Thingvellir (or Pingvellir) National Park was the last stop on our Golden Circle adventure. It was also the windiest by far (which is saying a lot!). It is the home of the old Iceland parliament house which was founded in the year 930 and is the oldest parliamentary system that still remains in the world.
Thingvellir church. The original church on this site is said to have been built in early 1000 after the acceptance of Christianity. The current church was built in 1859.
And the adjoining cemetery, which was tiny.
By this point in the day we were all busting for the toilet with no potty in sight...
Thingvellir National Park is actually home of what is considered to be the best diving spot in the world. Here divers swim between the gap formed by the American and European plates. On this day we came across 2 divers preparing themselves. There was something very comedic and familiar about watching 2 guys stripping down and getting into their wetsuits by the back of their car, though I'm used to seeing it happen in the car park of mainbreak in Margaret River by men preparing for the waves in the sunshine. These men were preparing for what I imagine is some pretty amazing sights in minus 3 degree weather with 50km winds with a minus 15 chill. It seemed so crazy.
There was a bit more we could have done at Thingvellir, such as explore more of the surrounds and paths between the tectonic plates but the sun was getting dimmer and we were starting to get hungry.
And that was the Golden Circle tour! If you ever visit Iceland you should definitely do it. Many people go on big tour buses, but we would suggest renting a car and doing the drive yourself. A tour group would be good value if you're alone but if you're with a group of two or three you'd be better off doing as we did. We could stay as long or short in areas as we wanted and the only people who could annoy us were ourselves, not a hundred strangers.
Svarta Kaffio, which translates to damn tasty soup and beer that you want on cold Icelandic nights.
The tasty soup. Did we mention the bowls are made of bread! Brilliant.
The American meat soup sounded ominous, but apparently was delicious as was the mushroom soup. So hearty and filling and with our Guinness and Tuborg Christmas beer we were happy travelers.
The demise of the bowl.
The toilet walls were covered with little facts about the history of the toilet. So forgive people for taking a little time. If you know what I mean.
This gift store had many an odd offering with the selection ranging from troll dolls to furs and other such items.
Reykjavik had some wonderful street art as testament to having such a cool mayor. The above is one such art work.
This is a vintage store that had so many wonderful capes and furs...
and boots....
and ridiculously short shorts for the -5 degree days (warm days)
More street art demonstrating the 3 different ways to tie a tie.
Adam and I trying to pick our tonic water for our duty free gin.
A snippit of a Icelandic 7/11.
Tonic in hand and in search of somewhere to mix our potion.
DOMINO'S! No, we didn't eat here. We were on our way...
Here! These are the fancy toilet signs at...
Kex hostel in Reykjavik. It was a cute and very well furnished hostel that Adam stayed at some nights (when he wasn't spooning Lloyd and I). It was decked out in antique and vintage furniture including this barber shop in the hostel foyer. Genius!
We watched a band play here as part of the Airwaves festival with a beer in hand. We then got a scenic (expensive!) taxi along the waterfront back to our warm little apartment where we indulged in gin, Pringles, Icelandic chocolate, a movie and the company of good friends. On cold nights like these its nice to fit 3 grown humans into a bed and sleep until day break. It felt like Brookman all over again (the Australian home that Adam, Lloyd and I shared for almost 3 years for those not in the know).
So concludes our first adventure packed day in Iceland!
Tomorrow Sigur Ros. The original lure that hooked and dragged us to Iceland in the first place (and boy were we glad to of come here).
If you'd like to visit Thingvellir National Park near the church it can be found here:
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