Golden Circle
Iceland is the land of geysers. In fact, the English word “geyser” is derived from the Icelandic “geysir”. The first-ever geyser described in a printed material is located in Iceland. Since then, other languages adopted the word “geysir”.
The Great Geysir, the ancestor of all geysers, was spectacular when it erupted. The Geysir’s channel gets periodically clogged with silica. It becomes dormant until an earthquake shifts the soil and revives Geysir. On several special occasions, silica was dissolved with the help of soap to trigger eruptions. After that, the Geyser water came out with soap bubbles. It was decided to stop this practice and not to mess with nature. Currently, the Great Geysir does not erupt waiting for another earthquake to shake it up.
Another geyser, Strokkur, erupts every few minutes to the crowd’s delight. The area where both geysers are located is rather small. Those who visited the Yellowstone National Park may not be impressed with Icelandic geysers.
Naturally hot, geothermal water is so abundant in Iceland that it is used to heat houses and to keep the streets free of ice in winter. In many places, hot water is pumped directly into houses eliminating the need for water heaters. Tap water at the hotel where I stayed was pure natural unfiltered water. After washing in it, my unruly coarse hair became soft and manageable without conditioner.
Þingvellir National Park is another stop included into the Golden Circle tour. It is truly amazing, historically and geologically.
Iceland is divided by the Mid-Atlantic Rift. This means that its western part is on the North American tectonic plate and the eastern part is on the Eurasian plate. It is the only place in the world where the Rift is above sea-level and you can literally stand between the two continents. The valley in Þingvellir is where the Rift is most dramatically visible.
The tectonic plates drift apart at the rate of about 2.5 cm (1 inch) a year. As the result, Iceland keeps growing bigger and bigger. If the drift continues then millennia later Iceland may become a continent or split into two islands.
During the early settlement times in the 9th century, Iceland was a rather violent place. People from different ethnic and religious groups fought between themselves. So it was decided to have a meeting of group representatives and to come up with law that would allow everyone to live peacefully. Þingvellir was chosen as the location of the meeting. The chiefs created an institution called the Alþingi (national assembly) that would settle disputes and punish offenders. The Alþingi gathered annually for centuries since its inception and essentially functioned as a parliament. It still exists under a different name in Reykjavik
