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![Elias Fiigenschoug’s painting of Halsnøy monastery , 1656](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvh_192-1.jpg?itok=9VO9I-NR)
Halsnøy Monastery
Halsnøy Monastery is situated in the midst of the lush fjord country in Sunnhordland, on one of the old spits, or “necks”, that has given name to the island. Gently sloping fields lead down to the sea on both sides, in the south towards the Kloster Fjord, to the north towards the sheltered Klostervågen.
![From Ingahogg.](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/190/kvinnherad.jpg?itok=dmrfeaRp)
Ingahogg
At nearly 1000 metres over sea level, on the north side of INGAHOGG mountain, the remains of a soapstone quarry have been discovered. It is said, according to the Sagas, that Inga collected the big soapstone that lies in front of the Åkra Church from here.
![At lake Gaupåsvatnet.](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/190/nvh_334_gaupas_koronitt_150.jpg?itok=Wq7ffNPu)
![](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/berg_12_0.jpg?itok=hv7XxFE6)
![Årstad in the 1890s](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvh_253-2.jpg?itok=5wIhsIRt)
Årstad
Alrekstad (later Årstad) is the birthplace of Bergen. The estate was an estate for Harald Hårfagre and several of his descendants: Eirik Blodøks, Håkon den gode og Olav Tryggvason. These first kings moved with their courts and guardsmen from estate to estate. From these estates the king ruled the country.
![In the middle of the flat pastures at Torsnes was the farmyard of the estate, undivided until the middle of the 1700s](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/1/kvh_381-2_fonna_112.jpg?itok=3bxpYqSH)
Torsnes
When bishop J.Neumann was on a visitation in Hardanger in 1825 he also visited Torsnes, the seat of the Galtung family. They were then in the process of pulling down the old dwelling house on the farm. As the committed observer of ancient monuments and antiquarian buildings that he was, bishop Neumann has provided us with interesting details:
![Nils Hertzberg watercolour of “Spånheimsklosteret”](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvh_362-2.jpg?itok=tMjpbmV9)
![Traces of the dwellings and activity in the quarry.](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/190/nvh_464_takskifer_ulvik_2_150.jpg?itok=tTKVd-vg)