The Land of Fire and Ice . . . and Waterfalls

Hello friends!

Thank you all for your very kind words and support after my last blog entry.  I'm sorry I made some of you cry. I was crying myself when I was writing it, and again when I was reading some of your lovely comments.  You gave some very valuable feedback, and my mind is a lot clearer now.  Sometimes we just have to put our thoughts out there to see what we're thinking, and it helps to see it through the eyes of others. 

As some of you know, and for those of you who don't, I lived in Iceland for four years in the early 1990s.  Iceland is known as the land of Ice and Fire. Not unsurprisingly, because it has a high level of volcanic activity as it straddles the tectonic plates of Eurasia and North America, but it also has several glaciers most notably Vatnajökull in south east Iceland.  However, every which way you turn there are endless waterfalls from tiny rivulets of silver strands slipping silently over high cliffs, to the great gushing giants of Gullfoss and Dettifoss.  To me, Iceland is the land of waterfalls. I loved going out at every opportunity to discover more that I hadn't seen before.

The first big falls I visited just days after I arrived in Iceland is Gullfoss {Golden Falls} on the river Hvítá {White River} in Southwest Iceland, and is part of the famous "Golden Circle" which I will talk about in the future.  Gulllfoss drops approximately 33 metres into the 20 metre wide canyon below.  The Hvítá River originates from the Hvítárvatn glacier lake on Langjökull glacier in the highlands of Iceland.

The Hvítá River canyon below the falls.

Another famous waterfall in Iceland is Dettifoss, the second most powerful falls in Europe located in Northeast Iceland and originating from the Vatnajökull glacier in Southeast Iceland.  You may recognise it from the opening sequence of the film "Prometheus" representing an alien landscape.  At 100 metres wide with a drop of 44 metres, it is located on the Diamond Circle route.  

The Jökulsárgljúfur canyon below the falls

Next is Goðafoss, waterfall of the Goði, or pagan gods.  Located on the Skjálfandafljót river near the main road in North Iceland, it has a drop of 12 meters and is 30 meters wide.  It is considered to be one of the most picturesque of the Icelandic falls.

Perhaps the falls with the saddest name and story is this one, Bjarnafoss, again on the  Hvítá river.  Local history records that two boys remained at home when their parents went to church one Sunday. but the boys grew bored and decided to follow their parents. They took a shortcut and crossed a stone bridge above the waterfall. But on their way, they  fell into the water and drowned. When their mother found out what had happened, she put a curse on the bridge saying that nobody would ever cross it without drowning. A little while later, the bridge was demolished in an earthquake.

Nearby is the Hraunfossar falls, a series of waterfalls formed by rivulets streaming over a distance of about 900 metres out of the lava field which flowed from a volcanic eruption.

In the middle of Skaftafell in Vatnajökull Glacier National Park is the most stunning waterfall of Svartifoss {Black Falls}.  The dark basalt columns provided the inspiration for Icelandic architects when building the cathedral of Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik. 

Seljalandsfoss is located in South Iceland with a drop of 60 meters from the Seljalands River that originates in the volcanic glacier of Eyjafjallajökull. Commonly called the E volcano It is the one that caused the disruption when it erupted in 2010.  Visitors can walk behind the falls into a small cave.

The last of the named waterfalls I'm going to show you today is called  Skógáfoss. With a drop of 60 metres and a width of 25 metres, it is located  on the Skógá River in the South of Iceland at the cliff marking the former coastline. 

Icelanders will pitch up anywhere!

As I said before, Iceland is the country of 1000 waterfalls and more. There are waterfalls at every turn and. some of them although small and without name, are quite  beautiful and unusual.  So I'm going to finish today with a few random photos from across the country.

I hope you have enjoyed this whirlwind tour of waterfalls in Iceland. I have only just begun to scratch the surface of my time spent in this magical land that was my home for four years.

until next time

Stay safe. Stay well

Debbie xx