Veøya

Veøya is an island in Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located at a junction of the three main branches of Romsdal Fjord between the island of Sekken and the mainland near the village of Nesjestranda. The island was the municipal center of the old Veøy Municipality. The island was Norway's first legally protected land, and the buildings on the island, including the Old Veøy Church, are now part of the Romsdal Museum.

==History== thumb|left|The vicar's residence in 1967 The island was a strategic location for the coastal routes during the Viking Age. The southern branch of Romsdal Fjord leads to the Romsdalen valley (and the present-day town of Åndalsnes), where important trade routes led up the valley to Lesja. From there, it followed the pilgrim trail over Dovrefjell to Trøndelag, or down the Gudbrandsdalen valley to Eastern Norway. The eastern branch led through the Langfjorden where they hauled their ships over the wide, low-lying isthmus at Eidsvåg, in order to avoid the dreaded waters of Hustadvika, and then back to the shipping routes northwards to Nidaros (modern day Trondheim). To the west, past the inlet of the fjord, were the southbound routes to Bergen. thumb|left|View of Veøya (closest) and Sekken (furthest) with Hangholmen in the middle