The North Atlantic with Pat and Phil: Day Twenty-Five - Heimaey, Iceland Tuesday 05 August 2014

Pat in front of Church

We arrived early -- 9:00 am-- so Phil and I were able to get an early tender without having to wait for the "tour" people. Heimaey is a pretty place -- surrounded by mountains with 4500 people and 8 million puffins. Another Holland America ship, the Prinsendam, is also in port -- they have dockage.

We went to two places advertised as "Information" but they were both coffee shops with free internet providing the same map and booklet. We were on our own. We started walking -- up through a park to a building where there were two tour buses parked. The map said the building was the Library/Folk Museum -- we went in passing the very long line for the Ladies Room. We never found the folk museum -- but the library was nice enough.

Church During 1973 Volcano Eruption

We needed a plan -- so we set out for the Volcano Museum -- along the way we would stop at the Cemetery and the Church. The Cemetery was quite lovely -- although since I'm a genealogist I love cemeteries. Most of the graves are elaborately cared for with flowers -- fencing -- statues, etc. The Church is small -- Lutheran I believe -- when we went in there was music playing. A live organist was giving a concert for whom ever happened by -- nice touch!

We walked back through the Cemetery up to the Volcano Museum -- a bit of a hike. The official name of the museum is: Eldheimar - Pompei of the North. On 23 January 1973 a volcanic eruption of the mountain, Eldfell, began on Heimaey and continued until 03 July 1973. On the first night of the eruption 5,000 inhabitants were successfully evacuated to the mainland using the fishing fleet which was in the harbor at the time. One man died --
a sailor who was drunk and looting a pharmacy when
he was smothered with burning ash.

Phil in front of the Volcano Museum

The museum is in a contemporary building set just below the volcano crater. Admission is $3800 Icelandic Kroner (about $35 for two). We first see an actual house which had been buried in ash -- it has been excavated and the museum built around the house. As we move through the seven sections of the museum we hear sounds, see movies and photos of what actually happened during those five months in 1973 -- very well done!

Living Room of House in Museum

Heimaey was a 4.3 square mile island before the eruption -- it is now a 5.19 square mile island. The townspeople fought very hard to save their harbor and their livelihood -- fishing. They were able to solidify and stop lava from pouring into their harbor by constantly spraying cold seawater at the lava flow. After the eruption stopped -- about two-thirds of the 1973 inhabitants returned to the island and today Heimaey is a lovely place to live. This was a great story!

Phil in "Skansinn" with ms Veendam in background!

As we walked back to town we are on the look-out for a lunch place -- settling on Gott Restaurant. I had a great salad and Phil enjoyed his fish stew -- we both loved the very fast internet.

After lunch it is off to "Skansinn" -- the place by the harbor where the lava flow stopped in 1973. Here there is a Norse timber church -- a gift from the people of Norway, and Landlyst -- the second oldest building in Heimaey which is now a small medical museum and part of the seatwater tank filled with hardened lava.