Anh Does Iceland - Fourth Season

I've travelled to the youngest country on earth,

where glaciers grind past active volcanoes

and ferocious winds blast black sand beaches.

They call it the land of fire and ice.

Welcome to Iceland.

I've come to the top of the world

to find the happiest people on earth.

So far, I've made my way from the Swedish wilderness...

Hey!

..to the cool streets of Copenhagen.

It's alright. Airbag.

Now I'm in Iceland...

Yeah! Five-degree water!

..to battle the elements...

Oh!

..to take on their unique cuisine...

Eat the eyeball? Yeah, of course.

..and have fun with the locals...

..in the most extreme place on the planet.

Yeah!

Oh!

Some might call Iceland a harsh and forbidding place,

a volcanic lump of rock just north of nowhere,

where for most of the year, people live in complete darkness.

Yet Iceland ranks amongst the world's happiest places

and it has some of the longest-living people on earth.

I'm taking us on a quest to find the Icelandic secret to happiness.

Eek!

Maybe Icelanders are happy

because they always make the most of what they've got.

Despite the icy climate here, Icelanders love to swim.

Today is freezing.

The last thing I want to do is go for an ocean swim,

so we're gonna go for an ocean swim.

Rather than budgie smugglers,

the fashion here is knitwear.

Before the ocean swim, there's a fashion parade.

Oh, you're a finalist. Come on out!

Yes! Fant...

Oh, you're a finalist. Come on out.

You look fantastic. Look at you.

And you too. You guys are together.

Look, matching. Mm. Family. Yeah.

Look at you!

What's this for?

Wait a minute.

Buy one, get one free.

OK. I'll show you what to do.

Just walk out like this and give it your best. OK?

OK, you go first.

If you think she's great, cheer for her.

The winner! Yeah!

Yeah!

OK, everyone. Let's go for a swim!

Whoooooo!

Five-degree water! Yeah!

Oh, my goodness!

Oh, my goodness!

Ooh, I need to have another think about this.

Today's water temperature is five degrees.

That means I've got about 30 minutes before extreme hypothermia sets in.

Come on, woolly onesie, we can do this.

Aargh!

Ohh!

How often do you do this?

Er, twice a week. Twice a week.

Twice a week? Is it good for you?

Good for you? Really? Yes. Yep.

And how long do we stay out for?

About half an hour.

Half an hour?

I'm going to die! No.

Look at this guy!

We sing in the sea. You sing in the sea? OK.

Well, let's do it.

I can't say I'm a convert to an icy dip

but swimming with this bunch of Icelanders is a lot of fun.

Whoo-hoo! Whoo!

When we were singing, I forgot that I was cold. Yeah.

That's great. Let's sing some more.

Now to the bit I like -

warming up in the hot tub.

Thank you. Thank you for joining me today.

One, two, three!

Ostur!

Oh, my goodness!

Every trip to Iceland

begins in the world's most northern capital city.

The Vikings called it Reykjavik, or smoky bay,

because of the steam rising from hundreds of geothermal vents.

Today, Reykjavik is run by the quirkiest mayor in the world.

In 2010, an ex-Volvo factory worker and musician

decided to run for mayor as a joke.

He made a whole bunch of crazy promises

and then promised that he would break his promises.

Lo and behold, the locals voted him in

and it turns out three years later,

Jon Gnarr is one of the most popular mayors the city has ever had.

Let's see how he's handling the success.

How you became mayor is astonishing.

Tell us little bit about the story.

I decided to come up with a new political theory,

like a new political party,

and it's called the Best Party

because it's better than all the other parties.

And what were some of the values or some of the promises you made?

We promised a Disney World in Reykjavik,

a polar bear in the zoo...

Free towels in swimming pools.

No citizen should have to carry a wet towel.

The mayor is also famous for dressing up in public.

To support gay rights, he wore full drag

and when Lady Gaga came to town, he put on Jedi robes.

I noticed that your office doesn't look like a typical mayor's office.

You've got a lightsaber on your table.

Oh, it's... it's a real lightsaber.

I love it.

Hey! It's cool. You know...

It makes those noises. Yeah.

Oh, yeah! Look at that. (LAUGHS)

It's nice? It worked. It worked. (LAUGHS)

You know, I'd love to see more of Reykjavik.

Can you take me for a tour? Sure.

Wonderful.

We start downstairs at City Hall

to look at a massive map of Iceland.

So the population of Iceland is roughly 320,000, yeah?

Uh, 350,000. Yeah. 350,000.

And half is in the capital, Reykjavik...

Yeah... ..of which you are the mayor.

You could say I was the mayor of Iceland.

Actually I'm...

I am the only mayor

because there is only one city in Iceland.

And you're the only mayor.

And I am the only mayor so I am the Mayor of Iceland.

Yeah, and you have a big lightsaber to make sure everybody knows.

I want a bridge here.

And I... Disneyland!

And a Disneyland here. Yep.

I want three polar bears here because they like snow.

All male.

In older times, before electricity, you know,

it was just pitch dark for nine months.

For nine months. For nine months.

It's completely dark? It's just dark.

And there are few things you can do.

You can eat, you can have sex, and you can...

..you can tell stories.

Yes. I mean, that's about it.

That's the only thing to do.

You're locked in and storm outside and...

The wife doesn't feel like it. She's got a headache.

Yeah, she says, "I have a headache. Please tell me a story."

Oh, the sun's come out.

Yes. Yeah, the weather is always changing.

You know, it's...

You can have five to ten different types of weather every day.

Every day? Yeah.

Next stop is Reykjavik's tallest and most iconic building.

What a magnificent church.

Yes, it's very nice architecture.

It's based on an Icelandic rock formation

which is called Studlaberg.

But I actually think it should never have been built

and we should have built a children's hospital instead

but it's beautiful.

It is beautiful. Yeah, but it's useless.

Oh!

Here in Iceland, every good thing ends in a hot spring.

Do you... do you come here often?

It's extraordinary. It's freezing outside and this must be 35 degrees.

Yes. It's quite warm.

You know, you could sit here for ages.

Yeah. I'm gonna travel around over the next few days.

You got any tips for me?

Stay away from polar bears.

You're gonna meet exceptional, eccentric, interesting people.

Be prepared for that.

Iceland is all about the great outdoors,

and you don't have to travel far from the capital

to see the best of it.

Just out of Reykjavik is the Golden Circle Drive.

If you ever wanted to stand right between two continents,

this is the place to be.

On this side is the North American tectonic plate.

On this side, the European tectonic plate.

In between is some of the cleanest, clearest water on Earth.

On a nice summer's day, great for snorkelling.