Iceland – Day 4

Tuesday July 14 2015

Westmannaeyjar – Heimaey

We got up early and had breakfast at Dragshlid before we packed the cars for a day trip to Westmannaeyjar. Westmannaeyjar consists of 15 islands of which 4 are very small; Heimaey is the largest and the only of the Westmannaeyjar islands that is inhabited. Heimaey was our destination for the day.

The day started with heavy clouds and soon after we got into the car it started drizzling. When we got to the ferry that was taking us to Heimaey, the drizzle had turned into rain. We left the cars in the parking lot and walked on board. It was a nice, big ferry and we got a table in the restaurant. It took about 30 minutes to get to Heimaey.

The first picture is from the waiting area before we got on the ferry and the second picture is from the restaurant on the boat. 

 

 

On the ferry they had some information about important stuff.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

It still rained when we got to Heimaey and we were all equipped with rain gear from top to toe. First stop was the tourist information. It was just a short walk from the ferry.

 

 

Interestingly, it appeared that everybody else on the ferry had the same idea and the relatively small tourist information, which was also a bookstore, was packed with wet tourists. The staff was very friendly and helpful despite the chaos. We got a map over Heimaey and a tip that the new museum, Eldheimar Volcano Museum, about the eruption of the volcano Eldfell in 1973, was great. An indoor volcano museum sounded like a great idea in the pouring rain. We walked as fast as we could through town to get there. Below is a picture Philip took on the way.

 

 

It took about 15 minutes to walk to the museum and we were very happy to see it.

 

 

It was a great place. Everybody got listening devices and headphones. The device knew where in the museum you were and told the detailed story about the eruption also shown in numerous pictures. Anders took a couple of pictures of the pictures. 

 

 

The area of Heimaey increased by about 20 % after the eruption, and about 400 homes were covered in lava. Only one person died during the eruption, otherwise everybody who wanted to get off the island got off in time. Fortunately the weather had been pretty bad leading up to the eruption so the fishing fleet was in the harbor and fishermen brought people to safety on the main land. During the eruption, water from the ocean was pumped up to cool and stop the lava, an approach that was successful, and it saved the fishing harbor on Heimaey.

One of the very cool things about the museum was that it was build around an excavated house. The house had been covered in lava and ash until recently.

The museum also had a description of how the island Surtsey was created from an underwater volcano eruption in the mid to late sixties. Surtsey was declared a nature reserve in 1965 and in 2008 UNESCO declared the island a World Heritage Site. Today only scientists have access to the island, which is creating a unique opportunity to studying the development of plant, bird, and marine life.

The museum had a cafe where we had coffee, hot chocolate, and a plastic wrapped brownies. At that point everything tasted good. In addition to that, we were all almost dry and feeling good.

It was still raining outside but it was time to move on and hike to the top of Eldfell. Just outside the museum was another house that was partly excavated.

 

 

We found a path behind the museum, crossed a couple of fields and a road to pick up the trail leading to the top of the volcano.

 

 

There are actually two volcanos on Heimaey, Eldfell and Helgafell (on the left and right, respectively in the first picture). Both volcanos are very close to town. The second and third picture show Helgafell. In the south western part of Iceland where we were, lupins were almost everywhere. They looked amazing.

 

 

Betina’s hip was somewhat sore so she didn’t want to challenge it on the steep uphill to the top. And it was a pretty steep uphill and somehow we got off course. We thought we were on the right path to the top but later we realized that it was most likely the very steep short cut. Other people had done the same so we continued. On the picture below is shown the official path, we made the short cut just after we got on the trail and skipped the loop.

 

 

Below are pictures of the steep unofficial path. Just before the top, the short cut merged with the official path.

 

 

The view from Eldfell was amazing. It is not a huge volcano but it certainly caused plenty of damage in 1973.

 

 

It was cold and rainy so we did not stay for too, too long. A selfie was required though.

 

 

Anders walked down to pick up Betina, Aase and Thorkild started the descent towards town on the regular path, and Philip walked to the very, very top of the volcano before he and I started the descent. The path to the very top was safe but with steep down hills on both sides so I decided to just take pictures.

 

 

Philip and I caught up with Aase and Thorkild after a little while. We walked on the paths all the way back into town. Here we also saw a cairn.

 

 

After we got down from the volcano the path leading to town was full of lupins.

 

 

Just before we got there we passed through the house graveyard, the place where the houses were buried under lava from the eruption of Eldfell. All the houses were completely covered in lava. Now lupins and other flowers were growing there.

 

 

We took some pictures on the walk back into town but it was limited due to the rain. So many fantastic motifs but rain on the lenses and constant wiping put a constraint to our wish to take lots of amazing pictures.

When we got back into town we saw Anders and Betina just down the road. They had taken the road through town back. Below are some images they took on the way.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

We were hungry and went to Gott, a small family owned restaurant. Philip had scouted out the restaurant online and Betina had seen it on their walk through town so we found it easily. We were all damp but not soaking wet. Well our rain coats were soaking wet. It was a great place, the food was excellent, and so was the coffee and cake.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

While we sat there, the rain picked up and for a while it was a real downpour, no more no less. After we were done eating, it was only drizzling. We still had some time before the ferry left so Anders and Betina walked around town. Philip and I went to a sweater store where we ran into….. guess who…..yep Aase and Thorkild. I bought a beautiful Icelandic sweater. The woman who owned the place spoke Danish, which a lot of Icelandic people do.

We still had some time so Philip and I went back up to the house graveyard. At that point the rain had almost stopped. We continued down to the waterfront where there was a small pier and lots of birds.

 

 

By the time we got back on the ferry the rain had stopped. 

 

 

On the ferry back to the mail land, Aase and Thorkild found seats inside and the rest of us were outside taking pictures, bird watching, and just taking in the amazing scenery.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Out on open water we saw these cool rocks in the distance.

 

 

On the way back to Dragshlid, we stopped to look at Seljalandsfoss from a distance. The cameras came out.

 

 

To the south, Westmannaeyaer were visible through the fog.

 

 

It was still very foggy even though the rain had stopped.

 

 

When we got back to Dragshlid the sun almost came out.

 

 

We went to the restaurant for dinner. Somebody got a nicely arranged fish.

 

 

They had one vegetarian dish which we also had the night before. But at least there was one. We had beer and went to bed.

Jump to Day 3

Jump to Day 5