The Vestmanna Islands – Heimaey
We continue south and drive through Reykjavik and on to the ferry to the Vestmannaey islands. According to our above Iceland, it says that the ferry sails from Torlákshöfn.
When we arrive and look confused that there is no ferry, some Icelanders come up to us laughing and ask if we are going on the ferry?
Yes, that is actually the plan.
They can inform you that in the summer it sails from Landeyahöfn approx. 70 km further. It only sails from Torlákshöfn in winter.
We laugh and have to go on a slightly longer trip than originally planned. Fortunately, we are in good time, so we can also visit Seljalandfoss, which is a waterfall that you can walk all the way around.
We go down to the ferry and sail to Heimaey, which is the second largest inhabited island besides Iceland itself.
The entrance is beautiful with the vertical rock walls.
There is only one town and about 4000 people live there.
Although the island is only 13.5 square kilometers, there are two volcanoes on it.
Eldfjell erupted in 1973 and buried a third of the town in lava, fortunately the entire population was rescued to safety.
The outbreak lasted for almost half a year.
There is only one access road to and from the island and that is via the harbour. The rest are vertical rock walls. The population knew that it was necessary to do everything possible to stop the lava flow from closing the port.
By pumping seawater onto the lava, they managed to stop the lava flow and the harbor remained open and navigable, so they could move back again.
It is a very exciting story that they like to tell.
We have found a small cafe owned by an elderly lady, she is sweet and pleasant. So now we call it grandma's café.
She has a small book about the whole story which we are allowed to look at while we eat lovely cake and have a good cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream.
We are staying overnight at Heimaey so we can experience it all.
They call the buried part of the city the Pompeii of the North. When you walk, there are signs that 15 meters below lived the XX family and 12 meters below was the bakery.
It's a bit strange, but a great experience.
We also take a trip up Eldfjell, which is still active. You can't see lava, but the ground is hot. It is steaming and there are signs saying that you only have to dig a meter down, then the ground is 100 degrees hot. There is a good view over the city and over to the other volcano Helgafell.
Out on the tip of the island, there is a large colony of puffins. We try to get close to get some good pictures, but we soon find out that they are very shy.
So we go into the lookout house, where you can hide and take pictures.
One last thing we try is a boat trip around the island. It is a small boat that can sail very close to the cliff sides.
Among other things, we enter a cave where the captain switches off the engine and plays a number on the saxophone. Here we can enjoy the acoustics and the good music.
It sounds really good.
On the trip further around, we come to a special rock. Here you have to use your imagination a little and guess what it represents.
Lovely trip to Heimaey, so many thanks to our Icelandic dentist who recommended the trip to the island.