Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.06.2013, Síða 16

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16 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • June 15 2013
As those of you who are familiar with Icelandic folklore will probably already know, trolls
and elves or huldufólk (e. hidden
people) play a big role in the Icelandic
storytelling tradition. Nevertheless, I
think, I have not yet written anything
about these fascinating creatures in
my travelling pieces for Lögberg-
Heimskringla. Now, I will.
Well, not really. I want to tell you
about a nice little place in Keflavík
called Skessuhellir (e. Troll cave).
Keflavík, as you should know, is a town
on the south-western edge of Iceland
and the home of the main international
airport. (In fact, the airport lies within
the borders of Sandgerði municipality
but it is called Keflavík airport so for
now we’ll settle with that.) At the
outskirts of Keflavík, in an area called
Grófin, there is a harbour where small
fishing boats “rest” when they are not
being employed by fishermen. The
harbour itself is a fascinating place
that puts you in direct contact with
Iceland’s most important industry and
as such well worth a visit.
If you do visit the harbour, keep
your ears open. You might just hear
someone snoring. Take a closer look
and you’ll find that the snoring comes
from a small cavity in the rock on one
side of the harbour. Enter the cavity
and all of a sudden you’ll find yourself
inside a fairly big cave, bigger than
you’d ever imagine when looking
at it from the outside. This cave is
Skessuhellir. As skessa means troll
woman in Icelandic, you should now
realize that this discreet cave is the
home of a gigantic troll woman.
Those of you who are familiar
with the Icelandic folklore will know
that during daytime, trolls sleep and
that they only come out at night. When
hit by the light of day, trolls will turn
to rock. So, during the day, there is
nothing to worry about. The troll in
Skessuhellir will be sleeping.
In fact, there is nothing to worry
about at all. Skessuhellir is man made
and the troll is made of paper mache as
a tribute to the Icelandic tradition (and
a tourist attraction of course). I’m not
sure when this attraction was created
but it has not been there for more than
5 to 10 years. It is well worth a visit,
especially for the young ones.
G. Sverrir Þór
Märsta, Sweden
photo: g. sVerrir Þór
For tr avel inForMation: visiticel anD.orG
Pure. Natural. Unspoiled.
This is Iceland.
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MINI tour:
Where the troll
woman rests
The troll woman is only up and about by night – though
you just might hear her snoring by day