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Øravík

About the village

Øravík (also spelled Ørðavík) is a village in Suðuroy and is a part of the municipality of Tvøroyri. Øravík lies on the east side of Suðuroy near the middle of the island. Neigbouring villages are Fámjin, Hov and Trongisvágur.

The ferry berth on Suðuroy, Krambatangi, is only a few minutes north of Øravík in Øravíkarlíð.

There is a small harbour in Øravík with a quay and some boathouses. Cattle can be spotted in the village as well as sheep and geese.

There was a hotel in Øravík, which was named Hotel Øravík or Gistingarhúsið við Á, which also had a restaurant. Both the hotel and the restaurant closed in May of 2012, because the hotel was set on fire.

A chapel is in the village. It was built in 1966 and was the first chapel to be built in the Faroe Islands after the Reformation. Although the plan at first was to only host services and communion, meanwhile the ecclesiastical acts were to occur in the church of Tvøroyri, it wasn’t long before the chapel took over these acts: funerals, wedding ceremonies and confirmations.

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, Fámjin, Hov, Porkeri and Vágur meet. Sometimes hiking trips are arranged along these old paths.

Øravík is for the first time ever mentioned in Hundabrævið (letter about dogkeeping), which was written between 1350 and 1400. This letter gives us an indication of how old the village is.