On our 2nd day, we took a long trip down south to the Vestmannaeyjar Islands, or “Westman Islands” as it translates in English. This is a small volcanic archipelago off the south coast of Iceland that came to international attention in 1973 when Icelanders battled to prevent lava from the volcano Mt. Eldfell from completely blocking the harbor, and cutting off the town of approximately 4,000 people from the rest of Iceland.
This trip required a long bus ride, then a 45-minute ferry boat ride to the Island. From there, we first took a tour boat around the Island to check out some of the volcanic features by sea (sea caves, etc), as well as to view the famous Puffin bird population. Then we took a short tour around the island itself, and checked out some buildings being excavated from the days of the eruption – including a museum where they showed the story and timeline of the eruption and how it affected the town. Pretty amazing stuff!
Oh – did I mention that on the top of the island is one of the windiest places on earth? I almost got knocked off my feet getting off the bus…
