Tour of Iceland's Golden Circle

Today we toured Iceland's Golden Circle, with stops at waterfalls, geysers, and Thingvellir National Park. Amazingly, the Icelandic parliament met here at the Althing from 930 A.D. until 1798 A.D. For those with a geologic interest, the European and North American tectonic plates meet here and are gradually separating at a rate of about two centimeters a year..

Always on the lookout for terrible facts from history, the early parliament served two purposes: legislative and judicial. During the period 1618 to 1749, they condemned eighteen women to death by drowning in the Þingvellir Drekkingarhylur “Drowning Pool.” It seems strange that only women would be singled out for this particularly horrendous mode of execution, doesn't it?