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Original, haunting and beautiful - it is not for nothing that singer, songwriter, actress and artist Bjork is the best-known voice of Iceland.
And her appeal is reflected throughout the country, which gives new meaning to the phrase The Great Outdoors.
Warmed by the Gulf Stream, rumbling to geothermal activity, Iceland sits between Greenland and the rest of Europe on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, proudly independent, beautifully unpolluted and - thanks to its northerly location - lit by the Midnight Sun in the height of summer.
Iceland, with a population of 300,000, is the ideal place to get away from it all. And there is a huge range of activities to keep visitors occupied.
Small towns and villages boast public swimming pools filled with water from natural hot springs.
Anglers will be in their element, with the salmon fishing season running from June to September, while for trout it is April to October. Sea angling is also popular.
Almost every port seems to offer whale watching tours, as the waters offshore teem with various species including minke, humpback and fin.
Other aquatic activities include kayaking, rafting along swirling glacial rivers and jet-boating, a white-water, white-knuckle ride highlighted by 360-degree turns.
Iceland is ideal for bird watchers. Latrabjarg, a cliff in the West Fjords, hosts one of the largest populations of razorbills in the world.
The Westman Islands are home to thousands of puffins. Lake Myvatn  is Europe's duck-breeding capital, while skua colonise the sands in the south.
More than half of Iceland is more than 400 metres above sea level and, as most of the population lives near the coast, the interior is ideal for hikers.
Glacier tours aboard a snowmobile or jeep are a great way to take in the countryside all year round.
Mink, Arctic foxes and reindeer run wild, however there are no polar bears, although some do occasionally drift over on an ice floe. And while Iceland is known for its lack of trees, the government is engaged in a massive reforestation programme planting 4 million saplings a year.
Wherever visitors ramble they will come across strange lava formations which, legend dictates, are trolls which were caught outside in daylight and turned into stone. Fairytales though these may be, roads have been re-routed and building plans redesigned to avoid clumps of rock which were believed to house elves.
While forests are few, there is plenty of green, especially on golf courses.
There are three around Reykjavik and nearly 60 others dotted around the country. The Arctic Open, held every June, tees off just before midnight and play - beneath a blazing sun - continues until the early hours of the morning.
Iceland's scenery and wealth of outdoor activities are nothing short of stupendous and lie waiting to welcome an increasing number of enthusiastic visitors. As the arch-Icelander Bjork might sing: 'What kind of magic is this? How come I can't help adore it?'



Strange and beautiful, just as Bjork would describe