Skansinn

Skansinn is the old fortification above the harbour on Heimaey, built in the late sixteenth century after raids on the islands and strengthened afterwards, and it failed at the moment it mattered: in 1627 corsairs from North Africa landed, and in the raid Icelanders call the Turkish Abduction they killed dozens of islanders and carried more than two hundred away to be sold in Algiers. Some were later ransomed home. The site now also holds the oldest water tank on the islands, a stave church given by Norway in 2000 to mark a thousand years of Christianity in Iceland, and the edge of the 1973 lava flow, which stopped just short and buried part of the ground.

What you actually see

• A fort built against raiders - and taken in 1627.
• The Turkish Abduction - over two hundred islanders carried off to Algiers.
• A Norwegian stave church - given in 2000 for the millennium of Christianity here.
• The 1973 lava edge - the flow that stopped at the site.

When to go

Year round; the walk from town is short. An hour.

Honest expectations

The fort itself is low walls and takes minutes; the context is the value. The lava edge is sharp and unstable. Wind off the harbour is constant. Everything here is outdoors with no shelter.

Nearby

Eldfell and the 1973 lava are above the town; the harbour is below.