Øravik lies in a beautiful creek on Suðuroy’s east coast.
The black building in the centre of the village is a mini-church.
In the village there is also a small hotel or youth hostel that has a fine restaurant.
The village lies close to its small stone-beach and just beside the beach is a little harbour with boathouses.
In the hills above the village there was a thingstead called ’Uppi millum stovur’ in the old days.
Tjaldavik is a small creek to the south of the village. Its name is said to come from the tents that they used there when having the thing. Tjaldavik means ’creek of tents’.
Tradition tells about woman called ‘Vísa Marjun í Øravik’ meaning ‘Wise Marjun in
Øravik’. She was rich and protected by ‘vattrar’ a kind of good pixies that live with people. Marjun was a great magician. No one
can remember anyone better than her. She had a son that was simple. He was good at minding the sheep
with his little dog but was not able to do anything but that.
One day North-African pirates who had already raged Hvalba came over the mountains heading for Oravik.
Everyone in the village fled into the mountains except Marjun and her son. She sent off the boy and the
dog to meet the pirates. The simple boy did as he used to do when driving the sheep. When the pirates saw this fearless little boy with his dog coming towards them and the old lady outside her house they were afraid that these might be people with supernatural powers. The pirates turned back to Hvalba and did not come back to
Øravik.
Later Marjun learned that the pirates had carried off two girls from Hvalba on their ships. She cursed them
and said that within 7 generations the king of another empire would control their people.
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