Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Shenanigans in the Westman Islands

The Westman Islands on the horizon, seen from the harbor in Iceland.

This weekend a group of seven of us rented two cars (outrageous, really, that this was a cheaper option than the bus) and made for the Westman Islands! We stayed in a very nice hostel, and since it’s the off-season, we had the WHOLE PLACE to ourselves, which meant we could cook quinoa burritos and play uproarious games of charades to our hearts’ delight. Heimaey is the only island large enough for a town, and it’s a small one at that—only 4,000 people. What you really want to go to the Westman Islands for, though, is the ASTOUNDING NATURAL BEAUTY, so most of the limited daylight was spent hiking.

Pulling into the harbor

In 1973, a volcano erupted on Heimaey, burying hundreds of homes beneath lava and creating a hefty chunk of brand new land on the island’s eastern side. Also, a 221-meter volcanic cone JUST POPPED OUT OF NOWHERE OVERNIGHT. We hiked the cone, Eldfell, and let me tell you, it was WINDY. Getting blown over was a serious concern. The ground all over the island is covered in tiny bits of volcanic rock, and it makes a delightful crumbly-crunchy sound when you walk on it.

lava lava lava

Top of Eldfell

Trying to keep my hat from flying off

All that green stuff is the moss-covered lava of the new land--2.5 sq. km worth!

Town of Heimaey

Later we went back out and climbed Stórakliff, which Lonely Planet describes as a “craggy precipice,” which must be reached by a “treacherous 30-minute climb,” and is “worth the terror for the outstanding views.” All this is true. There are ropes running up the side of the cliff that are extremely helpful in getting up, and absolutely necessary to get back down. The crumbly rock ground means there’s not much to get a decent foothold on, not to mention, that thing is STEEP. The sun was setting as we reached the top, so the view was even more spectacular than normal. I was a bit sore for a couple days afterward, but I’m so glad I did it.


Radio tower and weather station at the top of Stórakliff

I don't know if you can quite tell, but there's an ENORMOUS flock of birds hanging around the beach down there.

I feel this photo doesn't even begin to capture how alarming this descent was.

Stórakliff, seen from outside our hostel the next morning

Sunday morning we wandered around the town, and down to the coast, where we saw some turf houses, nifty basalt, more astonishingly beautiful water, a Mormon monument (who knew Iceland had so many Mormons?), and climbed another rather steep hill.

"In memory of Icelanders who heard the call to build Zion and emigrated to Utah" (Apparently about 200 of them up and converted in the 1800's.)

You can see Iceland waaay in the back there...looking all cold and glacier-y

In the afternoon we drove out to the southern end of the island, which is supposed to be the windiest place in Iceland, and possibly Europe. Sometimes the wind gets up to 70 mph! After our experience on Eldfell, I was ready for something really intense, but when we were there it was actually pretty tame. There were some sheep though, and another lovely sunset.

As if you hadn't seen enough pictures of sheep...

After that, we stopped at a gas station to get some gummis (so good!), and took the evening ferry back to Iceland.

No comments:

Post a Comment