Eyrarbakki

Eyrarbakki was for centuries the main trading place on the south coast, handling the goods for a large hinterland at a time when there was no harbour and everything was landed through the surf. That trade collapsed once ports with real harbours took over, and the village stopped growing, which is why its nineteenth century timber houses survive as a group. Husid, the merchant's house of 1765, is among the oldest buildings in Iceland and is now the local museum, with a maritime collection beside it. A sea wall runs along the front because the village sits below the level of the winter storms. Iceland's main prison is on the edge of the village.

History

For centuries the harbour at Eyrarbakki was the main port of the south and the trading centre for the whole region from Selvogur to Lómagnúpur, until it lost that role by about 1925. In 985 the merchant Bjarni Herjólfsson sailed from here for Greenland and instead sighted North America, later selling his ship to Leif Eriksson; the village's oldest building, Húsið, a Norwegian kit house of 1765, is the oldest preserved timber dwelling in Iceland, the church of 1890 has an altarpiece painted by Queen Louise of Denmark, and the primary school, founded in 1852, is the oldest in the country (Wikipedia, Eyrarbakki).

Highlights

• A trading port that stopped - the reason the old houses survive.
• Husid of 1765 - among the oldest buildings in the country, now a museum.
• A sea wall along the front - the village sits below storm level.
• Surf landing history - goods brought ashore without a harbour.

When to go

May to September for the museums; the village itself any time. Half a day.

Things to know

Museums here keep short summer hours and are closed much of the year. The village is small and quiet, which is the appeal or the disappointment depending on expectations. The shore is exposed and the surf dangerous.

Nearby

Stokkseyri is minutes east; Selfoss is inland.

Key facts