Thingvellir and other Travels

We began doing some traveling outside of Reykjavik in February, and started of course with a trip that included the site where the Icelandic parliament met starting in 930.  On the way we stopped at Gljufrasteinn, the home of Halldor Laxness, the Nobel prize winning author.

The photos of Thingvellir in tourist materials are always from summer, but it was truly beautiful in the snow and ice.  Here is a photo of the lake, Thingvellirvatn:

Going to Iceland always meant going to Thingvellir to me; it was one of the first places I knew about when hearing about Iceland growing up.  And we do want to go back when the weather is better, so we can spend some time hiking around.  But I'm glad our first visit there was in winter.

Of course, our two year old found a place to splash, right next to the sign indicating that UNESCO has designated Thingvellir a world heritage site:

We stayed at a wonderful farm between Thingvellir and Geysir, called Estidalur2.  And there were cows, and horses, so the little one was happy.  He even got to go in the barn to see the cattle and calves, and cats.  

The next day we completed what the tourist materials call the "Golden Circle"; that is, Geysir and Gullfoss, but also went on to Skalholt, the historic site of the southern bishopric, drove through Solheimer, the eco-village, and ended the day with a swim at the Selfoss pool.  We drove home to Reykjavik late in the evening, happy to have started exploring a small part of this beautiful place.