigrún, pathogenic bacteria could contaminate the pools, but infections could also arise in chlorinated pools. There are 11 new unchlorinated lagoons in the process of construction around the country.
Furthermore, Sigrún said that the regulations concerning Iceland’s pools were muddy and ambivalent. However, the Environmental Ministry is in the process of making necessary changes, Sigrún claimed'.

The Facebook message on this article garners 50+ comments.

It's pretty much the main theme concerning soaking on Iceland: shower naked? OMG.

A recent (Apr. 14) post on Reddit just shows what's at stake, though for peace of mind no need to scroll through then nearly 200 comments:

'For the millionth time because we are tired!!!!! Had to yell at a group of British teenagers this morning and it’s happening more and more often I feel like.
Get naked like the rest of us, wash your privates, wear a clean swimsuit (no gymshorts and t-shirts)
Nobody cares about your “modesty” nobody cares that it’s “not your culture”. If you’re scared or shy somebody will look at you then you’re not doing yourself any favour by trying to sneak around without stripping. In fact that’s when we are going to be staring at you because now you are considered disgusting.
As a woman I’ve seen björk naked countless of times, and my male friends seen our ex presidents dick n balls countless of times. Nobody cares. Stop being a f***ing crybaby about it. Nobody wants to swim in your poop particles.
You. Are. Not. Welcome. In. The. Pool'.

A similar discussion, likewise from Reddit, from the same day (Apr. 14), after a extensive posting on the subject. It seems that this is the perpetual motion that keeps Reditt (r/visitingIceland) moving around (in circles?):

'NoLemon5426
I try to re-hash this every few months in the hopes people will find a solution that works for them. Ultimately some people need to choose to just skip it if they are unwilling to comply. Icelanders are tired of disrespectful people so I can't blame the person who made that other post, it doesn't help when in the comment section tourists tell people they can do what they want'.

tanjastony

Adventure cats and adventure dogs
Ich werd ne firma gründen und die heißt "Ja, mann!". Wir produzieren Abenteuer für jede Altersklasse und wir sagen ja zu allem, das das Herz lachen lässt. Und we are hiring!!! Jeder darf mitmachen und aus jedem Tag ein Abenteuer machen.
#adventureisoutthere