As I left the ‘Center for Puppet Arts’ in Borgarnes (less than an hour’s drive from Reykjavik) I felt as though I’d just visited another world, inhabited by strange wooden creatures. A sleepy place, waiting for us human guests to laugh and clap and pull a few strings, but perhaps (it’s nice to imagine at least) coming alive in earnest after closing time.

There was no performance scheduled when we visited, so we lunched at the cafe, then ooh-ed and ah-ed over everything in the gift shop (I bought the knuckle puppet pictured here) before heading for the dark entrance of the museum itself.

A winged boy with glass blue eyes welcomed us, dangling under a spotlight from the dozens of strings that govern his every move—the first of many creatures to enchant and fascinate us.

Though stationary, some were in poses so suggestive of movement that I caught myself looking back a few times, as though expecting a bird to have lowered its wing or a soldier to have taken a step forwards.

Besides the puppets themselves, there were puppet houses, a train/boat set, shadow menagerie and puppet-making workshop, as well as opportunities to try our own hand at puppetry.