Iceland review - 2014, Side 73

ICELAND REVIEW 71
djúpavík is located at the head
of Reykjafjörður fjord, in
Árneshreppur in the Strandir
region in the eastern West Fjords.
While the fjord had been farmed for
centuries, the village’s story begins
in 1917 when elías Stefánsson built
a herring salting factory there. two
years later his enterprise went bank-
rupt, and the village was abandoned
during the 20s.
in 1934, djúpavík was resettled,
and a herring factory, the biggest con-
crete construction in iceland—and
one of the biggest in europe at the
time—was built the same year. the
factory was completed in just one
year, despite the harsh weather condi-
tions and the lack of roads connecting
the village to the rest of iceland.
Next year, Hótel Djúpavík will turn 20.
Djúpavík, a village with just seven houses
and a permanent population of four, is
like no other place in Iceland.
WORDS AND PHOTOS By Páll StefánSSon.
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