Grindavík () is a fishing town on the

Southern Peninsula Southern Peninsula ( is, Suðurnes ) is an administrative unit and part of Reykjanesskagi (pronounced ), or Reykjanes Peninsula, a region in southwest Iceland. It was named after Reykjanes, the southwestern tip of Reykjanesskagi. The region ha ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

not far from the

tuya A tuya is a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. They are rare worldwide, being confined to regions which were covered by glaciers and had active volcanism during the same period. As lava ...

Þorbjörn. It is one of the few cities with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work in the fishing industry. The Blue Lagoon, Grindavík's premiere attraction, is located from the town centre.

History

Landnáma or ''The Book of Settlements'' mentions that around 934, two Viking settlers, Molda-Gnúpur Hrólfsson and Þórir Haustmyrkur Vígbjóðsson , arrived in the

Reykjanes Reykjanes () is a small headland on the southwestern tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, giving the main peninsula its name. The region is about from Iceland's international airport. As the name means "smoking peninsula" connected to volc ...

area. Þórir settled in Selvogur and Krísuvík and Molda-Gnúpur in Grindaví

The sons of Moldar-Gnúpur established three settlements; Þórkötlustaðahverfi , Járngerðarstaðarhverfi and Staðarhverfi . The modern version of Grindavik is situated mainly in what was Járngerðarstaðarhverfi. In June 1627 Grindavik was raided by

Barbary Pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

in an event known as the

Turkish Abductions The Turkish Abductions ( is, Tyrkjaránið) were a series of Slave raiding, slave raids by Barbary pirates, pirates from Northwest Africa that took place in Iceland in the summer of 1627. The pirates came from the cities of Algiers and Salé. T ...

. Twelve Icelanders and three Danes, along with two vessels were taken, and with captives taken from other Icelandic settlements, transported into slavery in Algiers. The origins of the municipality can be traced to Einar Einarsson's decision to move there to build and run a shop in 1897. During that time the population was only around 360. Fishing had for centuries been a crucial element in the survival of Grindavik's population, but fishing trips were often dangerous. Men were frequently lost at sea and the catch not always stable. However, when a safer access point to land was created at Hópið in 1939, fishing conditions changed dramatically. From 1950 serious development in the fishing industry had begun to take place. Grindavik was declared a municipality in 1974.

Activities

A short distance to the north, there is the '' Blue Lagoon'' ( is, Bláa Lónið), a geothermal spa using hot and mineralized waters from the nearby Svartsengi power station.

Ungmennafélag Grindavíkur Ungmennafélag Grindavíkur, commonly known as UMFG or Grindavík, is a multi-sport club in Grindavík, Iceland. It has active departments of Association football, football, basketball, judo, Swimming (sport), swimming, taekwondo and gymnastic. B ...

(Umfg) is the town's sport club, and the town contains the

Grindavíkurvöllur Grindavíkurvöllur () is a multi-use stadium in Grindavík, Iceland. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''f ...

stadium. The

Leif the Lucky Bridge Southern Peninsula ( is, Suðurnes ) is an administrative unit and part of Reykjanesskagi (pronounced ), or Reykjanes Peninsula, a region in southwest Iceland. It was named after Reykjanes, the southwestern tip of Reykjanesskagi. The region ha ...

spans the Álfagjá rift valley that marks the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates. It was built in 2002 and named in honor of Icelandic explorer

Leif Erikson Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North ...

, who travelled from Europe to explore North America 500 years before Columbus. The Icelandic Saltfish Museum in Grindavík opened in 2002. It displays the story of salt fish production and its importance for the Icelandic economy throughout the centuries in a specially designed building of .

Sports

Grindavik has a

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

playing in the Icelandic league.

Notable residents

The Icelandic writer

Guðbergur Bergsson Guðbergur Bergsson is an Icelandic writer born in Grindavík on 16 October 1932. He attended the University of Iceland for his Teaching degree and then studied literature at the University of Barcelona. He is one of the leading translators of Spa ...

was born here, and

Kalli Bjarni Karl Bjarni Guðmundsson aka Kalli Bjarni (born 6 January 1976 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic singer who rose to popularity after winning '' Idol Stjörnuleit'', the Icelandic version of ''Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music comp ...

, the first winner of the Icelandic version of

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

, lives in the town. The Spanish publisher and writer

Jaime Salinas Bonmatí Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and ...

, engaged to Guðbergur Bergsson, lived, died and is buried here. Icelandic footballer

Alfreð Finnbogason Alfreð Finnbogason (born 1 February 1989) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a forward for Danish Superliga club Lyngby Boldklub and the Iceland national team. With Heerenveen, Alfreð was the Dutch Eredivisie's top scorer ...

was also born in Grindavík. Ex-Leeds United footballer, Lee Sharpe, had a spell with Grindavík football club, at the end of his career, c.2006.

Naval Communication Facility

Near Grindavík, the United States Navy operates

Naval Radio Transmitter Facility Grindavik Naval Radio Transmitter Facility Grindavik (NRTF Grindavik) is a transmission facility of the US Navy at Grindavík, Iceland, maintained by the N62 Division. It is active on shortwave and longwave under the callsign TFK on 37.5 kHz. NRTF G ...

. It uses several antennas, including two guyed masts. The mast situated at 63°51′1″N 22°28′0″W was built in 1993 and is tall. The other mast at 63°51′3″N 22°27′6″W was built in 1983 and is tall. The taller mast replaced a mast, and the second replaced a mast of same height.

Twin towns – sister cities

Grindavík is twinned with: *

Ílhavo Ílhavo () is a municipality located in the centre of Portugal. The population in 2021 was 39,239, in an area of 73.48 km². The Municipality of Ílhavo includes four parishes and two cities: Gafanha da Nazaré and Ílhavo (City). General i ...

, Portugal *

Jonzac Jonzac (; french: label=Poitevin-Saintongese, Jhonzat) is a commune of the Charente-Maritime department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. The historian Jean Glénisson (1921–2010) was born in Jonzac as well as the philosopher Jean Hypp ...

, France *

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 22,909 at the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is west of Barnsley, n ...

, England, United Kingdom *

Piteå Piteå () is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. Piteå is Sweden's 58th largest city, with a population of 23,326. Geography Piteå is located at the mouth of the Pite River ( sv, Piteälven), at th ...

, Sweden *

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, Finland *

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, Poland

References

External links

Official website

More information and photos about Grindavík on Hit Iceland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grindavik Reykjanes Municipalities of Iceland Populated places in Southern Peninsula (Iceland)