Ísafjörður, meaning ice fjord, is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or eyri, in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord which meets the waters of the larger fjord Ísafjarðardjúp. With a population of about 2,600, Ísafjörður is the largest settlement in the peninsula of Vestfirðir (Westfjords)
According to the Landnámabók (the book of settlement), it was first settled by Helgi Magri Hrólfsson in the 9th century. In the 16th century, the town grew as it became a trading post for foreign merchants. Witch trials were common around the same time throughout the Westfjords, and many people were banished to the nearby peninsula of Hornstrandir, now a national nature reserve.
The town of Ísafjörður was granted municipal status in 1786. The former Danish trading post Neðstikaupstaður, established in the 18th century, contains the oldest collection of timber frame houses in Iceland. These include Krambúð (1757), Faktorshús (1765), Tjöruhúsið (1781), and the site of the Westfjords Heritage Museum Turnhúsið (1784).
The town is connected by road and a 5.4 kilometres road tunnel to Bolungarvík which lies 15 km to the northwest, and to the village of Súðavík to the east. Ísafjörður has an airport with regular flights to Reykjavík. Fishing has been the main industry in Ísafjörður, and the town has one of the largest fisheries in Iceland. A severe decline in the fishing industry for a variety of reasons, such as fishing restrictions in the early 1980s, and a decline in the fish population, has led the inhabitants to seek work elsewhere, leading to a decline in the town's population. The harbour also serves ferries to nearby settlements as well as larger cruise ships for tourists visiting the area. The tourist industry is growing; it is a major access point to the nature reserve on the Hornstrandir Peninsula, an uninhabited wilderness area to which ferries run weekly during summer.
Despite its size, small population, and historical isolation from the rest of the country, the town has a relatively urban atmosphere. Ísafjörður has a school of music, as well as a hospital. The older former hospital building now accommodates a cultural centre with a library and showrooms.
We just took our own walk around the small town for a few hours and returned to the Silver Wind for lunch.
Click on any of the thumbnails to get a bigger version of the picture
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