Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.03.2016, Blaðsíða 20

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tion. That same night, many of the
island’s inhabitants were taken by
boat to the mainland of Iceland, or
the “northern island,” as the West-
man locals like to call it. Though the
evacuation was successful, many
people lost their homes during the
event. Following the eruption, about
400 houses were completely cov-
ered by a brand new lava field.
The eruption is hard to ignore
once on the island, even from the ho-
tel. Hrefna and I drop our things in
our rooms at Hótel Vestmanneyjar,
and immediately step out onto the
balcony. The sun hits the city side-
ways, magnificently lighting up the
houses. In the distance, Eldfell and
Helgafell, the island’s two volca-
noes, loom, beautiful but menacing.
Right down the street is the new
lava field. We climb a set of steps up
the steep wall of lava, and immedi-
ately start exploring the paths that
wind through the clumped masses.
Standing on the lava field, we have
a beautiful view of the city below.
From here, it’s especially easy to
imagine the ground beneath us slid-
ing over the nearby buildings.
Later, we find out that Hótel
Vestmanneyjar has redone some of
its rooms. The one we see uses the
eruption as inspiration for its de-
sign. The lava, it seems, slid not only
into the city’s buildings, but into its
aesthetic as well.
Sifting through debris
The relatively new, fascinatingly
high-tech Eldheimar Museum was
a huge help in understanding how
formative (literally and figuratively)
the eruption is in Westman Islands
history. The museum’s bottom floor
contains a house that was buried in
the eruption. Cameras mounted in
various rooms allow visitors to see
aspects of the room using a joystick
and a video screen. Visitors are en-
couraged to spot household items
such as a curling iron, a glove, and
even an unopened wedding present,
all of which are scattered and half-
covered in volcanic rubble.
The exhibit not only promotes
interaction with the excavation pro-
cess, but also reinforces the eruption
as something that literally swallowed
people’s material lives. It treats the
eruption as a tragedy, and demon-
strates the event’s grave impact.
The upstairs portion of the mu-
seum is a bit happier. Rather than
the natural disaster, it focuses on
the geologic phenomena of the most
recently born Westman island, Surt-
sey. Surtsey is a sort of “quickie is-
land,” arising in the late twentieth
century and now rapidly disinte-
grating. Unless the rate of erosion
slows drastically, it will likely be
gone by 2130.
The most exciting part of the up-
stairs exhibition involves a timeline
with a sliding dial, in which you can
watch Surtsey’s size, geology, plant
life, and animal life change over
time. Watching the changes in land
area and species occupation over
time illustrates an intense and fasci-
nating process of geologic and eco-
logic aging: Surtsey as an island very
much stuck in time.
Westman wildlife
For those who want a taste of the
wildlife beyond Surtsey, there’s also
the Sæheimar Aquarium and Mu-
seum. Like Eldheimar, Sæheimar is
a must-see on the island, especially
for winter visitors. The museum
houses many aspects of Heimaey’s
natural history, from an extensive
collection of volcanic rocks to an
aquarium with fish species that live
in the waters around the island. It
even has stuffed versions of birds
that frequent the Westman Islands.
The best—and our most-antic-
ipated—part of Sæheimar were its
three resident rescued puffins. Mar-
grét, a curator at the museum, tells
us about each puffin and how he or
she came to be rescued, asserting
that each bird has a distinct person-
20 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 3 — 2016TRAVEL
“At one point while
holding him, I notice
he’s strangely restless.
I set him down and he
promptly (and very
politely) poops on the
floor, clearly versed in
bathroom pleasantries.
Everyone in the room
is suitably impressed
with his manners. ”
Westman Islands