“Vestmannaeyjar has some of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen in Iceland.”
I made this statement a few weeks ago, and have repeated it frequently since. Today I am here to back it up with pictures of those beautiful landscapes.
In case you couldn’t tell from my previous posts about Vestmannaeyjar, I am kind of in love with this beautiful place. Like I was ready to move the Viking and I over to the tiny island of 4,000 people in love. But then I realized you can drive around the entire island in a shorter time then it takes for me to get to work, which is just to small for me. So I have now settled for visiting as often as possible instead.
With just a few hours in the afternoon to pack in as much exploring as possible H and I headed off to do two different hikes in Vestmannaeyjar. Our first hike took us to Herjólfsdalur, a beautiful valley surrounded by an extinct volcano that is said to have some of the best views of the town from above. I love finding the best views of a place from above so this hike was a must for me.
Every year, during the first week of August, this valley fills up with thousands of signing Icelanders as they celebrate Þjóðhátíð, an annual outdoor music festival. Þjóðhátíð is on my Icelandic bucket list, maybe next year, but this year as we were on Vestmannaeyjar a few days before the festivities began we got to check out the stages being set up, which only made me want to attend Þjóðhátíð that much more!
But H and I weren’t in the valley to sing songs, we were there to climb the ridiculously steep hillside to take in what H promised me would be some amazing views. For as steep as that climb up was all I could think was they better be!
It is no secret that I am kinda terrified of heights. For someone who is afraid of heights though I seem to get myself into a lot of high up situations. I tried to distract myself by taking in all the beautiful views around me. Which was mostly working, until we came across this sign.
“The path is collapsing.”
Ummm excuse me what! Let’s just say that when you are standing very high off the ground with a steep hill to your left and the ocean to your right the last thing you want to see is a sign saying the path is collapsing.
I had a mini panic attack up there after reading that sign. But then I thought, I am already this far up, I can’t turn around now. So onto the “new” path we went and I kept my fingers crossed this path wasn’t in danger of collapsing.
Thankfully we made it to the top with no danger of collapsing pathways in sight. And I took a moment to celebrate surviving the hike.
H was right though, the views at the top were totally worth the terrifying and steep climb up. It felt like you could see across the entire island from up there. Which, you actually probably could, that is how small the island is! This small island though, it has some beautiful landscapes!
Nothing better than exploring with your best friend, am I right??
Are you guys as in love with Vestmannaeyjar as I am?
Stay tuned for hike #2 which brought more beautiful views as we hiked up the lava rocks of the volcano Eldfell.
Question of the Day?
Would you hike for a view of a city from above?
