{"id":3332,"date":"2020-03-24T09:10:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T09:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/history\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:41:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:41:04","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

HISTORY<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

HISTORY<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Melar was built in 1930 by Kristjana \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttir, a housewife and \u00a0bookseller\u00a0 (b.\u00a0 1905 \u2013 d. 1979) from Litlu Reykir in Reykjadalur, \u00a0and her husband, J\u00f3n \u00c1rnason, a local engineer (b. 1902 \u2013 d.1962), who was raised in Bakki, \u00a0the house that then neighboured Melar. Kristjana and J\u00f3n got married the year they moved into Melar rearing a family of \u00a0seven children, the first one born in 1931 and the last in 1946.\u00a0 In 1936 Kristjana and J\u00f3n bought a book store which they operated in their house until the year 1978. For over forty years Kristjana was responsible for running the book store.<\/p>\n

Kristjana and Jon kept their cows in a barn on the ground floor of the house.\u00a0\u00a0 It was very common, well into the 1970s, for\u00a0 families to have their own livestock \u00a0maintained within the village. The spacious kitchen \u00a0was also on the ground floor.\u00a0\u00a0 One can only imagine the stories the walls could tell!<\/p>\n

Many relatives, \u00a0and other tenants,\u00a0 stayed in the house for \u00a0shorter or longer periods of time while Kristjana and J\u00f3n lived there, and several of their descendants were born in the house between the years 1954 and 1964. After Kristjana died in 1979 \u00a0numerous other villagers \u00a0lodged in the house.<\/p>\n

When Hildur, the present owner, bought the house in 2016 it desperately needed complete renovation. Subsequently, Hildur and her team have worked at the renovation with an emphasis on sustaining the original look, and spirit, \u00a0of the house.\u00a0\u00a0 The guesthouse stands tall on the seafront overlooking the harbor, the beach and the ocean. \u00a0\u00a0While \u00a0the harsh nordic winter winds and snowstorms have blown heavily on the wall of Melar for 90 years, the birdlife, sunsets, the colors of nature, \u00a0as well as the wonderfully long summer nights \u00a0by the Arctic Circle, make up for everything that may seem cold at times. If only walls could talk !<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HISTORY HISTORY Melar was built in 1930 by Kristjana \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttir, a housewife and \u00a0bookseller\u00a0 (b.\u00a0 1905 \u2013 d. 1979) from Litlu Reykir in Reykjadalur, \u00a0and her husband, J\u00f3n \u00c1rnason, a local engineer (b. 1902 \u2013 d.1962), who was raised in Bakki, \u00a0the house that then neighboured Melar. Kristjana and J\u00f3n got married the year they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3332","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHistory - MELAR Guesthouse - Saga Melar Guesthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"H\u00fasi\u00f0 Melar var byggt \u00e1ri\u00f0 1930 af Kristj\u00f6nu \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttur, h\u00fasm\u00f3\u00f0ur og b\u00f3kakaupmanni f. 25.11 1905, d. 7.10 1979 fr\u00e1 Reykjum \u00ed Reykjadal og manni hennar J\u00f3ni \u00c1rnasyni v\u00e9lstj\u00f3ra hj\u00e1 kaupf\u00e9laginu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"History - MELAR Guesthouse - Saga Melar Guesthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"H\u00fasi\u00f0 Melar var byggt \u00e1ri\u00f0 1930 af Kristj\u00f6nu \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttur, h\u00fasm\u00f3\u00f0ur og b\u00f3kakaupmanni f. 25.11 1905, d. 7.10 1979 fr\u00e1 Reykjum \u00ed Reykjadal og manni hennar J\u00f3ni \u00c1rnasyni v\u00e9lstj\u00f3ra hj\u00e1 kaupf\u00e9laginu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MELAR Guesthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-30T11:41:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/history\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/history\\\/\",\"name\":\"History - MELAR Guesthouse - Saga Melar Guesthouse\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-24T09:10:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-30T11:41:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"H\u00fasi\u00f0 Melar var byggt \u00e1ri\u00f0 1930 af Kristj\u00f6nu \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttur, h\u00fasm\u00f3\u00f0ur og b\u00f3kakaupmanni f. 25.11 1905, d. 7.10 1979 fr\u00e1 Reykjum \u00ed Reykjadal og manni hennar J\u00f3ni \u00c1rnasyni v\u00e9lstj\u00f3ra hj\u00e1 kaupf\u00e9laginu\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/history\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/history\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/history\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"History\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"MELAR Guesthouse\",\"description\":\"Iceland\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/melarguesthouse.is\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"History - MELAR Guesthouse - Saga Melar Guesthouse","description":"H\u00fasi\u00f0 Melar var byggt \u00e1ri\u00f0 1930 af Kristj\u00f6nu \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttur, h\u00fasm\u00f3\u00f0ur og b\u00f3kakaupmanni f. 25.11 1905, d. 7.10 1979 fr\u00e1 Reykjum \u00ed Reykjadal og manni hennar J\u00f3ni \u00c1rnasyni v\u00e9lstj\u00f3ra hj\u00e1 kaupf\u00e9laginu","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"History - MELAR Guesthouse - Saga Melar Guesthouse","og_description":"H\u00fasi\u00f0 Melar var byggt \u00e1ri\u00f0 1930 af Kristj\u00f6nu \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttur, h\u00fasm\u00f3\u00f0ur og b\u00f3kakaupmanni f. 25.11 1905, d. 7.10 1979 fr\u00e1 Reykjum \u00ed Reykjadal og manni hennar J\u00f3ni \u00c1rnasyni v\u00e9lstj\u00f3ra hj\u00e1 kaupf\u00e9laginu","og_url":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/","og_site_name":"MELAR Guesthouse","article_modified_time":"2026-01-30T11:41:04+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/","url":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/","name":"History - MELAR Guesthouse - Saga Melar Guesthouse","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-03-24T09:10:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-30T11:41:04+00:00","description":"H\u00fasi\u00f0 Melar var byggt \u00e1ri\u00f0 1930 af Kristj\u00f6nu \u00deorsteinsd\u00f3ttur, h\u00fasm\u00f3\u00f0ur og b\u00f3kakaupmanni f. 25.11 1905, d. 7.10 1979 fr\u00e1 Reykjum \u00ed Reykjadal og manni hennar J\u00f3ni \u00c1rnasyni v\u00e9lstj\u00f3ra hj\u00e1 kaupf\u00e9laginu","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/history\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"History"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/","name":"MELAR Guesthouse","description":"Iceland","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4584,"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3332\/revisions\/4584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melarguesthouse.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}