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| blue cinders at pompeii of the north |
We drove out early to get to Landeyjahofn where we caught the ferry to the Westman Islands. Westman Islands? Aren’t they actually as far South as you can go in Iceland? Why yes, they are. It certainly isn’t about Vikings have poor directional sense; the Irish slaves (or West Men) of Hjorliefur, rose up and killed him and escaped to these islands. They were mercilessly hunted to extinction by his half-brother, Ingolfur on these same volcanic outcrops.
These same islands were the scene of a terrible Algerian pirate raid in the 1600’s where almost 250 of the natives were carried off to African slavery. Twenty-something eventually had their freedom purchased. If these various stirring events don’t make for enough of local history, their more recent claims to fame are equally, if not more dramatic.
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| eldfell, westman islands |
The Westmans are home to the world’s newest island; Surtsey emerged hissing and boiling from the ocean in 1963. It is a living laboratory, inaccessible to all but scientists specializing in bio-colonization. http://www.surtsey.is/index_eng.htm has tons of good information on this fascinating UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Westmans made big volcanic news again in 1973 when Eldfell emerged from the earth and began raining fire, ash and lava on the island. The whole island, 5000+, was evacuated in just a few hours with no loss of human life. Pretty amazing – equally amazing was the inhabitants’ determination to not lose their home to the eruption. When lava threatened their harbor, a remarkable scheme was hatched to divert the lava flow with tons of frigid sea water and keep it from closing off the harbor.
Heimaey is also famous for their puffins. Scads of these adorable sea birds call these jagged cliffs home. The children of Heimaey take to the hills and dales in August with cardboard boxes seeking out puffin chicks in distress. When it is time to head out for their months at sea, some of the chicks become disoriented and lose their way. These are given a lift by the children, who collect them in said boxes, take them home, and then release them directly into the sea when they are ready. Unfortunately, the puffins are now facing a threat beyond the scope of the children to mend. Rising sea temperatures have eliminated their food source and seriously diminished the population.
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| puffin! |
We had a spectacular day for our visit and the islands were gorgeous. Eldfell dominates your approach and is a bizarre red cinder cone. Helgafell sits quietly in the background, all dark and brooding. It is definitely a very dramatic landscape. We went up to the puffin cliffs and enjoyed the gorgeous view out over the island and all of its uninhabited surrounding kin – not very many puffins, but plenty of sheep. We also hiked up Eldfell, the lava field slopes up gently making it a very easy climb. We took hundreds of pictures of its truly magnificent geological rainbow splendors. The island is trying to establish a “Pompeii of the North” outdoor museum. They have done partial excavations of some of the 400+ homes buried under the lava. We peeked into dark recesses and saw into living rooms covered in these gloriously iridescent-blue bits of cinders.
Video at: http://youtu.be/GEOIsVq95lk
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| you can really see where the lava flow buried part of the town |
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| eldfell in front, helgefell behind |
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