As part of the tour we went to visit Thingvellir national park which has been declared as a UNESCO world heritage site. Not only it is a beautiful place, this is also the location of the world's first Parliament. This happened when the islanders were fed up with their Viking rulers, they broke away and formed a representative system where new laws were debated and voted. This was done in a place called the Law Rock. The exact place is marked by a big Icelandic flag.The national park is actually a large and long rift valley. It is a big depression, much of it is in the form a large lake. When looking at the sight, this reminded me of those movie scenes in the Lord of Ring or King Arthur.
Nonetheless, the guide was forever talking about the rift valley as the split between Europe and America. This prompted Faris to have an endless discussion of where we were then as we walked through the rift valley, in North America or Europe? This is where the Europe or Eurasian plate is spilt from North American plate. The rift valley is the split and in a way we were walking between two continents. The rift valley is now a depression because it is not being filled up by magma from beneath the earth. Elsewhere along the same line as the rift valley, mountains are formed as magma are extruded along the split in the form of volcanoes. Ok enough of that.
Back to the scenery, it is an amazing sight especially when looking from an elevated ground.
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