Gulfoss

The next stop on our trip was Gullfoss, a "majestic" waterfall on the Hvita River. The spray from the waterfall hit you in the parking lot, before you could even see it. It was quite majestic (I shouldn't have doubted the brochure), so I went a little trigger-happy with the pictures. So, just enjoy the repetitive beauty.




The waterfall had carved a canyon through the rock. Lore goes that in the early 1900's, when Iceland was still very underdeveloped, there was talk about building a hydroelectric dam on this waterfall. Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of a farmer who lived near the waterfall, was determined to preserve the waterfall, and prevent the exploitation of the resource. Sigríður threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if they built the dam and plant, and she also walked all the way from Gullfoss to Reykjavik (which is quite a long way...and there is very little civilization along the journey) and found a lawyer to fight the power plant. They were successful in preventing the plans, and the lawyer ended up being the first prime minister of Iceland (or president...I'm bad at remembering stories)


















Off to an SIT+Homestay Family BBQ...still have lots of updating to do (four days behind!!)

Bless Bless!