Vestmannaeyjar

The Westman Islands 

are a group of 15-18 islands, depending on how they are classed, and about 30 skerries sand rock pillars, located off the mainland’s south coast. The islands were formed by submarine volcanic eruptions along a 30-km long fissure lying southwest to northeast. The largest island is Heimaey, 13.4 km2.Most of the islands have steep sea cliffs, and are well vegetated. Bird hunting and egg collecting are traditional to the islanders’ culture.




















                                             A Norse timber church

A gift from the Norwegians to commemorate 1000 years since Christianity was accepted in Iceland, was consecrated on Heimaey. The only church of its type in Iceland, it has been situated at the Skans area where a stone wall, built after theTurkish invasion in 1627 occurred, has been rebuilt. Population 4,416. 

                                                         The Community             

Hunting and fishing are the traditional mainstays of the island economy. Rich fishing grounds surround the islands. 

For many years Heimaey was one of Iceland´s largest fishing stations. During the main season, people, from all places and walks of life, flocked here to work long hours and earn money. The population of the town trebled and the number of boats multiplied. Today, ships are larger and more technologically advanced, production has moved from landbased freezing plants to factory ships and consequently the hustle and bustle of the main season is much a thing of the past.

                                                               Surtsey 

On the morning of 14th November, 1963, crew aboard Ísleifur II saw a column of black dust rising from the sea, south-west of Heimaey. An eruption had begun on the seabed which was to last almost four years. By the second day of the eruption the island, Surtsey, was already 10 metres high. When the eruption ended, on 5th June, 1967, the island covered 2,8 square km and reached a height of 170m. 

Surtsey is protected by law and Icelandic scientists continue to document the colonization of the island by plant and bird life.

The Eruption on Heimaey, 1973

The eruption on Heimay began on 23rd January, 1973, just before two o´clock in the morning. A fissure opened on the eastern side of the island, only 300-400 metres from Kirkjubæir, the most easterly houses in the town. 

The inhabitants of Heimaey were woken by the police and firebrigade as they drove around, raising the alarm with their sirens. People streamed down to the docks. Fortunately the weather had been stormy the day before and most of the island´s fleet of 60-70 fishing boats had stayed in harbour. The boats ferried the town´s people to safety in Þórlákshöfn. In March, moltern lava threatened to close the harbour approaches. In a desperate attempt to stop the flow, seawater was pumped on to the lava. 

This method proved very effective. Today the harbour is considered to be even better than before. The eruption ended on 3rd July, 1973. In six months a new volcano, 225m high, had appeared on the island and a new lava field lay to the east and covered 3.3 square km. Around 360 houses 
had been buried and many others 
badly damaged. 
Before the eruption 
5300 people lived on Heimaey, 2000 of these moved back 
immediately after the eruption ended. 
Slowly but surely more families returned and began to rebuild 
their community.

The Turkish Invasion

Probably the most tragic incident to take place on the island was the Algerian pirate raid in July of 1627. The pirates landed on Heimaey and proceeded to pillage and plunder, burning farms, houses and the church, and killing or kidnapping 242 of the island’s 500 inhabitants.

Those who were kidnapped were transported to the slave market in Algeria and most of them were never able to return to Iceland. Some died along the way; others could not adjust to the conditions of slavery, and a few eventually started new lives in the world of their captives. The inhabitants who escaped the pirates during the attack had hidden in caves and at cliffs along the ocean. Many place names on the island are reminiscent of this terrifying attack, such as Pirates’ Bay and Hundred 
Man Cave. 

It is said that 100 people 
hid here, though they 
were eventually 
discovered by the pirates
 because of a dog that had been waiting outside the cave. 

One woman, 
Guðríður Símonardóttir, 
sometimes called Turkish Gudda from Stakkagerði 
in Vestmannaeyjar is 
probably the most 
famous of the captives. 
She was one of the few 
who was released from c
aptivity and returned to 
Iceland, 
though she never
returned to Vestmannaeyjar.She married the poet and author of the Icelandic psalms, Hallgrímur Pétursson who served as a priest in Suðurnes and Hvalfjörður. 





Here are more photo's taken in Vestmannaeyjar.

A photo of Vestmannaeyjar town

Here is where people come to party every year in a festival called Þjóðhátíð in this place called the Dalurinn

Dynjandi

Iceland

Vestfyrðir, westfjords, 

The impressive Dynjandi 

waterfall plunges over a 100m-high clifftop into the fjord at Dynjandisvogur inlet, forming a triangular cascade roughly 30m wide at its top spreading to over 60m at its bottom. 

Below the main waterfall a series of five smaller chutes carry the waters of the Dynjandisá to the sea. Lit by the low sun, it’s an incredibly pretty place to camp out on a summer night, though the waterfall is famously noisy, 

Dynjandi means “the thundering one”.

All -distance buses make a ten-minute stop at Dynjandi; and with your own transport, it’s possible to reach the head of the falls.

Dynjandi is located

twenty kilometres east of Hrafnseyri, at the point where

Route 60 weaves around the 

northeastern corner of 

Arnarfjörður, if you should be located in the area Dynjandi is definitely a place you don't 

want to miss.