Visit to Vestmannaeyjar

I’m really far behind on my blogging, but I’ll try to post when I can. Everything is moving so fast here that it’s hard to keep up. I have less than a month left in Iceland this semester – in fact, less than three weeks– and I’m trying to make each one count. I’ll be back in January, but almost all of my friends will be gone, so we’re trying to make the most of our remaining time.

Two weeks ago, I went on a trip to Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands) off the southern coast of Iceland. A couple of friends and I packed into a car bright and early, and headed down to the port to Vestmannaeyjar. On the way, we stopped by a waterfall. The seasons have definitely changed, and the waterfall was very icy. . The strong winds had blown the falling water all over the surroundings, so all the grass and rocks around the waterfall were frozen. It was hard to reach because the rocks were so slippery, but this was one of the tallest waterfalls I’ve seen and it was worth the perilous walk. 

I enjoyed the ferry to Heimaey (the main island, and the only populated one), although some of the other people onboard got seasick. As we approached Heimaey, we went outside to watch. The islands have dramatic high peaks and sharp cliffs with sheep grazing at improbable heights. Back in the 1970s, the volcano on Heimaey erupted, and the entire island was evacuated. Fortunately, people came back and island life returned to normal. Still, forty years later, a huge portion of the island is covered in lava rocks from the explosion. 

The cliffs of Heimaey

Heimaey from the lava field

After arriving at the harbour, we headed up to the lava area which covers perhaps a third of the island. There are no buildings here, just rocks. They’ve placed some road signs to mark where streets used to be before the eruption, which was a spooky reminder of the island’s past. It’s hard to believe that below where I stood, there used to be houses, and today there’s nothing but barren rock.

We walked around the town for a while. Vestmannaeyjar is quite isolated, and we didn’t see too many people outside, but it seems like a pleasant town. We spent a large portion of the afternoon at the local pool and hot pots. Despite its size, Heimaey had a really nice pool, and three excellent hot pots. The best part was the slide. When I told Icelanders at my university that I was going to Vestmannaeyjar, they all told me I had to try the slide at the pool. Well, they were right! When we got there, the water slide was turned off. We asked the pool attendant if he could turn it on, and he told us that he could, but the water in the outside pool was a brisk 9 degrees. We didn’t let that stop us – the slide was turned on and we all went down it. At the bottom of the slide there was a trampoline-like section where you could stand up or bounce. We weren’t very good at standing up, but a local boy had no problem, so I guess it takes practice. I knew going down the slide would be chilly, and it was. The water in the pool was so freezing cold that each of us gasped from shock when we landed. We had to run out of the pool as fast as possible and jump into the hot pot to warm up. It was so much fun that we each went a total of eleven times (except the girls, who are clearly more sane that the rest of us)! Normally Icelandic pools are very strict about the use of cell phones and cameras, but the attendant let us bring out our cameras and take pictures of the slide because we liked it so much. I highly recommend the pool at Vestmannaeyjar, especially the slide! 

The slide at the pool

After that, we took the ferry back and went downtown for some delicious sushi. Perfect day!