Þingvellir National Park - Iceland

Þingvellir National Park was one of the many Icelandic attractions my friend Miguel visited on his recent trip to this countty. The park is the Crown Jewel of Iceland and is praised as the national shrine of Iceland due to its great historical and geological significance.
Iceland’s first national park was established there in 1928, and the Þingvellir area has been recognized for its outstanding universal value and listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2004.  

The 1st of these card was sent by Miguel and the other one by Tine.

Multiviews from the park. 

Clockwise from top left: one of the many water-filled rifts or fissures on the valley floor; the Oxarárfoss waterfall; the church (1859) and parsonage; the Þingvallavatn Lake, the largest natural lake in Iceland; another water-filled fissure and the cleft at Almannagjá, the historical assembly site of the 1st Iceland Parliament from 930 until 1798. 

The name Þingvellir literally means “Assembly Plains,” and the place symbolizes the history of Iceland. The Alþingi, or Iceland’s parliament, was founded there as early as 930, making it the oldest operating parliament globally. The parliament continued to convene at the fields of river Öxará for 868 years or until 1798. Therefore, many significant events of Iceland’s history have taken place there, and Icelanders consider it the nation’s birthplace.

The magical landscapes at Þingvellir are formed in the unique geographical setting of a rift valley in the divide between the North-American and Eurasian continental plates. The lava fields at Þingvellir are torn apart by tectonic forces, leaving admirable gorges and fissures. The most impressive of them, Almannagjá, is the focal point of the national park. A hiking path leads through the enormous cleft to the “law rock” and Öxará river, enveloped by stunning walls of basalt rocks.  - in: https://www.visiticeland.com