The old house was built in 1841 by the shopkeeper Matthías Jónsson Mathiesen and he built the southern house a year later. Both houses are still standing in their original form in the cluster of houses at the Viking Village and are usually referred to as the Fjaran or Fjörukráin.

Over time these old  houses have been used for many things , such as a small shop, a department store, general storage, smithy, sailmaking workshop and the first classes in maritime navigation were held there, it served as a horsestable, a barn and a later also as a pharmacy. During the first part of the last century the Old House was connected to the fishing trawler industry here in Hafnarfjörður that later became a flourishing fishing industry and contributed to the thrift and development of the town.

On the 7th of February 1985 the Hafnarfjörður city council voted to have the house demolished after the consent of the building commission. The building commission however sent the matter for consultation to the National Committee of Building Preservation which unanimously voted against the demolition of the house. At that time the city sold the house to Viktor Strange and Harrý Holmgeirsson. They rebuilt it and finished the job in 1986. That same year they opened the restaurant Fjaran with grandeur in the house. In 1990 they sold the company to Jóhannes Viðar Bjarnason who changed the name to Fjörukráin and opened the restaurant on May 10th that same year after a few changes.  He introduced many novelties to his clients, that had never been seen in restaurants neither here in Hafnarförður nor elsewhere in the country.

Jóhannes started connecting song and food and held many days and events connected to the various countries. He dressed up his waiters and singers in the national costumes of the respective countries. Among the great events that he held were french days, swiss, austrian, danish, russian, egyptian, faroese and greenlandish days. Often artists came from the respective countries to partake in the events or local talent originating from the above countries were involved. From the above one can see that a great number of foreign artists have visited the Fjörukráin over the years not to mention all the local artists, singers and musicians that have provided enjoyment to the guests in the viking feasts up to this day.

A year later, or on May 10th 1991 the viking feasts started in a tent that was erected just south of  Fjörukráin, the Old House. This date, the 10th of May has become  a milestone date that is used for the introduction of novelties at the center for each year and the years to come.  On this day there have been many great parties given for the friends of the center in order to introduce the changes and new things in our operation. Thus the center has grown step by step, the Fjörukráin which started out with 60 seats now has seats for 500 guests. The facilities now comprise two restaurants standing side by side and the Hotel Viking.

The operation has been developed in stages according to the financial status at each time, step by step. When the tower building was erected not all were happy about that and there was a great debate in the newspapers and elsewhere about it, but the tower was built and has since become one of the main symbols of the skyline of Hafnarfjörður.

Another novelty was also introduced, which was the possibility for people to go on whalewatching and takle fun trips from here and the ship Fjörunesið was purchased for that purpose. Unfortunately we were ahead of our time regarding those types of attractions as the whale watching tours had not become as fashionalble as they are today and the sale of alcohol was banned on board the ship. This business was aboilshed after two tough years of trying. It can be said that the timing was not right for this business from our side.  Just a few years later whale watching and fun tours on the ocean had become a thriving and popular business.

The Hafnarfjörður steel smithy was later added to our company and it was changed into a hotel called the West Norden Guesthouse. The rooms were decorated with woodcuts and pictures from various historic places from our neighbor countries, Greenland and the Faroes. Of course icelandic handicrafts were held in great esteem there also.  On the first floor of the house was the West Norden Culture house and shop. There were also workshops for handicraft artists who sold their goods there.

As with the boat divison this did not work out financially and the operation was changed into a more lucrative business and the guest house was changed into a hotel and rooms were added. The handicraft shop was changed into the breakfast room for the hotel and a now very popular cave was built into the mount beside the hotel as an extension out from the breakfast room. We now have 42 modern rooms in the hotel with all neccesary amenities.  Many things have been tried, some worked out well others not so well which is often the case in business.

Several years ago the Fjörukráin was quite active in going abroad and for years we worked at travel promotion in the various cities of Europe. These promotions were mainly done in cooperation with Icelandair and the Iceland Tourist Board and at our own initiative. This proved to be a great way of promotion and most of the tourists who visited this country came to us for the Viking feasts in the Fjörukráin.

The Fjörukráin was the originator of the Viking Festival and at the outset Icelandair was a partner, later the Hafnarfjörður city, Íshestar and other parties joined us. The first three Viking Festivals were held by these partners and the company,  Landnám was founded by them in conjunction with the Viking Festivals.

After the third Viking Festival the partnership was dissolved and the Fjörukráin bought the Landnám company and has since then altogether been the chief organizer of the Viking Festivals however with great backing from the before mentioned parties. The Viking Festivals have been held thirteen times and the fourteenth will be held in June this year. It will commence on the 11th of June 2010 and will at this time cover two week-ends and end on June 20th.

The Fjörukráin has organized Viking Festivals abroad, for our cousins the Greenlanders and the Faroese and Viking Festivals under the auspices of the Fjörukráin have been held in Germany, Sweden and in Italy to name  a few. It is clear that Viking Festivals are here to stay and they have proven to be the very best amusement for the whole family. Many of the foreign viking enthusiasts who have come here have become great friends of Iceland and some are here for the fourteenth time. It is interesting to say that on the first Viking Festival there were just a handful of Icelandic vikings but now they are over 100 and are totally on par with ther foreign counterparts.

Here we have only discussed the main points and much more can be said but that has to be done at a later date and moment. One thing is for sure that since the Old House was built almost 170 years ago the houses here have been houses of action and life and will hopefully reamin so for a very long time to come. The twentieth year of operation for Fjörukráin is just starting and we will do many things to celebrate that milestone. We are planning many interesting and fun events in conjunction with our anniversary year.

Johannes Vidar Bjarnason

General Manager & Owner

 

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Hi Johannes,

Thank you very much for the nice room and the nice stay at your hotel.We appreciate your kindness and patience answering all our questions about your country,we enjoyed our stay very much.

We arrived nice . in time at the airport ,you arranged a nice car and a friendly driver. All this makes us to come back for a second time

  we are looking forward to it.

All the best,kind regards Henk and Trudy Slinger.

PS, Trudy did put 2 postcards on your counter ,will you please send them away for her.

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Isländer setzen große Hoffnung in Tourismus
Lokalaugenschein: Positive Stimmung trotz Weltwirtschaftskrise
 

Reykjavik (pte/31.01.2009/13:50) - Im nördlichsten Staat Europas, dem krisengeschüttelten Island, setzt man nun große Hoffnungen in den Tourismus. Dadurch dass die isländische Krone im vergangenen halben Jahr die Hälfte ihres Wertes verloren hat, ist Island für viele Touristen ein günstiges Reiseziel geworden. Die Low-Cost-Fluglinie Iceland-Express http://www.iceland-express.de bietet günstige Flüge von den meisten europäischen Flughäfen an und selbst in der unwirtlichsten Zeit - in den vielfach kalten und kurzen Wintertagen - besuchen zahlreiche Reisende aus Mittel- und Westeuropa die Insel im Norden Europas.
"Wir haben erstmals auch vermehrt Wochenendgäste aus verschiedenen europäischen Ländern hier", meint Erna Kaaber, Besitzerin des Icelandic-Fish & Chips-Restaurants http://www.fishandchips.is in Reykjavik gegenüber pressetext. "Günstig geworden sind nicht nur die Flüge, sondern auch das Übernachten sowie das Essen und das Trinken." Die gesamte Fremdenverkehrsorganisation ist nahezu perfekt - auch für Individualreisende, die keinen Mietwagen nehmen wollen. "Mit der Reykjavik-Tourist-Card kann man 72 Stunden mit sämtlichen Buslinien fahren und zudem viele Museen gratis besuchen", erzählt Dora Magnusdottir, Marketing-Managerin von Visit Reykjavik http://www.visitreykjavik.is. Ein besonderes Highlight, das vor allem Einheimische sehr schätzen, sind die zahlreichen Schwimmbäder, die mit Thermalwasser geheizt werden. "Ein echter Isländer geht fast jeden Tag ins Bad und trifft dort in den dampfenden Hotpools im Freien seine Freunde, Arbeitskollegen oder Bekannten." Mit der Reykjavik-Card ist der Besuch der städtischen Bäder gratis.

"Die Wirtschaftskrise legt uns auch nahe, etwas für unsere Gesundheit zu tun, daher erfreut sich das modernste Spa, das Laugar http://www.laugar.com mit der größten Fitnesshalle des Landes und den acht Saunen und Dampfbädern großer Popularität", so Sunneva Sigurdardottir, Marketing Direktorin von Laugarspa im pressetext-Gespräch. Dass man während der kühlen Wintertage gar keine Aktivitäten auf der Insel unternehmen kann, stimme nicht. "Ein Ausflug in die blaue Lagune oder auch eine Exkursion zur Südküste, zu den Wasserfällen von Gullfoss und zum Geysir sind kein Problem", meint Karl Johannsson, Reiseleiter von Iceland-Guide http://www.icelandguide.is . In den kalten Winternächten kann man auch das Nordlicht beobachten.

Während der kalten Jahreszeit gibt es in Island auch einige kulinarische Highlights, wie Jökull Thorri Samper, Hotelmanager vom Viking-Village http://www.vikingvillage.is in Hafnarfjörthur versichert. "Hinter Sursathur Hrutspungar verbergen sich in Molke eingelegte Hammelhoden, hinter Lundabaggar gekochte und sauer eingelegte Schafsinnereien und hinter Hakarl durch Verrottung fermentierter Hai." Dazu trinkt man ein Gläschen vom echten isländischen Brennivin - einem 40-prozentigen Schnaps mit Kümmelgeschmack. "Viele der traditionellen isländischen Gerichte werden von den Touristen gemieden, obgleich wir beobachten können, dass sie sich doch dafür interessieren", erzählt Samper. "Für all jene, die es weniger exotisch wollen, gibt es das traditionelle Fischbuffet mit den ganzen Köstlichkeiten aus dem Nordatlantik", meint Samper. (Ende)

Aussender: pressetext.austria
Redakteur: Wolfgang Weitlaner
email: weitlaner@pressetext.com
Tel. +43-1-81140-307

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The Viking Market in Hafnarfjörður is the oldest, largest and most important event of its kind in Iceland. 

Hafnarfjörður has been a stomping-ground of Vikings, demonstrating most aspects

of Iron-age culture, ships, cuisine, handcraft, storytelling, archery, games, music and battle demonstrations since 1995. Many artists have come from Europe and America to join us in celebrating the memory of our ancestors.

Occasionally, opportunities arise to bring forth unexpected things, anachronisms to underscore even further how the Vikings of old (and modern times) can coexist and arrive at a strong historical union.                                                                              

 From the beginning, the emphasis has been on authenticity. Guests at the

Festival are meant to feel as if they have been taken back 1,000 years, and

-- as if by miracle -- they have arrived at an ancient summer market. Ships

from foreign lands have come ashore, and merchants have taken out their

goods and begun to trade. The atmosphere is festive; music, jesters and

dancing girls, good food and drink. But when everything seems to be

peaceful, a battle breaks out and men kill each other with great vigor and

seemingly evil humor.

At the 2007 Viking market, new and fresh ideas will emerge. New heroes are

called and tested with veterans known through the years by loyal Festival

guests. A total of almost 160 Vikings, both domestic Icelanders and foreign

invaders, are expected.

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