We come from the municipality of Hornafjörður or some call it Austur-Skaftafellssýsla, either way it’s the same thing. It´s located in the South-East and it’s the 4th largest municipality in Iceland by land area as it covers around 6.309 Square kilometers.
Around 2500 people live in Hornafjörður municipality and most of them live in the town Höfn and the rest live in farms around the municipality. Our municipality is pretty isolated as the nearest town is about an hour away and the capital are is 6 hours away or about 450 kilometers.
Vestrahorn is located on the Stokksnes peninsula in Southeast Iceland and It´s about 20 minutes away from our town. If you’re staying in Höfn you MUST see it. Vestrahorn has beautiful mountains with peaks that reach up to 450 meters and stunning black sand beaches that covers the peninsula, and if you´re lucky you might spot some seals chilling on the beaches. The Viking village, which is an old movie setting, is also located in Vestrahorn and there´s also a few hiking trails that go around the mountains.
Fun Fact: The Stokknes peninsula was a vital location for the British Army during World War 2.
Skaftafell is a preservation area located in the Öræfi region in our municipality. Skaftafell had its own national park in 1967 but it later became a part of Vatnajökull National Park in 2008.
Skaftafell was once a major village but sadly the local community and most farms in the area were wiped out because of the Öræfajökul eruption in 1362. Since then, the region around Skaftafell has been named “Öræfi” which means wasteland in English.
The hiking trails from the Skaftafell visitor centre lead up to many interesting places like: Svartifoss directly translated (Black Waterfall) and Sel, which are old turf houses that were abandoned in 1946, there are many more places to see but these are the few that we named. Guys imagine, Icelandic people used to live in these houses from the settlement ages to the 1900s.
The visitor centre also offers Ice cave tours and glacier hiking tours on Svínafellsjökul and many surrounding ice caps. People can also go on glacier hikes on Öræfajökull which is one of the largest active volcanoes in Iceland, Hvannadalshnjúkur, the highest peak in Iceland is also located on Öræfajökull and its about 2110 meters above sea level.
Jökulsárlón or Glacial Lagoon is a glacial lake that is situated on the end of Breiðarmerkur glacier. The icebergs that can be seen floating on the lagoon are pieces that have melted off the Breiðamerkur glacier. The glacier lagoon is pretty young as it started to form in the 1930s after the Breiðarmerkur glacier started melting and receding from the sea. The lagoon is said to be the deepest lake in Iceland. Jökulsárlón is about an hour away from our town and its very popular amongst the tourists. There are boat tours that go around the lagoon for people that are willing to pay. There’s also a beautiful beach nearby called the Diamond beach, it got its name because of the smaller icebergs that have floated on shore. Its also a nice place to take pictures of.
We are from a little town called Höfn, in English it means “Harbour”. Although our town is not big it still has couple of hotels, camping sites, a pharmacy, a swimming pool, a supermarket, health center, kindergarten, primary and secondary school, and a beautiful amazing absolutely stunning music school and couple of restaurants like Pakkhúsið, Kaffi – Hornið and Ósinn. In Höfn we also have a community centre for teenagers which is called Þrykkjan, there the kids and teenagers in town can play games and have some fun. In the upper floor of Þrykkjan there’s FabLab, which is a place where you can learn vocational courses and build stuff with a 3D printer. There´s also an information centre in town for people that are smart enough to get lost in a small town like ours.
Traditional Icelandic food
We are mostly going to talk about the food that the Icelandic people used to eat in the old days.
Many people like boiled svið or sheep head , it´s one of the more likeable Icelandic dishes. Sviðasulta which is some kind of a jelly made from a sheep head.
Slátur, which means Slaughter in English. Slátur is made from the innards of a sheep . There are 2 types of Slátur; the darker one is called Blóðmör or Blood pudding and the lighter one is called Lifrapysla or Liver sausage.
Hangikjöt, it’s smoked lamb meat that’s usually served cold and its often eaten in Christmas.
Hákarl is fermented shark. Hákarl has a very strong smell and most people don´t like it. And if its not processed correctly it might be poisonous.
Many people like to eat bunch of Hrútspungar or Sheep testicles. There´s not much to say about sheep balls.
Skyr has been a part of Icelandic culture since the settlement ages. Its like yogurt but more creamier and denser, almost like cheese. Today is Skyr very popular in Iceland and it is possible to get many types of it.
Written by Amylee. Hafdís Ósk and Laufey Ósk
Presentation about the municipality and Icelandic food