Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2016, Side 51

It’s late spring and the mountains
of the Westfjords are still covered
in snow after a harsh winter. The
undulating, unpaved coastal road
to Strandir is a challenging drive
at this time of year, with steep
slopes, the risk of landslides, and
sheer cliffs down to the sea. After
a while weaving carefully around
the curves of the mountainside,
you eventually glimpse a few
buildings—the remains of what
was once the thriving village of
Djúpavík.
On the gentle descent into this
remote hamlet, you pass a sce-
nic waterfall that tumbles from
the high cliffs, before reaching a
huge run-down industrial build-
ing with a rusty old shipwreck in
front of it. This hulking structure
is the old herring factory, which
was shut down in the 1950s when
the herring stock crashed.
In the 1980s, the dilapidated
structure was bought by Ásbjörn
Þorgilsson and his wife Eva Sigur-
björnsdóttir, currently Djúpavík’s
only year-round residents. They
run a hotel and a tourist service
which is one of the most popu-
lar attractions in Strandir, along
with the Museum of Sorcery
and Witchcraft in Hólmavík and
Krossneslaug swimming pool in
Norðurfjörður.
Coming to Djúpavík
Upon entering the hotel, housed
in a building that was once the
factory workers’ quarters, you find
yourself in a cosy lobby and dining
hall, where walls and shelves are
tastefully crammed with all kinds
of bric-a-brac. Eva, who exudes a
calm and kiv nd presence, is busy
in the kitchen as it’s approaching
dinnertime, but allows for a short-
ish interview.
“I first came here in 1984 when
my husband bought the factory,”
says Eva. “I remember my first
thought, when I drove past it and
stared up at it, was: ‘It’s huge!’”
Indeed, the factory was the
largest concrete building in the
country in the 1930s. Eva says the
couple’s original plan was to start
up a fish breeding programme and
revive the factory for it, but they
had difficulties financing that
venture, so instead they founded
the hotel. “We saw that there was
a need for some tourist services
here,” she says. “There weren’t
even any toilets or anything, and
we needed to make a living space
for ourselves anyway so it was two
birds with one stone.”
A mystic pull
Neither Eva nor Ásbjörn had
any connections to Strandir or
Djúpavík before moving there, but
quickly fell in love with the place.
“I never meant to be in this role,
standing over pots and pans,” says
Eva. “I wasn’t too happy about
moving here at first. I was edu-
cated as a preschool teacher, and I
would have liked to use that educa-
tion. But then I was just so smitten
with Djúpavík, as were the whole
family. We love this place—prob-
ably more than anything else.” Eva
pauses, not quite able to articulate
why Djúpavík has such a pull.
But the hotel is there nonethe-
less, and has drawn an ever-grow-
ing number of visitors in the thirty
years it has been in business. The
traffic started slowly, but has been
increasing rapidly, particularly in
the last five years or so. “Of course,
the boom in winter tourism didn’t
quite reach us here,” she says, “be-
cause of the bad roads. But it’s still
growing, and when the roads are
open, people do come. They come
for the peace and quiet and the na-
ture and the northern lights and
all those typical things.”
It seems that once people have
been to Djúpavík, they are drawn
in, and return again and again.
“We have some regular visitors,”
says Eva. “There are people who
come here every year, even many
times a year.” She recounts a story
of an elderly man from Germany
who first came to stay at the hotel
the year it opened. “He kept com-
ing back more and more frequent-
ly until he was coming here every
year and he would stay for three
weeks. It was just like having your
grandpa over for a visit, everyone
got excited when he was about to
arrive and I think he enjoyed be-
ing around us. He took photos and
used them in a calendar which he
sent us for Christmas, and we sent
him presents back. Ási [Ásbjörn]
and I went to visit him in Ger-
many once and we meant to do it
again but he passed away before
we could. He was a regular like no
other, he had become like family.”
Culture and
eco-tourism
It’s not only tourists who are
drawn to Djúpavík—the town also
attracts many artists who are in-
spired by the location. Djúpavík has
a rich history, and the hotel staff
provide daily guided tours through
an exhibition on the subject, located
in the factory’s spacious halls and
crumbling corridors.
Each summer, several artists
exhibit their works in the fac-
tory and musicians perform at
the hotel. According to Eva, mu-
sician Svavar Knútur is a regular
performer who often visits, and
staff member Claus Sterneck has
displayed his photos in the fac-
tory for several years. In 2006,
Sigur Rós held a memorable con-
cert there as part of their “Heima”
tour. Last year, there was a de-
sign exhibit showcasing several
designers’ work with driftwood,
which is plentiful in Strandir, and
historically important for local
economy.
By hosting such exhibits and
events, Eva and Ásbjörn support
the tiny cultural scene of the area.
They also pride themselves on be-
ing the only eco-friendly tourism
service in Strandir, with a strong
environmental policy. “We always
buy our goods in eco-friendly
packaging, and use refillables.
I also sort all our waste, and we
don’t have showers in every room.
It’s not ecological that everyone’s
messing with water and soap at
the same time.”
Future Djúpavík
Eva and Ásbjörn have been run-
ning their hotel for thirty years,
and Eva says that they’ve just
started thinking about what they
will do when they get too long
in the tooth to continue. “I hope
someone will take over the busi-
ness,” she says. “Maybe our chil-
dren. They’ve all helped with the
business—increasingly so, in the
past few years. Then us oldies can
retire and relax. Or maybe,” she adds
with a grin, “we’d just stick around
to grumble over all the things we’d
feel they’d be doing wrong.”
But Eva cannot quit just yet—
she feels an obligation to the re-
gion, being the chairwoman of the
Árneshreppur municipality coun-
cil, which entails all kinds of of-
ficial duties. There are three years
left of her term, and the future
after that is undecided. But with
tourism in Strandir still boom-
ing, and the increasing popularity
of its more remote parts, it seems
likely that the hotel will continue
from the strong foundations laid
by Ásbjörn and Eva.
SHARE: gpv.is/djupavik
Djúpavík,
Population: 2
Or: what would you do if there
were two of you left in a town
frozen in time?
Words by RAGNA Ó. GUÐMUNDSDÓTTIR
Photos by ART BICNICK
50 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 4 — 2016TRAVEL
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