#oxarafoss

ICELAND Þingvellir National Park

Þingvellir itself is the name of two places in southern Iceland. One represents a historical site and the other one a national park. Þingvellir means “assembly field” in Icelandic, which has a direct reference to the historical site. In the medieval times, Icelanders used to resolve disputes and govern themselves here. The oldest recorded parlament in the world, the Alþing, was held here by Norwegian Vikings in 930 A.D. In 1798, the government was dissolved by the Danes. The place wasn’t forgotten as in 1944, the Republic of Iceland declared it’s independence there. The National Park was established in 1928 and it is located 40 km north-east from the capital, Reykjavik. One of the incredible landscapes is a gorge which formed where the American and European continental plates meet. This gorge is called the Alamannagja which means Everyman Gorge. Every year, the plates drift 2 cm apart from each other which allows enormous tectonic pressure to build up. When this pressure is released, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions appear. The Oxara River flows through Alamannagja with the impressive waterfall, Oxarafoss, at its very end. There is always steam released because the cold water of the river comes in contact with rocks warmed by the subterran volcanic activity. The most beautiful waterfall in Iceland, the Gullfoss, is situated at the end of the Hvita River. It falls 32 meters, causing 30 cubic meters per seconds to cascade through the torrent all year long. This is the largest volume of any waterfall in Europe. Also here, the most famous hot water springs in Iceland are situated. They are called “The Geyser Landscape of Haukadalur”. Together with the Gullfoss Waterfall and the National Park itself form the Golden Circle. They were all added to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage list in 2004. FUN FACT The Icelandic alphabet has 32 characters because some of them come from the Runic alphabet. One example was used in today’s subject, the letter “ þ ”. It is pronounced like the “th” in “thing”. Online, you will usually find it as “Thingvellir National Park”.

Dana K.

*The first image represents the Gullfoss Waterfall *The second image represents the Oxarafoss *The third image represents the Almannagja valley, where you can also go snorkeling to see the continental drift underwater *The fourth image represents the historical site