Vestmannaeyjar.

On the 7th day in Iceland, we decided to jump on a ferry to Vestmannaeyjar - Westman Islands. I must say that for me and Peter it was the biggest disappointment of whole journey. The place was nice, but quite boring. It has an interesting history and for sure you should visit it if you have chance, but if I had had a other option to spend that day, I would have gone for it. It was so quiet and small that 5 hours were totally enough to see its length and breadth. We were told that we would see stock of seals and puffins on rocks, but again it wasn't true. So the biggest attraction was climbing on the top of vulcano which created this surroundings not so long time ago. 

The islands' landscape is very plain and stark, light blue, yellow and green were the dominant colours of that day. Heimaey it the largest and only permanent inhabited island, but with population of about 4200 people, we felt a bit like on deserted island there. 

All of these small pieces are creations of past eruptions. The youngest island is called Surtsey which finally shaped in 1967. 

It is so easy to notice vulcano activity on the island. Soft grass is next to cooled lava, which makes up a big part of Heimaey. 

A portrait of sheep ;) Puffins were advertised as main attraction of Vestmannaeyjar, but we couldn't find any. Finally we asked about them in tourist information and a kind lady told us, that "yes, you can see masses of them, but only in August when they arrive here". August and "whole year" is a big difference isn't it? So instead of yearlong puffins' flock, we met only some sheeps and seagulls. 

I really liked colourful paintings on houses. They made quiet streets more vivid and cheerful. 

Tourist information. 

Inactive Helgafell vulcano.

Surrealistic football monument on our way to Helgafell.

It was the first time in my life when I stood at the edge of vulcano crater. Helgafell is only 226 m high, so it is easy to climb up. The view from the top is really nice. But even if we knew that the vulcano is inactive now, I felt a bit anxious, thinking "what if?"... 

...Especially when an active vulcano is right next to you! Eldfell ("the fire mountain") - a perpetrator of last massive eruption in 1973, which horrified local citizens and made Heimaey famous worldwide. Most of people were evacuated on fisherman boats, but about 200 inhabitants stayed to save city and the most important part of it - a harbour, the island's main income source with its fishing fleet. They decided to use water cannons to cool down lava, of which 33 mln tons came up on surface within 5 months of eruption. 4 m layer of ash covered houses, but cooling operation was succesful and the harbour was rescued. As a result over 2,2 square kilometers of new land was added to the island, increasing the pre-eruption area of Heimaey by over 15%.