Where do the elves live since the Vikings and their sheep pretty much wiped out all the trees about 1000 years ago? An elf that lives somewhere other than a hollowed out tree or a Santa’s workshop is nothing but a common cave trolley. Gnome, at best.
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They do what the Áes Sidhe do in Ireland, and live under the hills.
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Umbrellas are utterly pointless in Iceland - the wind has teeth.
Just get a really good coat and you’ll be fine.
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If that Eurovision film with Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams has taught me anything is, don’t mess with the elves.
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The Hidden People live in the rocks - of which Iceland is not short. There are any number of Álfakirkja around Iceland which translate as ‘Elf Church’, but many communities will have particular rocks where they are supposed to live.
There is a legend in Iceland not to travel on the Twelfth Night after Christmas (Þrettándinn - the thirteenth day), because Iceland gets weird - okay weirder. It’s the day when cattle talk (but hearing them will drive you mad - this becomes a theme of the day), seals turn into humans and people have premonitions and the Hidden People move between homes.
The legends say that if you are travelling and come to a crossroads, then you should sit and wait as the Hidden People will be coming by. During the night they will tempt you with gifts - BUT YOU MUST NOT TAKE THEM. If you last the night, the Hidden People will gift you either gold or the second sight, but if you take a gift before dawn - you will go mad.
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All fantastic advice, particularly
The best adventures are further afield. If you’re there in-season, the buses are great, will get you anywhere. Have a fantastic time, and remember to look up at night!
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That’s my favorite sort of weather! I look forward to getting to Iceland one day.
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That is also a well-known fact in (at least) Shetland, but I guess it’s all a blur up there in the North Atlantic, culturally speaking.
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Kælan Mikla will do:
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Nope. Bjork or go home…
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Suppose, instead of accepting gold or second sight as a gift, I offer an exchange as barter, like a time-share at Aruba Millennium Resort? They might enjoy that.
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So say the Hidden People. Who wants to be know as the Unhidden People? 
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If it’s duty free… I’m taking them.
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It’d be interesting to know if the belief in the selkie (in Scotland and the islands) was tarnsferred to the Norse during their expansion or if the Vikings brought it to the British Isles, or if they both developed their own seal mythologies.
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This is very devious thinking - they will of course mostly be interested in the quality of the rocks in Aruba. Very particular about their rocks.
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Absolutely worth it.
We had a 19 days hiking + off-road trip in 2014 and still treasure any instant of that experience.
Here a small selection of the ~3000 pictures I took.
The only identifiable person is my daughter, but her expression while barefoot wading a glacier water torrent cannot be missed.
Bring warm clothes, and take into account that you will get wet.
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That’s assuming seals don’t, in fact, shed their skins in a secret location to assume human form
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