A Waterfall from Heaven?
- April 17, 2009
- Rated 5 of 5 by
dangaroo from Warsaw, Poland
That's what the Icelandic reckoned! On my trip to Iceland in summer 2007, I visited Godafoss (which translates to "god falls"), it's neither as conveniently located as Gulfoss or as in the middle of nowhere as Dettifoss. It's actually located a few metres off Route 1 (Iceland Ring) 60km east of Akureyri or 120km west of Myvatn.
I was well aware of its existance before we accidentally hitchhiked a car there, although I hadn't bothered with a guide book, I did have a quick scour on the net of interesting things to see and picked up a little brochure on the boat over. Godafoss is the definition of a picture-postcard sight, so it's of little wonder that the extravagant falls were splashed across its pages.
We could see the falls from a distance and were extremely excited to get closer to it, you'd think that having seen Europe's most powerful waterfall earlier in the day, we wouldn't be that bothered but instead we'd caught waterfallitis - my invented name for an obsession with wanting to see more and more of these spectacular natural wonders.
The river Skjalfandafljot covers 175km before running into this waterfall which is only 12 metres high but exudes a grand stature by its width and proportional qualities (there is a large fall to the left, a small one through a rock in the middle and another large fall to the right), the river after it doesn't flow that quickly and is slightly tempting for a little swim! Our photos of this gem were made all the better by about 40 Icelandic horses walking around the edge of the river while we were there.
It is said that in the year 1000 when christianity was accepted, the chieftain Thorgeir threw wooden images of the previous norse gods into the water and this is where it got its name. There is a cafe, camp site and guesthouse called Fossholl nearby, this is the start of the mighty Sprengisandur road - the longest overland route in Iceland which takes in some very rugged scenery.
From journal Natural Wonders of Iceland