Vestmannaeyjar

Tradition holds that the first settler on Heimaey was Herjólfur Bárðarson, who according to the Landnámabók built his farm in Herjólfsdalur around 900, but excavations in 1971 found that people had lived there almost a century earlier. For most of its history the island was a fishing station with a small farming population, short of fresh water — a problem only properly solved in 1968, when a water pipeline was laid.

Its darkest episode came in 1627, when pirates from the Ottoman-ruled Barbary Coast raided Iceland's south coast and islands. Hundreds of islanders were carried off to the slave markets of Algiers; among them was a woman remembered as Tyrkja-Gudda, taken from her home at Stakkagerði. The Tyrkjaránið, the "Turkish raid", is still remembered, and Tyrkja-Gudda's story has been told in a play and a novel.

The 20th century brought fire from the sea. On 14 November 1963 an undersea eruption to the south-west broke the surface, lasting about four years and creating Surtsey, the newest island of the group. Then at about 2 a.m. on 23 January 1973 a fissure opened on the eastern side of Heimaey itself and soon stretched about 2 kilometres. Almost the entire fishing fleet was in harbour, and the island's 5,000 people were evacuated during the night, mostly by fishing boat. Ash fell over most of the island and destroyed around 400 homes, and the lava flowed towards the harbour; it was cooled and partly halted by spraying it with millions of tonnes of seawater, saving the harbour. Afterwards the islanders used the heat of the cooling lava for hot water and electricity, and used the tephra to extend the airport runway and as landfill for 200 new houses.

The Westman Islanders have a strong identity of their own, and nothing shows it like Þjóðhátíð, the "national festival". First held in 1874, the year Iceland marked the thousandth anniversary of its settlement, it takes over Herjólfsdalur on the weekend before the first Monday in August. Local families pitch large white tents in the valley and receive guests with coffee and smoked puffin, a torchlit parade brings out figures from folklore such as the ogress Grýla, and the weekend climaxes with a huge bonfire, fireworks and a hillside sing-along. Many people who grew up on the island come home for it, and the sports association ÍBV organises the whole event.

ÍBV is itself a source of island pride, one of the most prominent sports clubs in Iceland, with national titles in both handball and football. The islands have produced a remarkable number of footballers, among them Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir, considered by many the best Icelandic woman player ever, and Heimir Hallgrímsson, born on the island and later manager of the Republic of Ireland — and still the town's dentist.

The puffin is the islands' emblem and its most plentiful bird, and all of Iceland's seabirds, from guillemots and gannets to kittiwakes, breed here. When stray young puffins turn up in town, local children go out with cardboard boxes to gather them and release them at the shore. Keiko, the orca from the film Free Willy, was brought to Klettsvík Bay on Heimaey as part of his return to the wild.

Heimaey, the only inhabited island of the archipelago, has about 4,500 residents, most of them living in the town of Vestmannaeyjabær around the harbour. At 13.4 square kilometres it is the largest and most populous island off the Icelandic coast. The other islands are uninhabited, though six have single hunting cabins.

Fishing is the mainstay of the island, the most productive fishing centre in the country, and the harbour — the asset the islanders fought to save in 1973 — remains the heart of the economy, with fishing boats, fish plants and the ferry quay side by side. Tourism adds to it in summer, with puffin-watching, boat trips around the islands, the eruption museum and the festival.

Life depends on the link with the mainland. Since 2010 the Herjólfur ferry has sailed to Landeyjahöfn, cutting the crossing to around 40 minutes, and since July 2019 a hybrid electric ferry carrying up to 550 passengers and 75 cars has worked the route. Landeyjahöfn, built on sand, silts up and must be dredged regularly, and in bad weather the ferry has to make the much longer trip to Þorlákshöfn. The airport carries seasonal, charter and medical flights.

The island's food comes from the sea and the cliffs. The islands are Iceland's most productive fishing centre, and Icelanders today eat mostly haddock, plaice, halibut, herring and shrimp. Puffin has a special place: bird-hunting is a traditional part of island culture, and at Þjóðhátíð families serve smoked puffin to visitors in their tents. Across Iceland, puffin, sometimes lightly smoked, is a traditional festive dish where it is available.

The rest of the table follows the Icelandic kitchen of lamb, dairy and fish: skyr, a soft yoghurt-like cheese eaten with a spoon; hangikjöt, smoked lamb, often served on flatkaka, a soft rye flatbread; rúgbrauð, the dense, dark and moist rye bread; and kleina, small knotted buns of fried dough. At midwinter many Icelanders still gather for þorramatur, a buffet of cured meat and fish served with rúgbrauð and brennivín.

Places to eat cluster around the harbour and the town centre. Slippurinn and Næs on Strandvegur are among the restaurants near the quays, and cafés around the harbour serve coffee, beer and meals. Groceries are available in town, though the range is narrower than on the mainland, so walkers stock up before heading out onto the lava or the cliffs.