On our first day in Iceland, we ended with a marvelous stop at Thingvellir! Thingvellir National Park (or Þingvellir in Icelandic) is a gorgeous park right on the dividing line between the North American and European/Asian tectonic plates. Thingvellir is famous for being the site of Iceland's first parliament- way back in 930 CE!
Brooke and I were very excited to go, because Thingvellir's historical and geological importance are both so cool. Plus, we were there at golden hour, just as the sun was about to set. The quality of the light was so beautiful! The Icelandic parliament is called the Althing and parliament was still held there until 1978; wow! Thingvellir is a natural amphitheatre; it made sense to hold parliament there because the shape of the rock formation amplified (or made louder) the sound of people's voices.
I really enjoyed going to Thingvellir. As I said earlier, it's right at the boundary between two tectonic plates. That means the two plates are pulling apart and creating a rift valley in the middle. Thingvellir was so beautiful; I felt so strongly that I want to go back someday. I imagined the ancient people going there for the Althing.
Have you ever been anywhere that was important because of the land itself and because of what happened there? Where did you go?
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I walked along faults with my geophysics class in college.
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