Þingvellir

After Gulfoss we went to Þingvellir, which has two very important historical claims to fame. Firstly, it is the site of Iceland's Parliament. Various Icelandic colonies would meet at Þingvellir once a year, and a speaker would recite 1/3 of the Icelandic laws per visit. After 3 years a new speaker would be elected and they'd start over with the first third of the laws. Þingvellir was a good meeting place because it was in a convenient midpoint for most colonies, but by no accident. The rift between the North American and Eurasian plates runs through Þingvellir, so the island of Iceland started forming at this point, and lava flow spread out evenly to the west and east. There's a valley at Þingvellir now, and it's opening slowly every year. The valley we saw didn't exist when they started the Parliament, and the lake we saw also slowly formed due to the rift.






This is the "Drowning River," where vikings would drown women who transgressed any lady laws. It doesn't look like it could do much damage...seems like it could be fun to splash in the water...But I guess the Viking-ladies don't feel the same way...


The water was so clear and fresh throughout Þingvellir, you could just scoop down and drink it up.




It's considered lucky to throw coins into the river...and if you look carefully you can see a few credit cards (Luck now, pay later!). These kind of rift rivers have crazy tunnels that run through and connect to other rivers, and people can go scuba diving through this underwater maze.




Then we walked through a meadow on the way back. Because it's Iceland. And it's adorable.