In a country with lunar landscape, mile-thick glaciers and ‘singing caves’ it’s perhaps not surprising that the locals are superstitious. And even if you’re visiting strictly on business you’ll find it hard to avoid being drawn into Iceland’s fascination with elves, fairies, trolls and ‘hidden people’.
The entire country is littered with spots associated with magical and mythical dwellings, from local elves to Finnish trolls. Belief is such that Reykjavik actually boasts an Elf School that issues diplomas in mythic issues, and the government has been known to reroute highways to avoid ‘elf rocks’.
Against Iceland’s strange geography it’s easy to see why all this myth and legend abounds. The landscape is straight out the imagination of one of Tolkien’s illustrators, heavy with stratified rock and carpeted with broken lava. And somehow this unearthly quality manages to spill over into just about everything Icelandic, from the quirky approach to meetings and incentive trips, to the incredible geography.
In hot water
In fact, within 20 minutes of arriving in Iceland you can easily be in one of the country’s most spectacular attractions. Geothermic water, to be precise, bathing you and fellow swimmers with the perfectly temperate waves of the Blue Lagoon.
A mere 20 minutes from the airport, the route to the famous aquatic attraction is fast enough to make the milky blue depths even more surreal. Making the journey by car leaves only moments to register the incredible landscape before turning towards the towering columns of steam on the horizon and into the nation’s most well known landmark.
Ensconced in the opaque hot springs is certainly a full immersion strategy when it comes to understanding why this country has such an affinity with myths and legends. With the waters permanently clement courtesy of the country’s many volcanic currents, the bottom of this natural wonder is also lined with ash-grey silica mud – reputed to be good for the skin. Under a foreboding snow-filled sky, with calm blue waters and dramatic black rocks painted with patches of green lichen it’s no great imaginative leap to feel as though you’re on another planet entirely. And for the complete effect, painting your face with the contents of the mud pools dotting the sidelines of the lagoon will ensure you have the appearance to match.
But ever a practical people, Icelanders have also found a way to mix business and pleasure, and besides eerily temperate waters in a climate that is rarely above freezing, the Blue Lagoon also boasts a spectacular business offering. Meeting rooms with views out onto the waters, a superb restaurant, and even rooms for the night are available to conference parties. So not only is it possible to be enjoying the country’s star attraction minutes after breezing through the highly efficient customs control, you can also be getting down to business in style.
Rise of the Valkyrie
If you’re looking for a slightly quirkier way to experience the local love of folklore, then the small town of Hafnarfjordur is only a ten-minute drive from Reykjavik, yet is often completely missed by visitors. Although small by international standards this is actually a large conurbation in Iceland and one that is home to a number of interesting sights and features.
The fabulous Viking Hotel is a perfect spot to pitch up and enjoy the local hospitality – complete with historic décor from ancient Iceland. The hotel boasts a cave-style bar area and a restaurant serving wholly local cuisine. Having been serenaded by a Viking minstrel and served by a kirtle-clad serving wench your experiences of real-life history in this magical country may just be complete.
But if you’re hoping to get even more involved in what life was like in bygone days the hotel can also arrange to have business parties ‘kidnapped’ by teams of marauding Vikings, and drag them back to enjoy hospitality and drinks at the hotel Viking-style.
Hafnarfjorder also boats the accolade of being Iceland’s most elf-friendly conurbation, with the royal elf palaces housed overlooking the town. These are actually large attractive rock formations, but several legends abound surrounding beautiful elf royalty entering secret doorways in the rock, or saving from injury those unfortunate enough to take a tumble over the precipice.
Dotted throughout the town are other large ‘elf rocks’, each with their own history. You can spot them by merit of accommodating some rather odd nearby building work in order to avoid causing damage to the elf homes.
In the local park there are also several ‘troll rocks’. If you remember from your storybooks, trolls have a bad reaction to sunlight, which instantly turns them to stone. Towards the park entrance are two such unfortunate creatures that have been atrophied, so the story goes, for failing to make it home before sunrise.
If you’re thinking that these stories sound familiar, Tolkien himself was in fact roundly inspired by Icelandic legend. His affinity with the country was well known, and with an Icelandic nanny for the care of his children, he was helped to many local fairy tales courtesy of the connection.
Legendary capital
It would be unthinkable to make a trip to Iceland and miss the country’s famous capital, and Reykjavik more than lives up to the hype. Whilst most capitals include skyscrapers, or at the very least some imposing edifices in glass and metal, this small but comprehensive city is conspicuously empty of high-rise buildings in the immediate centre.
Instead the micro-centre is a well planned mass of wooden buildings, most two stories at maximum, giving the city the appearance of a much older conurbation. It is here that Iceland also houses its Elf School – a well-respected institution run by the brother of an eminent political party leader.
For an incentive trip with a difference the school can arrange half day learning experiences where visitors are educated in the local elf lore, finishing with a trip to some of the more magical sites. Whilst seeing elves is something usually limited to those with psychic powers it is nevertheless a fascinating way to immerse yourself in local culture.
The reason for all these storybook manifestations in everyday life has been speculated as due to the country’s isolated history. Whilst most of Europe was going through the Renaissance, Iceland was cut off from the rest of the world – an unforeseen error on the part of the Vikings who felled every last tree, making shipbuilding impossible. With no one coming in or out this small island became something of a microcosm for ancient beliefs, and whilst the notion of elves, fairies and all the rest became associated with dangerously unchristian principles elsewhere, here belief in the little people continued free from religious persecution.
It’s for this reason then, that business visitors may be surprised to discover just how seriously locals take the idea of mystical beings. And whilst few will admit outright to genuine belief in such things, every Icelander knows of someone they trust who has a seen an elf, or encountered a similarly otherworldly creature.
Into the West
With this in mind it’s well worth getting out into the countryside, away from the cosmopolitan hub of Reykjavik, where far fewer visitors venture, Iceland has only one main road which traverses the shoreline of the country, breaking out only occasionally into the odd hamlet or farmstead. For those keen to get into the rugged backcountry, your own deserted spot can be found within half an hour of leaving the capital.
A trip into the west of the country is an easy drive of a few hours, taking in some of the best coastal sights on the way. And whilst there’s far fewer in the way of business hotels in this direction, if you’ve time to head out into the wilds, you’ll be enjoying the best Iceland has to offer.
Towards the northern coast is the lovely town of Stykkisholmur, often neglected by tourists who instead spend their time on day trips to the centre visiting the spectacular waterfalls and hot springs. As a harbour town, Stykkisholmur is accessed via a breathtaking panoramic of ice-capped mountains and snow-blue rivers. It’s also something of a hub for gourmands, which is why the town boasts a Michelin-quality restaurant – Narfeyjarstofa Café Restaurant and local brewery Mjöður ehf Brugghús who make Icelandic beer with local spring water.
Also in residence is family-run Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum who hand produce Iceland’s infamous fermented shark meat. As you might expect, this rare meat is itself the topic of numerous tall tales and historic legacy, as the enormous sharks were once hand-caught by fishermen desperate for provisions. The Greenland shark from which the flesh is harvested is toxic to humans is consumed fresh. But generations of necessity and famine have found a way to make it a food – if a strong tasting one – for humans. Even a tiny piece will fill your mouth with ammonia fumes and for most foreigners the taste is too strong to be pleasant. If you’re in Stykkisholmur, however, you shouldn’t without trying at least a small piece fresh from the best producers in the country.
Driving back south from Stykkisholmur and taking the road along the western coast of Snæfellsjökull will bring you back to the relative reality of the capital and the airport, but not before you’ve enjoyed the truly breathtaking isolation of Iceland’s scenic major road. Cruising past snow-capped mountains and eerily still rivers you should also be well placed to witness the nearby glacier that the locals swear has magical properties.
Communing with this mighty landmark, they insist, can make wishes come true. Although if you were fortunate enough to be enjoying this beautiful and remote wilderness, you’d be forgiven for thinking they already had. But since you’ve one more opportunity to make your experience of Iceland complete, it might just be worth putting in a special request for a little elf magic to take back with you, because this is definitely a form of local enchantment that is available for export.
The Elves Rock
Iceland’s lunar landscape is littered with strange looking rock formations, so it’s only natural that the locals might begin to believe in them as homes to mystical creatures. But Icelanders put more than simple superstition on these magical places – many involve ‘real life’ stories as well.
The most famous is that of Iceland’s most powerful elf rock, found just outside the city of Reykjavik on the road which joins the capital to the airport in the west. Here a large elf rock stands, which, legend has it, identified itself to a farmer some centuries hence. As the owner of the area, this hardworking man planned on breaking up the rock in order to plough extra land. But the night before he planned to do so he was visited in his sleep by an elf petitioning him to leave his ‘home’ untouched.
As a sensible Icelander the man obeyed the request, and several generations down the line, his wishes were upheld. Towards the end of the 20th century, however, a Danish farmer bought up the land, which was by this time housing many hundreds of chickens. Not believing in elves he began to put plans in place to break up the large rock that was still obstructing useful farmland. But with the strategy underway, overnight every single chicken on the farm stopped laying eggs, alerting canny locals to the disapproval of the elves.
When the local lore was explained to the Danish owner he at first dismissed the tale as ridiculous, but gradually he was persuaded to leave the rock alone. From that day the first chicken laid an egg, and from the next several more, and then more again, until the entire flock was lying normally.
Whilst the locals didn’t need reminding of the existence of elf rocks, it certainly renewed Icelandic faith in the power of their mystical heritage. The legendary rock is now officially protected, and if you look on any map of Iceland you’ll see a rather unnatural kink in the straight road between the airport and the city. This is where the government has decreed the road must bend to avoid the famous rock.
