Scary Mountain Hiking Day (Vestmannaeyja): The 13th Day in Iceland (9 July 2008)

Getting up around 8 a.m., I prepared myself ready for the day, including packing a sandwich, grapes and Lasagna that had been quite many days in the fridge. Clair was also already awake. She said her mobile that also functioned as an alarm clock went dead. It was Fergal, who woke her up. Later, we realized that Fergal didn't shift time from the Irish to the Icelandic zone on his mobile, meaning Clair did get up an hour earlier that she was supposed to. Well, too early is better than too late...

I had an hour or so before leaving for the bus; I spent this hour updating this blog.

We arrived at BSI Bus Station at 10.15 a.m., plenty of time for Clair to buy tickets. However, when it was nearly 10.40 a.m., the departure time, there was no bus No.6 only No.1 that was waiting for departure. Clair went to ask the ticket seller about the bus and it turned to be that the bus with No.1 written was the bus we were waiting.

After the bus left the station, the bus driver changed the number of the bus from 1 to 6. A bit too late, isn't it... 

It was a clear sunny day, meaning the weather forecast was precise. After 45 minutes being heated in the bus, we arrived at the harbor in Porlakshöfn. Queuing to buy the ferry ticket took quite while since the ticket sellers were really slow. Perhaps, they were just summer trainees... I read from the ferry company website that each passenger needs to give his or her full name. Nevertheless, the ticket seller who served me didn't ask for my name. So, I thought that it was just the written rule, not one in practice. I bought only one-way ticket (2150 ISK) because I wasn't sure if I would stay one or two nights and the ticket needed to specify the date.  

The ferry is huge, the same size as the ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm although passengers could be only one third of those traveling to Stockholm. The ferry left Porlakshöfn at 11.00 a.m.

The interior of the boat was designed to have a homey touch, having some elements that didn't seem to belong to a ferry, for example, oil paintings (I mean actual ones, not printed), TV room, leather (I mean real leather, not synthetic material) couches and so forth. However, all appeared in the 70s style which was old fashioned for today.

The wind was pretty chilly although the sun was really strong. We were sitting outside at the deck.  

 

After two and a half hours (and a short nap), the ferry approached the Heimaey (home island), the largest and the only inhabited island in Vestmannaeyjar with about 5000 inhabitants. The view from the ferry was spectacular! The cliffs, the mountains, the rock formation looked amazing. Thousands of birds were everywhere, resting on the cliffs or flying in the air. So, I should be sure by now that I would see puffins...

It took us while to find Sunnuholl Hostel. Signage in this island town looked quite nice, yet not informative at all! The town should hire a graphic designer to do the job! 

The hostel was actually more like a large family house. It was super clean. We got our own room with two tiny single beds (the width was only 60 cm, the narrowest ever I have slept in my life!).

Leaving luggage at the hostel, we stared the sightseeing day. We thought that we perhaps should look for a detailed map of Heimaey although we got a leaflet on which a map was found. We noticed a sign of tourist information that led us to an apparently temporary tourist information. Its location wasn't as same as what was marked on the map. We got 3 maps: a hiking map, a cafe and restaurant map and a city map, all of which was badly done. Some street names weren't mentioned. Contours weren't marked. The hiking map looked like a nice drawing with simplified lines. All maps were of no use. It seemed that the one on the leaflet was the best (although it wasn't even good!). Again, the town should invest some budget on hiring a cartographer to make just one decent map.   

Houses on this island were painted in various high intensity colors.

Puffins were everywhere in many different forms. 

The 70s influence can be seen everywhere...

On seeking a walking trail in the east of the island (as the map appeared to be unclear), we saw three wall paintings on a building, which I thought it was a fish factory, as Vestmannaeyja supplied 80% of fish in Iceland. The paintings were painted at quite different periods: in 1973, 1986 and 2003. Surprisingly, the artist could preserve very well his or her style for such a long time. Even the color combination hadn't changed through time! It seemed as if time had frozen for this artist.

 

A series of wall reliefs on the next building's wall...

The start of the trail directed to Skansinn near the harbor Skansinn was built in the 17th century as a fort to protect the harbor from invasion.  

The ruin of the old water tank which was destroyed and buried by lava...

A man was removing the flag. I assumed that the flag was up for the 3 July celebration of the end of the 1973 volcanic eruption.

The old wood clapboard Stave Church was given to the island by Norway  in 2000 as the commemoration of the first church 1000 years earlier. 

Landlyst was the oldest house on Heimaey, built in 1847 as the first maternity hospital in Iceland. 

Along the walking trail, a sign telling the name of the path appeared everywhere. However, there isn't any path name mentioned on any map. So, what's the point to have the sign?

 

Little colorful flowers were along the trail...

Then, we would like to continue to the Pompei of the North, a project started in 2005 to excavate 7-10 houses destroyed by the volcanic eruption in 1973 and buried by ash. It was supposed to be found by a walking trial. We walked and walked for an hour, but still no clue of the place for which we were looking.

Eldfell (fire mountain) viewed from distance would be the next destination after the Pompei of the North from which I later had quite a shivering experience...

  

Although we had found the place of the Pompei of the North, we still couldn't find the way to get in. We had to walk along the road, finding another walking trial leading to the place.

Volcanic eruption seemed common to Vestmannaeyja. One of the most known eruption took place in 1967. This submarine eruption created a new island named Surtsey. The 1973 volcanic eruption in Vestmannaeyjar, beginning on 23 January and ending on 3 July, is the largest natural disaster in the recent history of Iceland. The eruption damaged one third of the town of Heimaey. About 400 houses were covered with ash. However no one died because of the eruption. The only death was a rescuer who died from inhalation of poisonous gases. Phenomenally, the eruption transformed the landscape of this tiny island. The island became larger and a new mountain later named Eldfell emerged.

It was interesting to see the village rising out of the ash. I could sense the great extent of the devastation the eruption caused. However, I could at the same time sense the hope after the eruption. As it didn't harm any life, most of people returned to their homes, dug their houses out of the ash and renovated them (although not those on the former Sudurvegur where the project Pompei of the North took place and where the edge of the island was before eruption). 

After visiting the Pompei of the North, it was already 6 p.m. and I was starving. Luckily, Clair gave me a banana which extended my day, so that I could continue to Eldfell. Without this banana, I wouldn't have had energy to climb and to tremble by fear caused by the climbing at the least extent. Thanks Clair!

Having slightly filled our stomach, we headed to Eldfell. Its height is 221 m, which doesn't sound so high...

The mountains in the picture below are Dufthekja (283 m) and Ysiklettur (209 m) I think. 

In the photo below, the mountain on the left is Klif (226 m) and that on the right is Heimaklettur.

At the start of the path up to Eldfell, I noticed a garbage hill. It was a sort of unsuccessfully hidden management, as it was invisible from the road yet easily seen from the top view. 

Eldfell, the youngest volcanic cone emerged in 1973, was made of red-black scoria. The lava formed itself in bright red color and sheer appearance.  

Having believed that hiking around the peaks of Heimaey was fairly simple for most physical abilities the Bradt Guidebook mentioned, my experience of hiking on Eldfell was surely something opposite to "simple". Perhaps, I am one of those who could be categorized in the least physical abilities. The trail up to the cone loosely covered with lava stones was really difficult to walk, in particular the steep part. On approaching the crater of the cone, the appearance of Eldfell became increasingly unreal yet beautiful. I felt as if I was in another world.

Parallel to Eldfell lies Hekgafell or the holy mountain (226 m).

The surface of the trail was covered with lava stones that caused the walk difficult.

 

After passing the steepest part and full with sweat, I stopped and felt enough for Eldfell, meaning no more continuing to the center of the crater although it was only 50 meters away. The ground of this part of the trail to the crater was said to be too hot to touch and even so hot that baking bread is possible!

While Clair was continuing to the crater, I took photographs viewed from Eldfell. And after getting enough shots, I packed camera to my backpack, preparing for the challenge of downhill hiking. It must be truly scary for someone who is quite afraid of height like me...    

A view towards Kervikurfjall and the two tiny islands: Stiristakkur and Litlistakkur....

A view towards the snow cap of Myrdalsjökull glacier...

A view of Ystiklettur... 

The trial I had taken to Eldfell...

Another view to the direction of EMyrdalsjökull...

After Clair came back from the top, we left Eldfell.  Hiking downhill on the loose stone ground was a challenging and scary experience, just as I expected but didn't want to face. On the steepest part, I was too scared and my legs were even too trembling to walk. If the appearance of Eldfell could be compared with heaven, hiking on it was real hell!

Successfully down from the heavenly hell, we headed back to town. On the way, as my awareness of trees in Iceland seemed to reach a high degree, I noticed newly planted pine and birch trees. The project of reforesting Iceland seemed to be on Heimaey as well, I supposed. Nevertheless, these little trees must take several decades to grow large enough to create a forest. They looked now like berry bushes in the backyard...  

 

We ended the day around 8.30 p.m. with a nice dinner at Cafe Maria, recommended by our guidebooks as the place where local people dine. As I was so hungry, I ordered 2 dishes: soup of the day, which was broccoli soup (700 ISK), and a seafood crepe (940 ISK). Both were tasty although the crepe was a bit too salty and filled with rice which seemed alien for crepes in my opinion. The two dishes turned to be too much for me to finish. The saying "don't order when you are hungry" is always true! 

It was getting colder on the way back to the hostel. I took shower and went to bed around 10.30 p.m., sleeping still in my sleeping bag on the extra-narrow bed.