Iceland Information
| Thingvellir National Park |
Iceland Information |
| We were supposed to go back to Reykjavik after the visit to Gullfoss Waterfall. Laura, as the only one who took off in the middle of the trip, said goodbye at a tiny town called Laugavatn, where she would continue her around-the-island grand tour. The terrain started to change. We soon noticed our coach crawling and curving up some mountains. It was drastically different from the scenes we had seen earlier, which were mostly composed of plains. Shortly, the tour guide changed his mind. "Since we got more time, how about going for a short visit to Thingvellir?" The audience cheered. We all knew very well that a much pricier tour essentially only had this one more attraction. The tour guide read our mind instantly, "Make sure we only make a quick stop, and don't let others know" His voice turned into a whisper and his face showed a sly grin. It seemed the quality of Iceland tours was very susceptible to how tour guides felt that day. Apparently, our tour guide was in high spirit and satisfied with his cheerful flock. |
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Thingvellir is significant both in history and geology. In 930AD, the resident Vikings founded the world's oldest parliament at Logberg in Thingvellir. In those ancient times, the parliament met once a year, outdoors on horseback. It's also here where the peaceful conversion from the Norse gods to Christianity took place. The saga didn't come to an end until the 13th century, when some greedy mean souls sold out to Norway. Geologically speaking, Thingvellir is the terminus of the mid-Atlantic rift and the only place in the world where the tectonic plates can be seen above sea level. The rift valley between the tectonic continental plates is a remarkable sight, where "East meets West". |