Thingvellir: Birthplace of Iceland Between Two Continents
Thingvellir National Park is one of the main attractions of the Golden Circle day tour and is located within a 40-minute drive from Reykjavík. The park contains various hiking trails, and extra activities like angling, horse riding, and scuba diving in the Silfra fissure.
The Þingvellir (Thingvellir) area is praised as the national shrine of Iceland due to its great historical and geological significance. Iceland’s first national park was established there in 1928, and the Þingvellir area has now been recognized for its outstanding universal value and listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
The name Thingvellir literally means “Assembly Plains,” and the place symbolizes the history of Iceland. The Alþingi, or Iceland’s parliament, was founded there as early as 930, making it the oldest operating parliament globally. The parliament continued to convene at the fields of river Öxará for 868 years or until 1798. Therefore, many significant events of Iceland’s history have taken place there, and Icelanders consider it the nation’s birthplace.
The magical landscapes at Thingvellir are formed in the unique geographical setting of a rift valley in the divide between the North-American and Eurasian continental plates. The lava fields are torn apart by tectonic forces, leaving admirable gorges and fissures. The most impressive of them, Almannagjá, is the focal point of the national park. A hiking path leads through the enormous cleft to the “law rock” and Öxará river, enveloped by stunning walls of basalt rocks. The Almannagjá gorge is used in multiple scenes in the HBO TV Series Game of Thrones.