Before Iceland became a tourist dream of volcanoes, hot springs, and cozy sweaters, it was an uninhabited island at the edge of the known world — until a few bold or lost people showed up.

In this episode of Messy Minded, Jess digs into the strange, winding story of how Iceland was discovered and settled. We’ll meet Norse explorers like Ingólfur Arnarson, the man credited with founding Reykjavík, and Flóki Vilgerðarson, who brought ravens to help him navigate and then got so mad at the snow he named the entire country “Iceland.”

I also talk about the Irish monks who may have gotten there first, and how land, honor, and a lot of luck shaped the island’s early history.

This is a story of exile, survival, and mythology, with just a sprinkling of my own adventure stories there.

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