innvik

The name comes from old Norse, Innvikr, and means "the inner bay" (the neighbouring village, Utvik, is "the outer bay"). People lived in Innvik already during the Neolithic period (5000 - 2000 BC), and in 1900 and 1901 interesting finds were made in graves from the Viking period. The village is fortunate in its position in that it is sheltered against the winds coming down from the mountains, which you find in most other villages further in. The general climate is therefore milder than in the rest of inner Nordfjord, with a high average temperature and relatively little rain during the year. Innvik is the centre of the parish, and has had a vicarage since the Middle Ages. On the site of the present octangonal church once stood a stavechurch, said to be the longest in the country. Innvik was a separate municipality up to 1965, when it became part of the municipality of Stryn.