Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.10.2013, Page 28

Step into
the Viking Age
Experience Viking-Age Reykjavík at the
new Settlement Exhibition. The focus of the
exhibition is an excavated longhouse site which
dates from the 10th century ad. It includes
relics of human habitation from about 871, the
oldest such site found in Iceland.

Multimedia techniques bring Reykjavík’s
past to life, providing visitors with insights
into how people lived in the Viking Age, and
what the Reykjavík environment looked like
to the first settlers.
The exhibition and
museum shop are open
daily 10–17
A!alstræti 16
101 Reykjavík / Iceland
Phone +(354) 411 6370
www.reykjavikmuseum.is
These days, the main focal point of the
town is Hotel Djúpavík, with its eight
first-floor bedrooms and a cosy dining
hall that also acts as a kind of informal
history museum. The owners, Eva and
Ásbjörn, moved here in 1985, convert-
ing the former female workers' quar-
ters into a homely, secluded stopover
for native travellers and international
tourists alike. The hotel has proved
popular, expanding to take in a cosy
cottage that can house a further eight
people, as well as a couple of small
dorm rooms for those seeking low-
budget sleeping bag accommodation.
Falling in love, happiness
by the sea
We took the trip with Claus Sterneck,
a German graphic designer and Reyk-
javík postman, who has worked at the
hotel for eight summers straight after
falling hard for the town on his first
visit. "An ex-girlfriend showed me an
article in a magazine about Djúpavík,"
he recounts. "The headline was "the
loneliest hotel in the world is in Ice-
land" with a by-line saying something
like "happiness by the sea: anything is
possible." I looked at the picture—the
houses and the factory—and I knew
I had to go. Two months later, I was
there. And I fell in love with it."
As luck would have it, this was
the moment Iceland's most famous
band decided to come to town. Hav-
ing achieved worldwide success and
toured widely, Sigur Rós decided to
stage a series unannounced free gigs
around their homeland. From these
performances came the clips that
make up ‘Heima,’ their much-admired
live film and documentary, and a pow-
erful love letter to Iceland. "It was just
magical," he says, with a wistful smile,
"like all my Christmases and birthdays
rolled into one."
The road into town is little more
than a potholed track with a vertical
Words
John Rogers
Djúpavík, like many places in the Westfjords of Ice-
land, feels close to the edge of the world. Formerly a
busy fishing town, the herring processing plant that
dominates the area lies silent, long since closed down.
Its oil tanks and echoing halls now stand in disrepair,
a rusting monument to an industrial past.
Home To The Loneliest
Hotel In The World
A weekend in the Westfjord’s
Djúpavík
Issue 16 — 2013 28
Djúpavík1
Matthew Eismann