Iceland has a great story. Brave settlers, honest politics, a beacon of equality, innocent people living with dramatic nature. Every other tour in Reykjavík will be happy to tell you that story.
This is not that tour.
Uncomfortable Iceland is a history walk through central Reykjavík for those who want to understand the real history behind Iceland's carefully curated national identity. Led by a local professional historian and experienced storyteller, this walk systematically picks apart the myths, half-truths and deliberate silences that make up the official version of Icelandic history.
No prior knowledge of Icelandic history is required. You just need to be curious and open to having your assumptions challenged. Your guide will lead you through the context of each story before revealing how and why it has been distorted, suppressed or simply never told.
What we cover:
We start at Arnarhóll in the city center in front of the statue of Iceland´s most famous viking, Ingólfur Arnarson. There we will discover the parts of Iceland´s origin story that are much less discussed. Then we will find our way through the center of Iceland discovering uncomfortable truths through Iceland´s history that have either been distorted or not much known outside Iceland.
Viking settlers who owned slaves and the Celtic heritage Iceland quietly forgot. Massacres celebrated as patriotism for centuries. Women executed for desire, Jewish refugees turned away and state sponsored racism. The Icelanders who collaborated with the Nazis — and the government that brought them home. The financial collapse and the myth of the recovery, a fishing system that made a handful of families extraordinarily wealthy. The statues that got moved, the monuments never built and the stories never told.
If you are looking for something that challenges how you think about Iceland — you believe history is complicated, politics is messy and national myths deserve questioning — this tour is for you. Get ready to have your perception of Iceland completely turned upside down.