Seashore and Eldhús: Little House of Christmas

I had a day of museums and culture planned for today, but when I went outside and saw the sun on the mountaintop, all of those plans went out the window. I decided to walk along the shoreline walking trail. The shore here is very picturesque. I'm extremely jealous of all of the people who work right across the street—they have an amazing view.

Sólfar (Click to view the gallery)After walking for about three hours, I stopped at Sólfar—the well-known sculpture of a viking ship—for a quick rest. While I was there, a cab pulled up and out hopped a young woman to take a few pictures with her mobile phone. We exchanged pleasantries and she handed me her phone to take her picture. As she was returning to the cab, she mentioned that she was in town from London for business. She works for Inspired by Iceland, a wonderful tourism campaign for the island. She was going to be at Eldús, which I was planning on stopping by later on in the afternoon. This wasn't really significant other than the fact that it was an interesting coincidence and fun encounter.

I continued my walk and finally made it to Eldhús, where I stopped in for hot chocolate, cookies, and stories about Icelandic Christmas tradition. It turns out that those crazy guys in santa suits were the Yule Lads. The Yule Lads are 13 mischievious (or evil, not quite sure I've decided yet) brothers who live with their mother, who eats all of the bad children (I can't stress this enough...SHE EATS THE BAD CHILDREN...your move, Santa). They come down from the mountain one by one starting December 12th and leave presents in children's shoes left on the windowsill. They then stick around for thirteen days, causing all sorts of trouble.

There is also the Yule Cat, the mother's cat, who goes around stealing food and/or stealing (and presumably killing) any children who do not have new clothes. The Yule Cat isn't a fashionista, he sees the new clothes as a sign that the children are behaving well and helping their parents with the chores.

I love Christmas in Iceland.

(click to enlarge)The good people of Eldhús.After more wonderful conversation with my new friends, it was time to head out. I didn't realize, but I was in that little house for two hours! I highly recommend visiting inspiredbyiceland.com and, if you possibly can, come say hello to the inhabitants of Eldhús in person.

Pictures here.