Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HEIMAEY TOWN
0
500
metres
Harbour
Sprengur Rope
Ferry
Terminal
Skansinn
Fort
Stafkirkjan
Rib
Safaris
2
Viking Tours
N
R
Aquarium & Natural
History Museum
KIRKJUBÆJARHRAUN
G U
Bank
Bank
Swimming Pool
Landakirkja
RESTAURANTS
Café Kró
Café Varmó
Einsi Kaldi
Vinaminni kaffihús
1
2
4
3
ACCOMMODATION
Árný
Campsite
Hótel Vestmannaeyjar
Hreiðrið
IYHA hostel
Mamma
5
1
2
4
2
3
Standalone House
SHOPS
Krónan supermarket
Vínbúðin
Vöruval supermarket
2
1
3
Airport
Skansinn
Strandvegur
East of the harbour along Strandvegur, the road crosses the edge of Eldfell's 1973 flow
and passes the neat lava-block walls of
Skansinn fort
. Only chest-high, this wall is
pretty much a token defence, built by the English in the thirteenth century and revived
after the pirate raid to house Iceland's first and only army. This wasn't the sole occasion
that pirates took advantage of the Westmans' isolation: a sixteenth-century rover
named Gentleman John once stole Heimaey's church bell.
Stafkirkjan
Strandvegur
Just across from Skansinn, the extraordinary
Stafkirkjan
is a Viking-era-style wooden
church with a steep, black shingle roof, consecrated in 2000 to celebrate a thousand
years of Christianity in Iceland. The building faces the presumed site of the country's
first purpose-built church, raised by Gizur the White a few years before he championed
the new faith at the Alþing in 1000 AD.
Kirkjubæjarhraun
South of the harbour, you can follow first Kirkjuvegur and then Heimagata and
Helgafellsbraut below the two-storey-high, steeply sloping
Kirkjubæjarhraun lava flow
that swallowed up the eastern end of town. Steps from Heimagata take you up on top
