Travel to Iceland, where the burning Viking Spirit

Vikings! Imagine a gigantic fire the size of a house with a crowd of tattooed men in song roaring drunk. Today, attractions such as are reserved for festivals to celebrate holidays in Iceland in mid summer, and the volcanic island of Vestmannaeyjar. There will be no burning boat though, but the pile of wooden pallets at the premises of two plants and drench the flames in gasoline. You will not find here either horned helmets – at least not be taken seriously – this iconic hat is a fiction: the Scandinavians were not wearing.

The present population of Iceland has its roots in the Scandinavian ancestors, English and Celtic, who descend from the Norse settlers first and the slaves they brought to Iceland from the nations they had invaded before coming here.

When the Vikings came to Iceland from Norway, would have recognized something familiar in the landscape, as the land of their origin, Iceland is lined fjords and snow-covered fields resistant. But, like all modern visitor on holiday to Iceland, which must have been puzzled and surprised by the geysers. It was because of these strange phenomena Reykjavik geothermal Vikings gave his name, which means "smoky bay."

Not far from Reykjavik is the Althing at Thingvellir National Park amphitheater, the center of the Icelandic Viking tradition. Many vacation packages to Iceland will take you to the UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a tour to see where the chief medieval priests resolved disputes and brought a semblance of democracy to their nation in the making.

The Logberg rock, or "right" was the stage to make speeches, and was the focus for discussion of the laws of the land. Although most of the Scandinavian settlers in Iceland were the producers and traders of looters rampaging, was nevertheless a time when the bad blood between the tribes represented a cycle of death and revenge. The principles established in Parliament to bring some order to that society does not forgive.

From around the year 930, thirty-nine representatives from all corners of the country's population would gather here annually to discuss issues of power. For some, this means two weeks of travel waded dangerous to cross glaciers and rivers. Even in modern Iceland, the first pagan Parliament remains a place of pilgrimage, both for people on holiday to Iceland and to the natives who are considered a national monument Althing.

The landscape around Thingvellir Althing is also marked for preservation of UNESCO. This is a wide green valley, with Misty Mountains in the distance, where the terrain is broken by the knuckles of rock crystal and water channels. There are faults here in the bedrock caused by the separation of the earth's crust where two land masses move slowly but steadily apart. This phenomenon is a popular attraction for the 'Golden Circle tour, "as part of the holiday to Iceland, where tourists can look at the guns and witnesses as the country moves away from Europe and Norwegian origin.

But the Viking influence is not confined to this region of southwestern Iceland. Vacations that take in any of the coast of the country is likely to observe the Norse seafaring spirit on show in the fjords and ports of fishing villages. Travel to western Iceland Borgarfjordur, 'the valley of the series, will meet Viking's many historic sites here, including waterfalls, hot springs and glacial valleys that Iceland is famous.