Iceland review - 2013, Side 40

38 ICELAND REVIEW
my phone has only rung
twice in the last five
weeks,” beams Rannveig
Gylfadóttir. “Often there isn’t any reception
and there’s no internet or TV but I don’t
miss anything here. I have to hand-wash my
clothes but I enjoy that. I get a real break
from everything,” she says of her summers
spent on Flatey where she works as a chef
at the only hotel on the island, Hotel Flatey.
ISLAND SHANGrI-LA
Arriving on Flatey, you really do get a feel-
ing of time standing still. No cars are allowed
onto the island—with the exception of a
handful owned by locals—so tractors and
wheelbarrows are the transport of choice for
carting goods from the ferry Baldur down
the island’s single street to the old town area.
The arrival of Baldur—twice daily in
each direction during the summer—is the
highlight of the day for the island’s small
and mostly seasonal community. “We don’t
think a lot about the time here. There is only
‘Baldur time,’ when we have to go down
to the harbor to meet the ferry and pick
up deliveries and guests,” hotel manager
Ingibjörg Pétursdóttir says.
Rannveig states that the island’s laid-back
atmosphere is a major drawcard for her
and her colleagues. “All those courses and
books that we buy, about how to live in the
moment and all that stuff, we don’t really
need that,” she laughs. “I come here to get
some real peace and after being on the island,
you come back changed. We work a lot but
we feel really good.”
Hotel receptionist Ása Kolbrún Hauksdóttir
agrees. “It’s a bit like a virtual reality. You
come here with this city energy but after a
few days you slow down.” she says. “I used
to work as a bookkeeper at a big hotel in
the city. I came here last summer and that
Time stands still in Breiðafjörður Bay, as Zoë Robert and Áslaug
Snorradóttir find out during a trip to the island of Flatey.
Finding Flatey
BY Zoë RoBeRt PHOTOS BY ÁsLaug snoRRadóttiR