The island magic of Flatey

"Flatey is billed as an island that is a return to the past, a place where time has stood still; a description that pulls me like a magnet to its coordinates. Take me somewhere that puts me out of the relentless currency of our times. Please. Drop me off on an island in the middle of nowhere. I beg you. Somewhere off the face of this mad, mad world." 

Thus write Tor Bilski on a blog on Stuck in Iceland on discovering discovering the charm of Flatey, a beautiful island in Breiðafjörður, West Iceland.  Bilski is an American woman who travels every summer to Iceland with a group of friends, and she first discovered Flatey upon watching  “White Night Wedding”, directed by Baltasar Kormákur. 

"We have no grand plan for touring Flatey," writes Bilski. "We came with nothing specific to do or see. It is enough that the island exists, populated only in the summer with its historically-correct restored houses, where a lucky few Icelanders seasonally return to a traditional life similar to that of their great grandparents. Down in the low tidal basin, a father is showing his young daughter how to mend fishing nets. Children walk around in brightly colored Wellies and woolen sweaters, carrying buckets and fishing rods."

Read the whole article on Stuck in Iceland HERE. 

The church in Flatey, with murals painted by Icelandic- Spanish artist Baltasar Samper.

The picturesque village.

Swimming in the reed.