Interesting facts about Thingvellir National Park.

As I mentioned in the prior blog, Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a place where you can find many exciting places. Here are some facts about some of them.

I hope you also find them to your liking.

Parliament

The flag marks the spot where the Parliament use to be

Thingvellir is the birthplace of the oldest existing parliament in the world. This venue for the highest parliament in the land was selected due to its central location, making it easy for the citizens of the nation to attend the proceedings. Besides, it´s southern location and having these sessions during the summer, ensured good weather, (well, this is Iceland, so good weather is debatable). 

The river running through it was diverted so they could have access to fresh water, and the fields were perfect for camping and for the grazing of the horses.

Here is where all the laws where passed, and quarrels were executed. All the population was permitted to attend; however, only the chieftains were able to vote. 

I can image these sessions as a big party, where everybody got together to party and get drunk, after being isolated for months at a time in their own homes due to the harsh winters and distances between dwellings. So, these legislative sessions were also a place to make friends, find a spouse, and settle quarrels, that i imaging there were many. After all, these were Vikings, and as you know, they loved to fight. 

In 1262 Iceland submitted to the Norwegian king, and the parliament was dismantled.

The drowning pool.

The bridge is over the spot where the drowning occurred

The drowning pool is a beautiful, peaceful lake, however, in 1850, the Danish king took possession of the country and beheaded the Catholic priest and his two sons. The country became Lutheran, and the king became the head of the church. He wanted a country void of sin, and the way to achieve it was by killing all the sinners. 

Thingvellir´s primary role became the passing of judgment and harsh punishment. And the sentence had to be enforced by those who filed the grievance.

There were four types of punishments. 

Death by drowning, which was usually reserved for women found guilty of “loose morals.” They used to put the women inside a bag full of stones, and they were thrown into the lake to drown. 

Hanging for thieves. 

Beheading for murderers and male adulterers, which usually was done by a blunt ax.

Death by burning at the stakes, for convicted alleged practitioner of witchcraft. Once again, only women were sentenced and burn.

These punishments were practiced until the 1800’s.

On the other hand, Thingvellir is the largest natural lake in all of Iceland, and it is form by the melting crystal clear waters of a glacier. There are many brown trout and arctic char, making it a great fishing place. Its waters have an average temperature of -4° C = 24.8° F. it has a visibility of 12 meters = 39.37 ft, and a depth of 114 m = 374 ft.

It is also great for divers because the waters are so clear that you can see the continental plates.

The tectonic plates.

There are many tectonic plates in the world, however, this is the ones we know the most because they are the ones that separate the North American and Eurasia continents.

Iceland is sitting on top of hot rocks on the earth mantle. This is one of the reasons for the many volcanic eruptions on the island.

The rift

Here you can see the rip between the continents as well as the natural wall separating the continents. 

This rift is caused because Iceland is growing about 2 centimeters = 0.78 inches per year, forcing the plates to separate. You are actually, standing on the American side of the plates, looking at the Eurasian side on the other side of the rift. Wonderful experience.

As I mentioned on the prior blog, I won’t joke about the wall, (even that I want to).

Tundra

Tundra

As you can see the landscape is all rocks cover in moss. These rocks are lava, basalt, and pumice rocks, and because they are all cover with moss,you are not allowed to walk on them, as you would leave your imprint for ever on them. And these rocks are the reason that there are no trees in Iceland. 

There were some forests in Iceland, however, when the settlers came, they used the wood to build houses, and for heating and they depleted the small forests around the country. Now a day, the government established a forestry service and a soil conservation agency, and they are planting birch trees.