« You are the people in Iceland »
The Swiss Isabelle and Stefan Felix are from Lucerne. They decided to turn their poem into a cross three years ago and moved to Iceland along with a small Croatian dog, Theo, who was once a twin dog. Hengifosslodge became a reality, where they welcome tourists and are happy in Iceland. The couple say that family and friends at home in Switzerland, though this decision was rather cracked and was hopefully a way to lose them out of the country. They were well received in Iceland and they agree that the community to the east has taken them open arms.
« People are so open and friendly, » says Isabelle, who invites a journalist at a table outside a beautiful red wooden house. There, they tell a journalist’s story in the gentle weather that crossed the country this May.
The search for the dream place
« It all started with an organized trip to Iceland in 2016 where we mainly went the Golden Circle with older people, » says Stefan and smiles.
« We got two free days and went to Snæfellsnes on a rental car. Then we fell for the country. When we then started planning holidays, we had to come back here and then went on a move. No events, ”says Isabelle.
« I then told Isabelle that we should go to Iceland, » says Stefan, but Isabelle was then a real estate agent.
« The plan was to go to Iceland after five years, but because of Covid, it was shorter. We sold our house and everything we had and started here again, » says Isabelle, but the house in Fljótsdalur found them online.
The cottages are extremely fashionable and fit well into the landscape. More cottages are expected in the near future.
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« We searched for two years online for the perfect place and came to Iceland to look at. This place was a favorite and was in good condition, » says Isabelle, but on the site there were two houses and in another there are three apartments for tourists. In addition, they have built three homes, all of which are designed for two.
« We got an architect in Austria to set up our drawings for the cottages we had designed ourselves. In the previous year, they planted over four thousand trees.
Fully booked the first summer
« We did very much ourselves and prepared the foundations, but the houses came in parts in containers from Switzerland. But everything that is made indoors did Stefan himself, » says Isabelle, mentioning that they did not have experience in the tourism industry. Stefan had actually taught tourists both skiing and pallets in Switzerland.
After the opening of Hengifosslodge, tourists began to flow to them, to their surprise. The couple have had enough to spin these three years and are both in full -time working in running the company.
« We didn’t know what the reception would be like and might think we would get about ten to fifteen guests to begin with, but the first summer we were fully booked with these three apartments, » says Isabelle. They and the couple saw the first summer themselves all over the management and the cottages came from Switzerland. So it was enough to do.
« In the winter, we finished the cottages inside and could start renting them out in the spring, » says Stefan. They are open almost all year with a break over the high, though with an exception over Christmas, but then it is open. More cottages are expected in their land in the near future, but the country extends far up the slopes and out into my Lagarfljót, and there are 416 hectares in total. Of these, a hundred hectares of forest are grown. The town stands high up on the slopes and the view of the river and the foresty land is divine.
« We greet the worm daily, » says Stefan, laughing.
It is a small foreign tint in the air when you drive to Hengifosslodge that is surrounded by high trees.
mbl.isásdís
In popular TV shows
I heard that you were famous in Switzerland because of some TV show. Tell me!
« Yes, exactly! It’s a click, » says Stefan.
« It was so that when we were thinking about moving to Iceland we didn’t know what would happen or whether it would go up at all. In Switzerland, a TV show, very popular and famous, where three couples or families who are moving to new countries are followed. Here. This was the first time that people were moving to Iceland in the fifteen years that the episode has been in production. The episode with Isabelle and Stefan was one of the most popular since the beginning, as they say Iceland is very popular among Swiss.
« Our episodes were recorded 2023 and shown a year later, in 2024. Probably the shooting team will return after a few years to see how everything has gone and it will be shown later, » says Stefan.
« Travelers from Switzerland have increased by 20% since the episode went on the air and when the ferry arrived last summer, Swiss travelers from ten or fifteen cars came here just to greet us and look around, » he says, smiling.
« In November we were in Switzerland and people knew us in the shops. People often stopped us and said, » You are the people in Iceland! » It was very strange, ”he says.
« In April we were shopping here in Net and saw the woman who smiled broadly to us. I didn’t recognize her, but then it turned out that she knew us from the episodes, two years later! » says Isabelle.
« We are always meeting people who say they have been going to Iceland for a long time but finally left it after it saw the episode with us. Here, people from Swiss travel agencies who want to work with us have also come to us and send customers to us, » she says, but it is clear that the TV show has attracted Switzerland’s interest.
Do you then help the Icelandic economy by attracting your tourists?
« Yes, in this area, » says Stefan.
Saw Nonna and human
And do you always love Iceland as much?
« Yes, what’s not to love! Every morning I wake up and drink my coffee in stillness and quiet with a view of the Lagarfljót. It’s absolutely magnificent, » says Isabelle.
Asked if the winter has been difficult, she replies:
« No, the winters have not bothered us. For the first time last spring, I found a little difficult day, but Stefan finds nothing for it. But it went over three weeks, » she says.
In her leisure time Isabelle often goes on horseback, but she has been interested in horses from childhood. They both say that interest in Iceland has come to light immediately in childhood.
« I’ve been on horseback since I was a little girl. The Icelandic TV show, Nonni and Manni, was on TV and I think it turned out my love in Iceland right then. Stefan always had a keen interest in volcanoes as a child, » says Isabelle.
« Switzerland is a beautiful country and will always be our home but here we have more space. In Switzerland there are far too many people in small territory and there are people busy. People here are also busy but still more relaxed, » she says and Stefan agrees.
« If you look over water in Switzerland, there is a joke from boats. Here we look over the river and there are no boats! » Says Stefan and smiles wide.
