Hellissandur

The village is located in the west of Iceland Hellissandur and belongs to the municipality Snæfellsbær.

The role of fishing

Hellissandur is a small fishing village. The fishing here has a long tradition. Since the Middle Ages was located here because of the near rich fishing grounds a fishing village, according to sources probably the first existing in Iceland village. In earlier times, the women stood on the quay, when the boats came back, and the men all had to stand on the deck, so you could see that no one was missing. The woman with the best eye (later the best binoculars ) was asked whether their own husband was also there. There is also a fishing museum in the town.

Ship Graveyard Snæfellsnes

The coast around the tip of Snæfellsnes around is regarded as ship graveyard. So it was in the 17th century 300 to complain in the 18th century 400 dead alone on this stretch of coast, including 1892-1895 stranded here five large ships and in the years 1910 to 1920 died 28 sailors. The remains of a British trawler was stranded here in the 30s, can still be found scattered across the sand at Djúpalónssandur. They are now a protected monument.

Irish buildings?

There are interesting and enigmatic monuments from the Middle Ages in the area. Irish monks are said to have built the Fiskbirgir existed an " Irish " Fountain ( isl.irskur brunnur ), but is nowhere to be found, but the fountain falki invites at Öndverðarnes to a small scramble into the depths.

Transmitter Gufuskálar

In the immediate vicinity of the place Hellisandur is since 1959 a transmission facility for longwave whose erected in the same year, 412 -meter-high radio mast Gufuskálar is the tallest building in Western Europe. This transmitter was used from 1959 to the mid-1990s by the U.S. Army for radio navigation. Today, it serves the Icelandic radio to spread a radio program in the long wave range.

The former U.S. military facility has electromagnetically shielded houses. The Icelandic National Park Tax Agency uses the terrain as well as the Icelandic rescue organization ICE-SAR an education center, has established, among other things for earthquake exercises on the site.

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