Iceland review - 2014, Síða 61

ICELAND REVIEW 59
Tourism BoosT
The hotel was originally supposed to be
open in summer only, but with bookings
for the winter looking promising, it will
remain open year-round. “We’ve had noth-
ing but great reviews,” beams Sigfús. Guests
appreciate the atmosphere and access to
the museum, which is included in the price.
“They pretty much all take advantage of it.
Kids love it, too.” A building with 19 new
rooms is under construction, making their
total 45. “Skeptics asked: ‘How are you ever
going to fill 45 hotel rooms?’” says Sigfús.
“I responded: ‘You’re never going to fill
them unless you have 45 rooms.’” The
hotel gives tourists a reason to stay longer
and explore Fjarðabyggð municipality in
more detail, including Fáskrúðsfjörður and
five other fjords. Residents appreciate the
initiative, too. “In the slow season, we’ll
focus more on locals, offering Christmas
buffets, for example,” reveals Sigfús. The
hotel’s restaurant, L’abri (meaning ‘shelter’
in French), serves fresh fish, game and
other dishes using Icelandic ingredients
with a French twist. The outside seating
area on the hotel’s private pier has proven
popular on sunny days, whereas the cozy
lounge with a fireplace and panel wall
from the old hospital tempts as winter
falls. Optimism and confidence in the local
tourism industry is growing. “A resident
asked whether we weren’t planning to
open a bike rental. I said: ‘No, but why
don’t you?’”
ocean of memories
Standing on the uneven wooden deck of a
century-old schooner, taking in the scent
of salt and fish, staring at the open ocean
as waves violently crash against the ship’s
fragile hull… The Fransmenn á Íslandi
museum exhibition designed by Árni Páll
Jóhannsson takes visitors back in time.
The artwork, ‘Ocean of Memories’ (‘Haf
minninganna’), waves on a screen where
names of lost fishermen—Pierre, Louis,
Yves and thousands of others—are swal-
lowed by the sea, has a hypnotizing effect,
the spell broken only when a feeling of
seasickness sets in. No less effective is a
reconstruction of the cabin space of a typi-
cal schooner, where realistic wax puppets
squat in 150-cm (59-inch) bunks. “People
were smaller back then but not that
small,” comments museum guide Annette
Schaafhirt. The bunks, padded with hay
rather than mattresses, were kept narrow
so that more space could be reserved for
fish, she explains. “Each bunk was shared
by two fishermen, working up to 20-hour
shifts. They sometimes wouldn’t bother
taking their clothes off, so everything was
wet. The cabin was also filled with smoke.”
It’s hard to imagine how crew members, the
youngest of whom were not even ten years
old, could live under such conditions for
months at a time.
The exhibition is located in the tunnel
underneath Hafnargata, while the rest of
the museum and hotel reception share
the ground floor of Læknahúsið. There,
visitors can learn more about the history of
French fishermen in Iceland through mul-
timedia displays, see what the hospital used
to look like, browse through books and
observe artifacts, many of which come from
the original Fransmenn á Íslandi museum,
which is still in the process of being moved
to the new facilities. Officially opening dur-
ing the Franskir dagar festival in late July,
the museum has been well-visited, peaking
at 4,000 visitors that month. People are
visibly touched by the exhibition, Annette
says, especially those whose family his-
tory is connected to Fáskrúðsfjörður. “One
woman from Paimpol came here and found
her relative’s grave, which moved her to
tears. She didn’t know he had been buried
here.” *
History
The new hotel, former French hospital, located by the shore in the center of Fáskrúðsfjörður.