A Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North (Forgotten Books) by Pfeiffer, Ida Laura (2008) Paperback

by Ida Pfeiffer

Large print edition of an informative travelogue of a truly adventurous and observative woman.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History

Paperback

First published January 1, 1846

About the author

Ida Laura Pfeiffer was an Austrian traveler and travel book author. She was one of the first female explorers, whose popular books were translated into seven languages.

Reviews

[Rob]

I have now read all of her travels. There are no more and I am sad. I cannot recommend her enough.

[Brian Borgford · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very descriptive account of an extraordinary adventure. She captures the ruggedness and the beauty of an unforgiving landscape.
that a woman travelling solo in 1845 could accomplish such a feat. Youthful adults would find this an arduous task, let alone a woman of middle age. She is very tolerant and even complementary of the Danish merchant class who controlled the Icelandic economy at that time, but she is brutal in her description of Icelanders themselves. I don't doubt the accuracy of her factual observations, but there is an obvious bias, perhaps snobbery, in her interpretations.

[Chris Wilby · Rating 4 out of 5]

How cool is that, travelling by ship and making way with horses, staying at homes.

[Shannan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Ida Pfeiffer book I've read after finishing the Wanderlust BiographyWanderlust: The Amazing Ida Pfeiffer, the First Female Tourist. The detail of life on the island and the effort to get there was as always full of tiny details worth discovery and sending me on side quests to find out what a word meant or its context of the time. A good example was when she mentioned 'train oil' without definition as something the Icelanders pour on their food. Turns out it is whale oil and the word was common at the time before the petrochemical age. It has nothing to do with trains.
Some might say the descriptions of the people are uncharitable but I would argue they are extremely honest, unpolished and tell us about the contrast of her own Austrian norms and the European fronteer . People were more dirty and more communal and you will privately concur with her repulsion when you have your daily showers, deodorants and a carbon footprint of data centres and food miles.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing that this woman travelled to Iceland by boat in the 1840s basically alone. I enjoyed her descriptions of the scenery of Iceland and the details of the voyage and while staying in Iceland for 6 plus weeks. Hope her dreadful description of the people of Iceland turns out to be wrong. I am enroute to Iceland right now; staying in Oslo for a night, but travelling there by Viking ship at this time and couldn't be more pleasant travel or finer treatment by all the staff so far.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the up until the end of the Icelandic part, and skimmed through the return journey to Germany. It is extraordinary to have a tale from a woman travelling on her own 150 years ago, and as I had been travelling to Iceland I appreciated her experience of much earlier days.

[ulli_z · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ida Pfeiffer war (ganz besonders zu ihrer Zeit) eine bemerkenswerte Frau und ihre Fähigkeit, körperliche Strapazen und Gefahren zu bewältigen und extremen Witterungsverhältnissen zu Land und zu Wasser die Stirn zu bieten, ist beachtlich, ganz zu schweigen von ihrem Durchhaltevermögen. Aber gerade vor diesem Hintergrund nehmen sich ihre ständigen Nörgeleien über das Verhalten der Einheimischen und ihre Unterbringung und Verköstigung umso kleinlicher aus, bis man sie einfach nicht mehr lesen kann. Leider ist auch ihr Schreibstil etwas eintönig - für all das gab es Punkteabzüge. - Da lobe ich mir im Kontrast dazu Mary H. Kingsleys Travels in West Africa - trockener britischer Humor, Beschreibung, nicht Wertung, und keinerlei Sich-selbst-auf-die-Schulter-Klopfen ob des von ihr Geleisteten!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ida Pfeiffer ist eine Dame der Wiener Gesellschaft - und sie reist alleine in der Welt herum, in einer Zeit als das noch nicht selbstverständlich war.

Der Reisebereicht ist deswegen umso faszinierender, sie beschreibt nicht nur was sie gesehen hat, sondern auch die Strapazen der Reise, die Zeit und die Unterbringung.

Es ist auch interessant zu lesen, wie Ida Pfeiffer ihre Umgebung beschreibt - sie sieht sie mit den Augen ihrer Zeit und ihres Glaubens- und Wertesystems.

Ich war noch nie in Island, aber trotz der Strapazen, die Ida Pfeiffer beschreibt, ist die Schönheit des Landes doch etwas, was mich nicht losläßt und ich bin mir sicher, dass es auch als Lektüre für jemanden, der das Land jetzt kennt, absolut beindruckend ist.