We sailed through the night and arrived in Heimaey around noon. Professor Donoghue spoke on Icelandic history and the influence of the Scandinavian languages on English. I also attended a lecture on the German Scientist who proposed the idea of what he called continental drift. The speaker was connected to the other tour group on board.
After lunch we went on the buses that took us on a tour of the island. It was interesting. We stopped at the airport for a bio-break. The big topic was the 1973 volcanic eruption. Since the day before the weather was very bad, the entire fishing fleet was in the harbor. They managed to evacuate all 5,300 residents as well as their livestock. They took action to change the course of the lava so that the main part of the town and the harbor were not destroyed.
About one third of the population of Iceland is descended from Irish slaves brought into the country by the Viking raiders.
My roommate, Elizabeth Bogen, worked for Department of City Planning before I arrived on the scene. She knew George Minicucci.
Entering Heimaey through the fogSailing into hemaey
Town is barely visible through the fog
Sign at the dock
Sheep on the road
Signage of what we should be seeing if there were no fog.View from high point on the Island
Pirate cove - Algerian pirates attached and took 240 people as slaves
View of the mountain
Signage leading into where they are excavating the houses that were buried in the 1973 volcanic eruption
The Dig
Signs indicate the address of houses to be excavated
Back of sign
View of Village
SignageView from Volcano
Looking out to sea
No comments:
Post a Comment