A place of darkness in winter and midsummer golf at midnight. The north Atlantic island, lying between Greenland and Norway and just touching the Arctic Circle, is 103,000 sq km brimming with formidable natural phenomena - glaciers, volcanoes, geysers, waterfalls. The most demanding terrain is its interior - four-wheel drive country where holidaying is an expedition.

Temperamental Earth has its good sides. It ensures many inhabitants have free central heating, sumptuously warm outdoor pools and "hot pots", similar to jacuzzis; places to chinwag or even play chess.

The 270,000 inhabitants live close to the coast, with the capital Reykjavik's neat houses with galvanised roofs suggesting a humble town in the US midwest from the 1950s, but this hides its prosperity and charm. A considerable US presence stems from a large airbase nearby.

It is the strikingly uniform DNA of Iceland's largely blue-eyed, blond-haired populace which attracts biotech companies. A mix of Norse people and Celtic seafarers has remained almost unchanged for 1000 years.