Here’s another shot of Godafoss, taken from the bank opposite the bustling parking lot full of tour buses and tourists snapping away frantically before moving on to their next destination. The scene opposite was the exact opposite of the serenity offered by this bank.
I would normally try to avoid posting two photos from Iceland in a row, but I’ve tried processing this photo more times than I can remember. It was pretty difficult, mainly because it was shot at midday facing directly into the sun. This is Godafoss, the incredible waterfall in Northern Iceland. On the other side of the river the landscape was swarmed by tour buses, but on this side, there was hardly anyone about. When I clambered my way down the cliffs to this little beach I was alone. Until my travel buddy came careening down the steep path to join me. We spent a while sat here, watching the people on the other side come for a quick look then head back to their buses.
I could have cropped out the guy standing to the left of the falls, but I decided I liked having him there. It helps to put the scale of the falls in perspective.
In a gas station near Godafoss I saw a tacky souvenir t-shirt, and for the first time I wanted one. It had two kids hugging a sheep on the front with Iceland written above it. I’m not sure why, maybe I was fatigued, but I found it hilarious. Unfortunately, it only came in children’s sizes. So, I’ve got this photo instead.
Our first attempt to find this waterfall did not go well. We decided not to use the GPS because it looked really straightforward on the map. Unfortunately, we promptly forgot that we were looking for a turning. When we realized we’d probably gone past it, we got out the gps and discovered we passed the turn about an hour earlier. So, we decided to continue on to Myvatn and visit the waterfall the next day.
Visiting in daytime hours meant that we got to experience the tour bus crew for the first time. To the right of the falls it was very crowded with a number of buses parked up and people rushing around to see the falls and hop back on their buses. On the other side, however, was a small path with very few people on it. I went that way.
In taking this photo I decided not to crop out a tourist taking photos atop the cliff to the right because I thought that would provide a good scaling factor to show the size of these falls. Unfortunately, the tourist is so dwarfed by the falls it’s difficult to notice that he’s there!
Godafoss has to be in the running for the easiest waterfall to access in Iceland. There’s a gas station and souvenir store with a view to the falls and it was our first encounter with tour buses. They were all parked to the right of the falls. So we took this narrow path up the other side of the river and I found this cool little bridge. I recognized it from Trey Ratcliffe’s blog and was shocked to find it! I thought it was in the middle of nowhere. You can tell just how beaten the lesser path is. So much so that the bridge is broken! Even with the Tour buses and souvenir stores, the impressiveness of Godafoss is not diminished. Naturally pictures of this waterfall will follow, they’re just a bit trickier to process than this little old bridge.
