The Icelandic Interior

I put my boots on, jumped in my little red rental car, and headed into the interior of the country this morning. Minutes outside of Reykjavik there was almost no traffic and I was alone on the road most of the day. It is early in the season, so the countryside has yet to green up, and it was COLD, but the dramatic landscape made it well worth it.

My first stop was the Alþingi (pronounced "al-thingy"), or site of the historic Viking Parliament. Starting in 930 A.D., the clan leaders from around the country would assemble for two weeks in June to give speeches and make law. The photo below is where they assembled:

Just a few hundred meters from where laws were made, this is were punishments were carried out. It was the Viking custom to punish transgressors with drowning. Those guilty of the most heinous crimes (incest or infanticide to hide the birth of a child), were submerged here until dead:

Don't mess with the Viking Law...

Here are two photos of Þingvellir Church from Iceland's more recent Lutheran history.


Check out this piece of igneous rock - the lava formations are a clue to Iceland's not so ancient volcanic past:

My next stop was the famous Gulfloss Waterfall. Fed by a large glacial lake and underground spring, it is pretty dramatic.

Because of the cold temperatures, the mist left a coating of ice on everything in the vicinity, including yours truly...


I love the way the ice coated these blades of grass...