Day 2 - Touring the Golden Circle

Day 2, July 5, 2013:

While I would like to say we got off to an early start, 11:00 was the best we could manage.  Thanks to our GPS we made it out of the City and headed north to do the classic ‘Golden Circle’ tour which seems to be a tourist must do and really is worth the trip.  The weather gods dealt us a typical Icelandic hand, rain, wind and fog which somehow seemed just perfect for the sites we visited.  Our first stop about an hour out of Reykjavik was Pingvellir which just happens to be in the rift valley that crosses Iceland where new continent is being made.  One side of the rift is travelling east (the Eurasian plate) and the other is travelling west (the American plate) as new oceanic crust pushes oozes up and fills the widening gap.  The valley has grown approximately 70 meters over the past ten thousand years; cool ... a place where new land is being made!  This area was also named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2004.

This is also one of Iceland’s most important cultural sites as this is where the Alpingi or general assembly first came together around 930 AD.  This was Iceland’s first legislature and court and every summer representatives from each chiefdom would travel overland to settle disputes and make laws.  Everything occurred around the Logberg or law rock.  Because the laws were not initially recorded in writing, the Law Speaker would stand on the law rock and recite the laws aloud for all to hear at the start of each session.  This was a highly respected position (the only paid one) and because there were a lot of laws the law speaker was elected for a three year term and recited a third of the laws each session – from memory.  The Logberg was open to all and everyone had the right to address the council from the law rock.  This was also the only form of court in Iceland where the Logretta (the chiefs and later bishops) ruled on legal disputes.  Punishments were harsh and incest was considered one of the greatest crimes (worse than murder) because it brought sin and misfortune to all in the village.  Punishments included branding, whipping and execution by drowning (women mostly), hanging and burning at the stake but the worst punishment of all was banishment for up to three years from Iceland.  Seems to me that execution was kind of final, but go figure.  In 1944 Iceland declared independence and the republic was formed at the ancient law rock – in the pouring rain of course!   When we visited, the weather did not disappoint it was foggy, rainy windy and cold, even so, the rift is beautiful and the history fascinating.  Connor had to climb everything, Duncan’s shoes had holes and so he suffered with wet feet all day but we had a great time.

Our next stop was Geysir where you guessed there were geysers, as a matter of fact this is where our English word came from (from the Icelandic word meaning to erupt) The Great Geysir (which no longer erupts by the way, it just sort of steams) awoke after an earthquake in 1630, it had been dormant for about 40 years before that.  It is the oldest recorded geyser in the world and has been the most consistent.  The Strokkur or The Churn currently erupts every few minutes and is fascinating to watch.  The water in the basin rises and falls like slow breaths until a great water dome signals eruption and she blows 10 to 30 meters high.  Unlike other geyser fields, you can get so close that you are showered with the water as it falls – whoppeee!  Iceland has loads of thermal areas and everywhere there are steam vents but only a few places where the water forms a geyser, these are the only geysers in Europe.  Again Connor had to climb the mountain behind the geyser field and came back triumphant and covered in rust red mud.

 

Our last stop for the day was Gullfloss where the Hvita River roars and I do mean roars over the cliffs into the canyon below on its path from the glacial interior of Iceland to the sea.  This is sort of the Niagara Falls of Iceland and spectacular – pictures don’t do it justice.  We will be rafting this river in two days’ time, but I’m pretty sure we do so, downstream of the falls.

 

Well that was a full day, we were damp, tired and headed home to Reykjavik where the sun finally broke through the clouds at 8:00 and it looked like noon outside.  This really is the land of the midnight sun.