Iceland: Day 19 - Þingvellir

July 13, 2004

With the weather not that great and not much left to do in the Reykjavík area, we decided to head to Þingvellir for the night. Still overcast and windy but not rainy, we remembered the frantic rush to see everything and losing the tour bus on our last visit to this National Park. (see day 1 for more photos).

Icelanders gathered at Þingvellir for the first time in 930 AD. From then until 1798, continuously for 868 years, Þingvellir was the nation's meeting place.

The first part of this period has been named "The Golden Age of Iceland". These words refer to the Icelandic Commonwealth that lasted from 930 to 1262. All this time, Iceland was an independent nation. The AlÞing (Icelandic Parliament) in Þingvellir held the supreme authority of the country. The AlÞing was both a legislative and judicial assembly. There, disputes from all over the country were resolved here.

Þingvellir is also remarkable for geological reasons as it lies in a rift valley. The basin is part of the Great Atlantic Rift that runs through Iceland from the South-west to the North-east. The rift valley basin in Þingvellir today has been formed over the last 10,000 years. Þingvallavatn is the largest lake in Iceland and teems with life. It is fed by the Oxara river.

We sauntered down the path along the atlantic rift and walked to a little waterfall. We cooked a pasta dinner by the car in the parking lot. Being past 5pm, we almost had the place to ourselves until a big camper parked *right* next to us, blocking our view and giving us absolutely no privacy. We played yahtzee for a while, washed up in the nice heated bathrooms, and moved to another parking lot a little further down the road to sleep for the night.

The view from the top of the rift - Þingvallavatn is the largest lake in Iceland.

Thingvallakirkja (the church) along the Oxara River.

Oxarafoss.

A view of the Oxara running partially along the top of the Atlantic Rift.

A small sunny break shines on the lava fields in the distance.

The chef in his kitchen...
on the menu: pasta with tuna, peas and cream of mushroom soup!

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