Golden Circle

Day 1 of our tour followed all the tour buses around The Golden Circle which is the most historical part of Iceland and the most popular. The area we visited is where the American continent and the European continent meet, the tectonic plates collide down the middle of Iceland and are seperated by 7 kilometers of "no man's land". Iceland has 131 active volcanoes, most along this dividing line. Lake Thinglavir is in the middle of this divide. The Viking clans would meet in this valley every summer to settle laws and law breakers, marry, dance and celebrate life. Christianity was initiated at one of these meetings around 1000 AD when the clan leader had to choose whom the people would worship - the Viking gods like Oden or the Christian God. He chose Christianity.

The Thinglavir River feeds this lake and the Gullfoss double waterfall makes for spectacular viewing. A ways down the road we stopped to view geysers or as Icelanders say "gay zee ers".

 

We then stopped at the Green House farm where tomatoes are grown year round using geothermal energy. The hot water is used to heat the green houses, and to generate electricity to run the temperature controls and the lighting. The family that owns the farm also raise Icelandic horses which are pure bred from the time of the Vikings in the 11th century.

Along our route is the first church building and first school of Iceland. The Church of Skalholl was first built in 1056 while the current building was built in 1963 and is the 10th building to sit on this site.

If you are not bored with what has been written so far, you might if you read further! The following is some interesting information I picked up today: Foss means water fall; Reykjavik has 200,000 people and all of Iceland has 344,000; there are 100,000 horses; the Vikings came from Norway but brought Irish slaves and men from Denmark; no big trees and only 1.5% of the land has trees; 20% of the Games of Thrones was filmed in Iceland; in 1262 Iceland became part of Norway, in 1800's became part of Denmark and in 1944 gained its independence.