Sunday, August 18th, 2024
We tendered from our boat for our walking tour of Heimaey Island. The tender docked in the marina. Fishing was the main occupation and much of Iceland’s fish exports came from here!
Heimaey was part of the Westman Islands and was the only island inhabited. It had one town, Vestmannaeyjar, with approximately 4,500 residents. It was a gorgeous day but windy!
Our guide’s family moved here when she was four years old and she has stayed.
She shared with us a puffling, a baby puffin. The adults nest in the mountains and this time of year they fly off and the pufflings need to get to the ocean.
The people in the town rescue the pufflings that get confused by the town lights and thinking it’s the ocean and end up in town. The children in town helped search for the pufflings and if they located one, they would they take it to the sea.
Our guide discussed as we walked all about the last volcanic eruption in 1973. Luckily for the town when the eruption occurred the weather was bad so all of the fishing boats were in the harbour and all but possibly one resident made it safely to the mainland of Iceland.
We walked up the hardened rocky hill that was 50 years old that buried homes, streets, the swimming pool and more! It was solidified molten river that was 50 feet deep!
As we climbed up the hill we could see where the lava flow stopped in the backyard of a home!
The old water tower was partly destroyed by the 1973 eruption. The pictures below show the tower and the where the lava flow stopped.
The town added street signs along the rocky hill of lava where the streets were once located!
Our walking tour ended at the Eldheimar Volcano museum. This was a self-guided tour with an audio guide. The museum was built around the remains of one home that archaeologists uncovered. The home was buried in lava and ash during the eruption. The family escaped unharmed. It was a very moving exhibit of the power of nature and the destruction it caused.
Artifacts that had been uncovered were on display. Below was a table setting.
Below was a group of pictures in the museum from the eruption!
After touring the museum we walked around town and it was very quiet. We passed the town hall. It was originally built as a hospital in 1927 and in 1977 it was transformed into the town hall. In the picture below on the left side of the building is an ash pole that showed how high the ash had accumulated after the 1973 eruption.
Across the lawn from the town hall was a statue called “the Big Giantess” (Tröllskessan) by the sculptor Asmundur Sveinsson in 1975.
It was a joy to see the children playing in the park on such a clear day with not a cloud in the sky!
The preschool/kindergarten building was opened in 2007 for the children on the island.
Heimaey Island was always windy so you won’t find many trees or any that are very tall. We saw their only “forest” on the island.
Landlyst was the oldest residence on the island and was moved to its current location in 2000. It was the former home of Iceland’s first maternity hospital. It’s a medical museum today. Below Landlyst was a wooden church that was donated by Norway in 2000. It marked the millennium of Christianity in Iceland.
Below is a slideshow of additional pictures from Heimaey Island.
Along the cliffs were many birds but we also saw puffins from a distance.
As the ship sailed from Heimaey Island we saw some beautiful islands.
We also could see the snow covered mountains of Iceland.
It was such a nice day that we sat on our balcony as the ship sailed toward our next stop. We saw some whales too!
Today was a day full of exploring and learning all about the island and the volcanic eruption in 1973 that reshaped the landscape drastically!
