Heimaey is the main island of the Westman Islands, surrounded by 15 other islands. We visited here as part of our Icelandic tour a few years ago. Its population is approximately 4,300 people while all the other islands remain uninhabited. It can be reach by ferry from Vestmannaeyja or from Reykjavik.

It’s a beautiful little island, with abundant wildlife, but mostly famous for the puffins. It also has two volcanoes, Eldfel exploded in 1973 with all the inhabitants having to leave the island for almost six months! The island was left under lava and ash, but with the help of foreigners and other Icelanders, it was cleared to make it habitable again for the Westman Islanders.

The volcanic rocks we passed on the ferry

Before checking into our hotel we did a tour of the island taking in the puffin sanctuary.
It was August when we visited, the time when the baby puffins are born. The puffin parents stop feeding their young early so this forces the babies out and into the town looking for food. The lights at night attract the young and they fly down in their hundreds. It is a pastime for the youngsters of Westman Island to rescue these young birds and the next day the children take them to a safe nesting place on the island.

After seeing the puffins we then went onto to walk the volcanic trail around Eldfell Volcano, Anthony decided he would walk to the top later on that afternoon. He mentioned it was tricky to descend because you tended to slide down!

The new volcanic island formed from volcanic eruptions from 1963 to 1967

We were staying one night at the wonderful Hotel Vestmannaeyjar, where we had a great room overlooking the harbour.

It’s a lovely little town to explore on foot and we had the afternoon and night free to ourselves. Anthony wanted to try the local delicacy of baby puffin, a bit sad after we had just seen them! So he did get his wish after we found a pub for lunch.

Photos from around the town

A very fine Oldsmobile — Open air fish drying

Before leaving the island the next day our tour driver picked us up to visit the black sand beach, Reynisfjara, very popular with locals during the summer.

I loved the setting of this tiny island and it’s well worth a visit if you ever get to Iceland, a beautiful hidden gem full of colour and history.

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That’s it for W, next should be X but I’m stumped with this. So it will be straight onto Y!

I think the best way to see anywhere new is to go on an organised excursion. I did just that when I visited Fuerteventura with the excellent Pie de Caracol tours, with driver and guide Luca. It was a long day from 9.00 am until 8pm so we really packed a whole lot in. Normally it’s not so long but because one of the major roads was closed because of a bike race, Luca had to devise some other way to drive around the island.

We started at Corralejo and drove down to La Oliva, bypassing the capital Puerto del Rosario due to road closure, to Betancuria, Ajuy, Costa Calma and back to Corralejo with so many stops along the way. Luca was so informative and had a wealth of knowledge about the island.

Amazingly we saw a rainbow, a miracle when you think there is hardly any rain on this island.

Some of the hundreds of terraces that you see dotted around the island.

Our first stop was the Colonel’s House in La Oliva. There is not much historical information that exists about the house but it is believed to have been built in 1740, for Colonel Melchor de Cabrera Bethencour.

One of the old structures surrounding the house

A few minutes walk away was the old church of Our Lady of Candelaria, where you could wander inside and have a look at the beautiful ceiling. It dates back to the 16th Century and its dark tower is made of volcanic stone.

On the journey towards our next stop of Betancuria we stopped at the famous lookout, where the Morro Velosa warriors are located. Even though this island is quite barren when the sun shines the colours on the volcanoes are amazing.

This tiny house is the one you can see in the far distance in the above photo My canon powershot did a fantastic job

Onwards then to Betancuria, an old colonial and picturesque village once the capital of this island. Founded in 1404 this was once a fertile valley due to the fresh water streams nearby, sadly these have long since dried up and the only plants that grow are aloe vera and agave.

BETANCURIA

After a quick bite in Betancuria we headed over to Ajuy, an old fishing village on the West coast. This is where we had lunch and then a cliff top walk along to the caves below.

AJUY

Blue rowing boat just perched on the black sand

Ajuy village overlooking the black sand beach

COSTA CALMA

The furthest south we drove was to Costa Calma, a resort area with a natural lagoon. The lagoon fills up in the afternoon creating a shallow area for paddling in contrast to the wild sea beyond.

Standing in the lagoon looking out towards the Jandia Natural Park

Driving back we stopped at a windmill, salt flats and sand dunes. There is so much to see and do on Fuerteventura but I’m pretty sure we came close to seeing nearly everything with the wonderful tour from Piedecaracol.com.

Lastly some more from my gallery