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Westfjords
The Westfjords or West Fjords (, ) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative region, the least populous in the country. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of Iceland by a seven-kilometre-wide isthmus between Gilsfjörður and Bitrufjörður . The Westfjords are mountainous; the coastline is heavily indented by dozens of fjords surrounded by steep hills. These indentations make roads very circuitous and communications by land difficult. In addition, many roads are closed by ice and snow for several months of the year. The Vestfjarðagöng road tunnel from 1996 has improved that situation. The cliffs at Látrabjarg comprise the longest bird cliff in the northern Atlantic Ocean and are at the westernmost point in Iceland. Drangajökull, the only glacier in the region, is located in the north of the peninsula and is the fifth-largest in the country. Westfjords is certified by the EarthCheck Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vestfirðir Features
The Westfjords or West Fjords (, ) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative Regions of Iceland, region, the least populous in the country. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of Iceland by a seven-kilometre-wide isthmus between Gilsfjörður and Bitrufjörður . The Westfjords are mountainous; the coastline is heavily indented by dozens of fjords surrounded by steep hills. These indentations make roads very circuitous and communications by land difficult. In addition, many roads are closed by ice and snow for several months of the year. The Vestfjarðagöng road tunnel from 1996 has improved that situation. The cliffs at Látrabjarg comprise the longest bird cliff in the northern Atlantic Ocean and are at the westernmost point in Iceland. Drangajökull, the only glacier in the region, is located in the north of the peninsula and is the fifth-largest in the country. Westfjords is certified by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ísafjörður
Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord which meets the waters of the larger fjord Ísafjarðardjúp. With a population of about 2,600, Ísafjörður is the largest settlement in the peninsula of Vestfirðir (Westfjords) and the administration centre of the Ísafjarðarbær municipality, which includes—besides Ísafjörður—the nearby villages of Hnífsdalur, Flateyri, Suðureyri, and Þingeyri. History According to the Landnámabók (the book of settlement), Skutulsfjörður was first settled by Helgi Magri Hrólfsson in the 9th century. In the 16th century, the town grew as it became a trading post for foreign merchants. Witch trials were common around the same time throughout the Westfjords, and many people were banished to the nearby peninsula of Hornstrandir, now a nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patreksfjörður
Patreksfjörður (, ) is a fishing village in the Westfjords of Iceland. It was an important fishing and trading post until the Icelandic government's introduction of a fishing quota in 1990. Administratively, it is part of the municipality of Vesturbyggð. It is the westernmost settlement of Iceland. Etymology According to the ''Landnámabók'' (''Book of Settlements'')a medieval record of Norse settlements in IcelandPatreksfjörður was named after Bishop Patrick of the Hebrides who was the spiritual guide of Örlygur Hrappson, the first settler of the area who also came from the Hebrides. History Patreksfjörður has been settled by farmers since at least the 9th century. However, like most coastal villages, it did not grow to the size of a village until the late 18th century, when Iceland experienced a fishing boom. The village became an important fishing and trading post and experienced another finishing boom at the turn of the 20th century. In 1990, the introduction o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vestfjarðagöng
Vestfjarðagöng (, regionally also , ) is the longest tunnel in Iceland, located in Westfjords in northwestern Iceland. It has a length of and was opened in September 1996. The tunnel has three entrances and the three arms meet at junction in the tunnel. The three arms are known as: *Breiðadalur, 4,150 m (13,615 ft), which gives access to Flateyri and the south-western part of the Westfjords; *Botnsdalur 2,907 m (9,537 ft), which gives access to the village of Suðureyri to the west, a dead end route; *Tungudalur 2,103 m (6,900 ft), which gives access to Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ... and the northern part of the Westfjords. Only the Tungudalur arm has two lanes throughout. Much of the rest of the tunnel has only one lane with passing place ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Súðavík
Súðavík () is a fishing village and municipality (Súðavíkurhreppur ) on the west coast of Álftafjörður in Westfjords, Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi .... History On January 16, 1995, an 1995 Súðavík avalanche, avalanche fell on the village early in the morning (around 6:25 am) and destroyed several buildings, most of them residents' houses. Fourteen people were killed (including eight children) and twelve were injured. Severe snow storms made the rescue work difficult and dangerous. The final survivor was rescued 23 hours after the avalanche had fallen, and the search continued into the evening of January 17. A disaster relief fund was established, and within a week, the Icelandic public had donated 300 million kroner (about $3,000,000) to the reli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Þingeyri
Þingeyri (, regionally also ) is a settlement in the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær, Iceland. It is located on the coast of Dýrafjörður fjord in the mountainous peninsula Westfjords (in Icelandic language, Icelandic written Vestfirðir). On 1 January 2019, it had a population of 246. It has Þingeyri Airport, an airport. Continually inhabited since 1787,''Íslenska alfræðiorðabókin'', p. 563. Þingeyri is one of the oldest settlements in the WestfjordsLeffman, p. 207. and the first trading post established there.Simmonds, p. 243.Harding, p. 160. It is believed to derive its name from a medieval assembly (''þing'') and has ruins of a medieval booth believed to have been used by visitors to the assembly. Thanks to its sheltered location Þingeyri developed into a significant fishing center. In the 19th century the French applied for permission to establish a base there to support their fishing operations in the area but were turned down. From 1884-98, the town served ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolungarvík
Bolungarvík (, regionally also ) is a small town and the only built-up area in the municipality of Bolungarvíkurkaupstaður in the northwest of Iceland, located on the Westfjords peninsula, approximately from the town of Ísafjörður and from the capital city Reykjavík. Bolungarvík is close to abundant fishing grounds and has been used as an outpost for fishing since the 17th century, making it one of the earliest in Iceland. The village was not accessible by road until 1950, and in 2010 the Bolungarvíkurgöng tunnel was opened under the Óshlíð mountain to bypass the old road, which was frequently subject to avalanches and rock falls. Tourist sites include the Ósvör Maritime Museum, featuring a restored 19th-century fishing hut, a natural history museum, which houses taxidermied animals including a polar bear and the biggest bird collection in Iceland, and an indoor swimming pool with outdoor hot tubs and a water slide. Skálavík bay can be reached by a gravel roa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tálknafjörður
Tálknafjörður () is a fjord located in southern Westfjords between Patreksfjörður and Bíldudalur in Iceland. The term is also used for the immediate village and the former municipality of Tálknafjarðarhreppur. In January 2024, the municipality had 250 inhabitants, of whom 234 lived within the town proper. The town is located in the municipality of Vesturbyggð. In October 2023, inhabitants voted for the merger of the municipalities, which officially took place in May 2024. The town of Tálknafjörður was formerly named Sveinseyri or Tunga . By road, the distance to Ísafjörður, the largest city in the West Fjords, is 137 km, and 403 km to Reykjavík. This distance can be significantly shortened by the ferry from Brjánslækur to Stykkishólmur Stykkishólmur () is a town and municipality situated in the western part of Iceland, in the northern part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula. It is a center of services and commerce for the area. Most of the people ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drangajökull
Drangajökull (, regionally also ) is the northernmost glacier of Iceland, occupying the southern foothills of the Hornstrandir peninsula in the Westfjords region. It covers approximately 150 km2 and is the only Icelandic ice cap situated entirely below 1,000 metres in elevation. Lake sediment cores show that Drangajökull persisted near or above its present extent well into the mid-Holocene before retreating to near-modern limits between about 9,500 and 7,200 years ago. Modern airborne LiDAR mapping indicates the glacier has lost roughly 1.19 km3 of ice—an average thinning of 8.0 metres—since around 1990, even as its surge-type outlet glaciers periodically advance. Holocene history Sediment cores recovered from seven lakes around Drangajökull reveal how the ice cap behaved during the early and middle Holocene. These "threshold lakes" acted like natural switches: when the glacier margin reached them, meltwater carried fine mineral sediments into the lake basins; when the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flateyri
Flateyri ( Icelandic: ) is a village situated in Iceland's Westfjords. It is part of the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær and has a population of approximately 200, making it the largest settlement in Önundarfjörður. History Flateyri has been a trading post since 1792 and temporarily became a major whaling center in the 19th century. On October 26, 1995, an avalanche hit the village, destroying 29 homes and burying 45 people, which resulted in 20 fatalities. Since then a deflecting dam has been built to protect the village from any further avalanches. In the 1990s, Flateyri prospered as a fishing village, but after the 2008–2011 financial crisis hit, its main fishing companies shut down, and many people left. A German fishing company has set up base in Flateyri and is currently fishing in and just out of Önundarfjörður. The Esso gas station in Flateyri was the subject of a Belgian documentary in a series about gas stations around the world. The avalanche 1995 was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suðureyri
Suðureyri () is a small Icelandic fishing village perched on the tip of the 13 km-long Súgandafjörður in the Westfjords. The community was isolated for years by the huge mountains and rough road that led over them. Now it is connected to Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ... by a 5 km tunnel. The village has tours set up to allow visitors to experience traditional Icelandic life firsthand. This includes going out on original fishing boats or visiting the fish factory in town. Amenities include a geothermal swimming pool, campsite, hotel and a restaurant. The church was built in 1937. Climate References External linksFisherman Hotel Sudureyri Populated places in Westfjords Fishing communities Fishing communities in Iceland [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reykhólar
Reykhólar () is an Icelandic village in the Westfjords, in the northwest area of the country. The village, with around 120 inhabitants, has a swimming pool near the local camp site with a great view on the sea and mountains. The camp site, hostel, and a tourist office are open during the summer. Located south of Reykhólar, on a small island just offshore, is the plant of Norður & Co., a manufacturer of sea salt, evaporated from seawater by means of geothermal energy Geothermal energy is thermal energy extracted from the crust (geology), crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for m .... This process was first tried on Breiðafjöður in 1753 and was selected by Søren Rosenkilde when he established Norður in 2012. See also * Bjarkalundur References External links TravelNet - ReykholarEyjasiglingReykhólarSjávarsmiðjan - Seaweed bathHotel B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
