Øravík (also spelled Ørðavík, da, Ørdevig) is a village on the east coast of the island of

Suðuroy Suðuroy (literally South Island, da, Suderø) is the southernmost of the Faroe Islands. The island covers 163.7 square kilometres (63.2 sq mi). In 2018 the population was 4,601. Suðuroy region (sýsla) comprises this island and Lítla ...

in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. The village is located in the center of the island on a crossroad where the road to

Fámjin Fámjin ( da, Famien) is a village located on the western side of Suðuroy, the southernmost island in Faroe Islands. Fámjin is looking directly out to the North Atlantic Ocean. Name Geography The village of Fámjin faces the ocean, althou ...

goes towards west over the mountains to the west coast. One part of the village is located in the bay of Øravík, the other part is 3 km further north near the ferry port

Krambatangi Krambatangi is the ferry port of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands. The ferry MS ''Smyril'' M/F disembarks 2–3 times daily from Krambatangi to Tórshavn. Krambatangi is located on the southern side of Trongisvágsfjørður halfway between Trongis ...

. The northern part of Øravík and the southern part of

Trongisvágur Trongisvágur ( da, Trangisvåg) is a village on the island of Suduroy in the Faroe Islands. Trongisvágur is the village in the bottom of Trongisvágsfjørður (fjord) on the east coast of Suduroy. Trongisvágur and the neighbouring villages o ...

have grown together. Øravík is one of the few places in

which still has cattle. Besides from that there are other domestic animals like sheep and geese. There is a small harbour in Øravík and some boat houses.

Varðagøtur

Just south of Øravík up in the mountains is a place called Mannaskarð, where the old walking paths from five villages meet, these paths are called varðagøtur in Faroese, named after "varðar", which means cairn. These are all around the island between the villages and other places, so people could find their way in the old days, before the roads for cars were made. On Mannaskarð the paths from Øravík,

Hov A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, i ...

Porkeri Porkeri ( da, Porkere) is a village in the Faroe Islands, situated northeast of Vágur on Suðuroy's east coast. As of 2020 it had a population of 318, and it has been inhabited at least as early as the 14th century. History Tradition says that ...

and

Vágur Vágur meaning ''Bay'' ( da, Våg) is a town on the island of Suðuroy, part of the Faroe Islands It is situated on the east coast of the island on the Vágsfjørður fjord, and was founded in the fourteenth century. Expansion has meant that the ...

meet. Sometimes hiking trips are arranged along these old paths.

Folklore

Øravík is mentioned in Suduroy Saga (Suðuroyar Sagnir) several times, i.e. in the story about Vísa Marjun (Wise Marion). One of the stories about her tell about how she scared away the pirates who ravaged at that time. They embarked in Hvalba and wanted to go to all of the island to steal what they could find. People escaped up in the mountains to hide in caves there, but Wise Marion was not scared, she stood and waited for them and sent a retarded boy towards them. According to the story the pirates got scared that she may put a spell on them, so they turned around and went back to

Hvalba Hvalba ( da, Kvalbø) is a village and a municipality in the Faroe Islands, which consists of Hvalba, Nes-Hvalba and Sandvík. The village spreads around the bottom of a deep inlet, Hvalbiarfjørður, in the northeast of Suðuroy. Population Hv ...

. The pirates were called Turks, but they came from Algier in North Africa, which was a part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

The road and the tunnel between Øravík and Hov

In 1943 work started to make a road between Øravík and

. However, very little progress was made as only a few men were working on the road. They made the road from Øravík to Trøllavík (near Tjaldavík), but stopped in 1953. The work had also started on the other side of the mountains, in Hov, but there too they made little progress, and when the work there also stopped in 1953 they had only made it a short way from the village. Three years later they started to work again on both sides of the Øravík-Hov road. This time they were around 70 men on the northern side and around 60 men on the southern side. On 1 October 1958 the road was finally opened. 49 years after the opening of the road between Øravík and Hov, which was a very big progress back then, a tunnel was opened between the same two villages. The tunnel, Hovstunnilin, was opened on 20 October 2007.

Data

Population: 42 in Øravík and 70 in Øravíkarlíð Hagstova.fo

Gallery

Image:Øravík.2010.jpg, Øravík in snow on 28 February 2010.

Froðba Froðba ( da, Frodebø) is a village located farthest out on the north brink of Trongisvágsfjørður, an inlet on the east coast of the island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands. History The village has eventually merged with the harbour-city of T ...

is on the other side of

Trongisvágsfjørður Trongisvágsfjørður is a fjord on the island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands. There are four villages around the fjord. Furthest east on the northern side of the fjord is Froðba, in the bottom of the fjord is Trongisvágur. In between Tro ...

. Image:Øravík.4.jpg, Øravík in May 2002. Hotel Øravík is located in the brown buildings in the center of the photo. Image:Øravík.2.jpg, View over the bay of Tjaldavík, Øravík and

. A part of Øravík is visible just below the mountain Oyrnafjall.

References

External links

Faroe IslandsTourist Information Center in SuðuroyOravik.com
Hotel Øravík. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oravik Populated places in the Faroe Islands Populated coastal places in the Faroe Islands Suðuroy