Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Þingvellir
important historical site and a place of vivid beauty. The Vikings established the world's
first democratic parliament, the Alþingi (pronounced
ál-thingk
-
ee,
also called
Alþing
), here
in AD 930. The meetings were conducted outdoors, and as with many saga sites, there are
only the stone foundations of ancient encampments. The site has a superb natural setting,
in an immense, fissured rift valley caused by the meeting of the North American and Eur-
asian tectonic plates, with rivers and waterfalls. The country's first national park, it was
made a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2004.
WORTH A TRIP
HALLDÓR LAXNESS HOUSE
Gljúfrasteinn Laxness Museum
MUSEUM
( 586 8066;
www.gljufrasteinn.is
;
Mosfellsbær;adult/child Ikr800/free;
9am-5pm Jun-Aug,
10am-5pm Tue-Sun Sep-May, also closed Sat & Sun Jan-Feb & Nov)
Nobel Prize-winning author Halldór Laxness (1902-98) lived in Mosfellsbær all his life.
His riverside home is now the Gljúfrasteinn Laxness Museum, easy to visit on the road
from Reykjavík to Þingvellir (Rte 36). The author built this upper-class 1950s house and it
remains intact with original furniture, writing room, and Laxness' fine-art collection (nee-
dlework, sweetly, by his wife Auður). An audio-tour leads you round. Look for his beloved
Jaguar parked out front.
History
Many of Iceland's first settlers had run-ins with royalty back in mainland Scandinavia.
These chancers and outlaws decided that they could live happily without kings in the new
country, and instead created district
þings
(assemblies) where justice could be served by
and among local chieftains
(goðar)
.
Eventually, a nationwide
þing
became necessary. Bláskógur - now Þingvellir (Parlia-
ment Fields) - lay at a crossroads by a huge fish-filled lake. It had plenty of firewood and
a setting that would make even the most tedious orator dramatic, so it fitted the bill per-
