We hope you will enjoy your visit to Restaurant Rauða húsið in Eyrarbakki Surrounding Area Thjórsár-lava is a hardened lava stream supposedly having emerged from a single eruption which occurred near the end of the last Ice Age (some 8,700 years ago). Being a huge eruption, it took place when a 30 km long fissure opened, close to the Veidivötn district in the east. The lava flow spread westwards and flowed eventually into the ocean, off Iceland’s south coast, about 140 km from the eruption site. The lava is from 15 to 40 meters thick. Both villages Eyrarbakki and Stokkseyri are located on the edge of the hardened lava, and are considered among the best places to view it. They are also excellent locations for viewing Urridafoss, a waterfall falling off the eastern edge of the lava field.
For ages, Eyrarbakki was the most noteworthy town in the minds of most Icelandic countryfolk in the region as a whole (and in fact along the entire south coast of Iceland). This was where the largest warehouses were built and the Episcopal See of Skálholt built its harbour and kept its ships. The lives of thousands of people in Iceland were in many ways dictated by the news that arrived (and sometimes did not arrive) with the first ships of the spring after a long hard winter. ■
Rauða húsið - Búðarstígur 4 820 Eyrarbakki Tel. 483 3330 www.raudahusid.is
REYKJAVÍK living 81