- Address: 640, Iceland;
- Height: 12 m;
- Number of cascades: 1;
- Official page: europeanwaterfalls.com.
Not far from the second largest after Reykjavik , the city of Iceland - Akureyri , is the natural pride of the whole country, the Godafoss waterfall, striking not by its size, but by its attractive shape, the smoothness of curved lines and the surrounding northern landscapes.
If you are going to Iceland, be sure to visit Akureyri - it's also the northern capital of the island. Especially since it opens the way to such a beautiful creation of nature as Godafoss.
Size and shape
Waterfall Godafoss, Iceland has a small size. Its height is only 12 meters. But it is relatively wide, as for its height - 30 meters. It formed the waters of the northern river Skjalfandafloot, and it flows from one of the local glaciers.
Attracts an unusual form of waterfall - it looks like a crescent moon. Water flows along the sharpened columns from the basalt. In this case, the rock divides the jets of water into three parts. One of them is surrounded on all sides by basalt. The other two streams are almost the same in width.
And although the size of Godafoss is not so impressive, however, the spray from it is quite high, they can be seen even from afar. On a sunny day, you can always admire the beautiful rainbow.
It is interesting to visit these places in winter, when the waterfall freezes - it acquires a truly fabulous, unique look. Tourists even get the impression that someone who was omnipotent managed to stop the time and water flow by the stroke of a magic wand!
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Legends of the Falls
If you translate the name into Russian, you will get a completely understandable name - the Waterfall of the Gods. Why did the Icelanders call it that, until it is definitely established. But there are two legends.
One of the legends says that before the adoption of Christianity, and this epoch-making event happened around 1000 AD, the locals dropped pagan idols from the waterfall.
There is another legend. It says that the waterfall was once surrounded by pagan gods, standing not only around it, but also on the outskirts.
Which of them is more truthful, today it will not be possible to establish precisely. But the species opening from one of the stone columns near the waterfall, if not divine, are surprisingly beautiful. I can not believe that this is not a footage of a fantastic film with incredible special effects, but reality!
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How to get there?
First you need to come to the city of Akureyri. From Reykjavik, where tourists will get there after the flight from Russia (by the way, there are no direct flights, only with transplants), you can do this in two ways:
- by bus or car - a road of 380 kilometers will be overcome in about four and a half hours;
- on the plane of domestic airlines - the flight will take about 45 minutes.
From Akureyri to the waterfall is best and with the greatest comfort to travel by car. There are rental points in the city, so there is no problem with where to find transport.
Taking the car, you need to move east along the route Þjóðvegur, along the lake Ljósavatn, and there is already a stone's throw to the bridge over the river and the waterfall itself.