Welcome to Húsavík
This odd little plaque is at a remote waterfall outside of Hólmavík, in an area called Húsavík (not to be confused with the town in the north east of the country). It is a sign from the residents welcoming visitors. The plaque reads:
Personally To You!
Have you watched the dance of the Northern Lights on a dark winter’s night?
Or stood outside in the pure spring air, listening to the melodies of birds?
Have you let the plants be your seat, as you breathed in their seats and noted autumn colors?
Or looked at all the life in the grass, strolled on the shore, skipped stones, caught a trout or petted a soft eider duckling?
Have you lever laid your ear against an elf hill and heard their son, met the dwarf in a rock, tracked the supernatural inhabitant of seashores after the first snowfall, or harkened to troll calls while waves were beating under a dim sky?
All of this an much more are the privileges of those living here — privileges our guests can enjoy too, at no cost whatsoever. You can make a whistle out of grass, swim, play kids’ games or football — just enjoy life like a child in the magic world of Strandir.
The same family has lived here on the Húsavík estate for 130 years, with each generation passing the farm and knowledge on to the next. No different in our lives and labour than anyone else, we are born, love, and die. Whether men, women or children, we work and home the land we care for will become even better and richer for our children.
I know every inch of this land. I am aware of each elf mound and know where to find pretty lichens and sheltered birds’ nests. I have sensed the sea’s odor in the spring and lain in midnight fog waiting for the fox. Standing in the hayfield late in summer, when it gets dark early and the terns have flown south, I have felt both gratitude and sadness. There is no end here to the signs of people living with the land, generation after general.
Dear Reader: pleaser feel heartily welcome! Enjoy your stay here. We are sure you and yours will treat all the land of the Icelanders with consideration. We ask you to show fairness and respect when judging the activities of us residents. Certainly we hoe for Strandir to touch you with its magic wand and lead you in to the group of the privileged. At the end, have a nice trip home and come back soon!