Thingvellir National Park

A prime spot along the Golden Circle route, this breathtaking national park is where the Vikings founded the Althing in 930, effectively the world’s first parliament, where a speaker would climb onto a rock (marked today by a small white flag) and enact laws as well as arbitrate disputes. Equally impressive is that at Thingvellir, the North American and Euroasian tectonic plates face each other (they are separating at a rate of about half an inch annually). A short scenic hike takes you from one to the other, a fascinating endeavor, especially when you think that in the more than 9,000 years since this lava field was formed, the plates have moved more than 200 feet apart. En route you also pass the so-called “pool of drowning,” where adulteresses and suspected witches were killed in the 17th and 18th centuries (the madness of Europe’s witch hunts made its way even into the remote corners of Iceland).