Today’s adventure was to head to the Pingvellir National Park – where the first democratic parliament was established back in 1845.  We’re not sure why they choose the absolutely middle of nowhere to have their first meeting, but they did.

The park also sits in a rift valley caused by the separation of 2 tectonic plates, with rocky cliffs and valleys…… Here’s one of the rocky rift walls.

This wall leads down to a lovely waterfall which they’ve made an easy walking boardwalk to.

And here she is….  You can just make out the aqua blue colour at the top – the water is crystal clear.

Then she just runs along her merry way…

It just started to rain as were walking up there, which is unpleasant, especially when you wear glasses, but we’re enjoying every minute.

Exiting the national park meant that we had completed the Golden Circle and it was now time for us to head west to our new abode for the evening – Budir.

So our drive took us through some interesting ‘villages’ consisting of 2 – 3 buildings and a lot of changing landscape and scenery – much of it looking just like this…

One thing we have noticed since being here is the lack of boats on the water.  Iceland is an island – so surrounded by water, but all throughout the interior of the island are lakes and rivers and ponds and more lakes…. but not a single boat.

We pulled into a village today and headed towards the wharf.  There was a lighthouse, so there presumably boats somewhere…

We found one…

Then another one…

Then we found the actual harbour.  For the amount of water  around though – let me tell you Iceland, the lack of boating was noticeable.

Back on the road and driving past some unbelievable scenery…. I’d have more to show you, but unfortunately Me Jenny’s interest/knowledge of photography is negligible, therefore the few times I’ve seen something that would make a beautiful photo and asked MJ to capture it have turned into a back and forth of “What’s your password?” – “You don’t need the password.” – “I can’t” – “Just swipe left” – “What do you mean?” – “Swipe the screen left… no left… no from the right side of the phone to the left”  Anyway, the moment has generally passed us by.

So, I pulled over to take a shot of what is clearly a volcano.

And here are the lava rocks to prove it.  The Icelandic people who don’t live in Reykjavik all seem to live a scattered life –  miles away from anybody else, so I imagine that a volcanic eruption here wouldn’t be as catastrophic as it would be in other places.  I’m sure it would cause a bit of a mess but you’d have to be pretty damned unlucky to be caught in the way of it.

Another volcano?  I’m guessing that the grey sand like substance on the sides could possibly be ash?

So…. this little farm clearly didn’t get the memo about setting up camp under the volcano, but, they seem pretty settled there and it is a pretty amazing view to have.

We met some of the locals who were working their way down the peninsula today….

They were probably headed home to this lovely picturesque .

It was simply breathtaking.

Just across the way from the farm-let was the ocean, the beach and a lone building out on a point – our hotel.  The Hotel Budir.

And this is what our room looks back onto….. *sigh*

It’s really funky inside and I do love a hotel that has common areas so you can leave your room and enjoy the surrounds…

A few minutes walk up the path from the hotel is this gorgeous church….

A bit of history about the church….

In 1703, the first church was demolished and then rebuilt.  The parish was abolished in 1816 – One of the ladies of the parish fought strongly for a new church, but the national church rejected her request.  Eventually the fiesta parishioner received a royal permission to build a new one which was completed in 1848.  A quote the door ring says “this church was built n 1848 without the support of the spiritual fathers.” BOOM – take that national church! Inside the church there is a bell from 1672, an altarpiece from 1750, an old silver chalice from 1767 and the door ring from 1706.  It’s now protected as one of the oldest churches in Iceland.

Me Jenny checking out the goods inside.

The beach is amazing – it’s covered in lava rocks.

I’m not sure that sun bathing would be a comfortable national pastime here.

My geological guess would be that the lava came from that obvious volcano at the back there….?

Are you seeing the blue sky?  I reckon there’s enough there to make 10 pairs of trousers – which hopefully means that its going to clear up…. hopefully tonight, giving us an optimal chance to see the lights.  Fingers crossed.  We’ve put our names down to be woken by the night watchman if they flair up at any time during the night…. not sure whether I’m excited or anxious about that.

Are you look at this scenery?  I mean, look at it.

So, after our long drive, our rubber necking at the scenery and our walk to the church and the beach, its time to take advantage of the hotel’s common areas whist sampling a couple of glasses of the local brew whilst catching up on a bit of local Icelandic news…

Cheers!