Arnarstapi

64.769883333333 - 23.622322222222Koordinaten: 64 ° 46 ' 12 " N, 23 ° 37' 20 " W

Arnarstapi is a small fishing village in the municipality Snæfellsbær on the Snæfellsnes peninsula in western Iceland.

Location

Arnarstapi located on the extreme western tip of Snæfellsnes just east of Hellnar. The volcano system of counting Snæfellsjökul mountain Stapafell ( dt.der clogged mountain ) dominates the place.

History of the port

Since the Middle Ages it was an important fishing area, especially Arnarstapi had several protected landing areas for rowing boats.

In earlier times, more people lived in Arnarstapi, 147 inhabitants counted the place 1707. They spread out on 28 farms and crofts.

The place was during the Danish trade monopoly to the Danish trading centers, where certain farms were allocated. Also, here from 1565 high Danish administration officials had their headquarters

From 1933, when the age of the trawlers began in Snæfellsnes, one built from the harbor. While deliveries were made a long time only by sea.

A concrete pontoon bridge was built here in 1944 and at the same time they built a road down to the harbor.

Today, in the area only a few farms are managed, in the summer you go from here to fish and uses tourism as a source of additional income. The numerous summer houses are not only strangers, but mainly as seasonal fishermen who set off from here to cod fishing in the summer.

Place of poets and legends

Two poets came from this place.

In the 17th century, the poet of the people here Guðmundur Bergthorsson lived ( about 1657-1705 ), which had been given the nickname because of his disability, the cripple ( isl.krypplingur ). He had grown remarkably small.

Guðmundur Bergthorsson had specialized attention to the balladry ( Rímur ).

To him entwine also several folk tales, such as that he was to receive from a dwarf, an ointment to relieve him of his disability. However, the dwarf was not allowed to see other people than him. However, a curious acquaintance disturbed the appointment and the poet remained disabled.

Arnarstapi is also the birthplace of Steingrímur Thorsteinsson ( 1831-1913 ). Steingrímur wrote poetry, but also translated much. So it comes from a translation of " The Arabian Nights " into Icelandic. He translated fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, but also from German, for example, the ballad " Lorelei " by Heinrich Heine. He worked as a teacher and from 1904 was director of the high school Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík.

Seaside is a statue of Ragnar Kjartansson representing the mythical figure Bárður Snæfellsás.

The rocky coast

Arnarstapi is located on the south side of the volcano Snæfellsjökul and features a striking black eroded cliffs with caves and rock oriented. This can be seen particularly well on an approximately 3 km walk to the neighboring village Hellnar.

The sea has the basalt columns formed at Arnarstapi on the beach and a wide variety of coves and caves formed, which extend under the cliffs. Some of these caves are open at the top and at the storm and high waves it foams from these up. Various rock pillars, former lava channels and remnants of craters, standing in the sea and serve the numerous seabirds as nesting sites. Above all you will find here black-backed gulls, kittiwakes and fulmars. Again, many nesting terns.