The county Hornafjörður

Sveitarfélagið Hornafjörður is a county in the south-eastern region of Iceland. It has one major town and many small farms. A part of the largest national park in Iceland is in the county. This national park covers 13% of Iceland including the biggest glacier in Europe, Vatnajökull and surrounding areas.

svartifoss

The waterfall Svartifoss

The county has beautiful scenery, there is a lot of nature full of life. At the west side of the county is Skaftafell a part of the national park which is very popular tourist destination. Svartifoss is a waterfall that is a part of the national park and it is one of the most popular sight in the park, it is surrounded by dark lava columns, which gave rise to its name.

jokulsarlon

The glacier lagoon – Jökulsárlón

Vatnajökull is also a part of national park and the name translates directly to ‘‘Water Glacier‘‘. It‘s mesmerizing to see a glimpse of it, and Höfn is probably the only place in the world where you can see 7 glaciers (glacier tongues) close up in one town. The Glacier lagoon, Jökulsárlón is a popular tourist attraction where it is possible to see icebergs and the glacier close up. In the summertime it is possible to go on a boat tour and touch the ice as it floats in the water.  In two of James Bond movies are scenes that takes place at the glacier.

Ingólfshöfði is on the south coast of Iceland, it’s named after the first icelandic settler Ingólfur Arnarson. It’s a cape that is home to many nesting seabirds, including the puffin and great skuas.

Hoffell is a place near Höfn that has geothermal hot pots, the water used there is from hot bore hole. It’s a good place to relax.  In Hoffell it is also possible to go hiking and look at the beautiful mountain range.

stokksnesStokksnes is a headland near Höfn í Hornafirði, there a mountain range collides with the shore and sea. There is a lot of history around the area and once the british military set up a small army base there. Ships have sunk and helicopters crashed. But still it’s beauty and elements are the most spectacular about the place. Near Stokksnes, you can see a viking village. It might look like the real deal but it is in fact not, it was actually a set of a movie that was never filmed do to funding issues. Now the farmer that owns the land let’s people come and look around the village. You can even enter some of the buildings and it is quite spectacular.

Lónsöræfi is a nature reserve land, it is colorful and has a variety of forms and a lot of rhyolite, fracture filling and beautiful stones. It was made a nature reserve in the year 1977 and is now in the care of Skaftafell national park and it has many hiking trails.

hofn

Höfn í Hornafirði

Höfn is a small town in the southern region of Iceland, with a population of around 1700 people and the only densely populated town in the county.

The main income comes from tourists and fish. In the town is a large fishing company named Skinney Þinganes. They sell fish to other countries going by the name Blumaris, a lot of different species of fish are sold but the most priced one is the lobster, it is handled carefully and organized by size and quality. The town even holds a lobster festival since the year of 1993. About 250 people work in Skinney including the fishermen.

There are a lot of tourist attractions in and around Höfn, mainly because of the beautiful scenery, there are a many restaurants, guesthouses and hotels so the town can profit from tourist industry. Tourists have become so many and the numbers are rising every year. Companies that give tours and service to tourists are profiting and the community as well.

The school system starts at kindergarten, elementary, secondary and then upper secondary school. Teens get a community center for themselves which makes them familiar with one another. At the community center the minds of the teen blossom, they can either craft, do computer programming or just hang there and interact with other kids and play billiard, table tennis and much more. There are also clubs for adults such as LCI better known as Lion Clubs International and some of them join sewing, art and choir club where they invite the whole town to dinner while they perform for them and last but not least there is a musical school where people can learn an instrument or practice their singing.

Höfn offers a wide variety of sports activities for everyone from young children to the seniors. Höfn has many sport facilities including a gymnasium, a local pool, a gym and a rather large golf course. Young kids can practise volleyball, basketball, soccer, swimming, track, badminton, gymnastics and at an older age kids can participate in horseback riding. The town also has a soccer and a basketball teams that participate in the national league.

Iceland has a lot of immigrants and of course in Höfn too, where they live and work. With these immigrants comes a different culture and religion. In Höfn we have 3 churches, catholic, christian and one lutheran.

Written by Chrishle, Lea Sól and Sveinn Metúsalem

Presentation about the community

References:

http://www.glacierguides.is/day-tours/sightseeing/ingolfshofdi-nature-reserve

http://icelandaurora.com/photo-tours/vestrahorn-mountain/

http://www.sth.is/

http://www.visiticeland.com/things-to-do/national-parks-in-Iceland/VatnajokullNationalPark

https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestrahorn