In the Land of the Vikings

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Iceland's answer to Berg Lake.

Gullfoss. This was our 2nd stop on day 1. The falls are tremendous, though not as humbling as Dettifoss was. We had great weather our first couple of days. These falls were almost dammed for a hydroelectric scheme. The landowner's daughter walked from here to Reykjavik (about 70 km or so) to protest the sale of the land to the electric company and threatened to throw herself into the falls if the gov't went ahead with their plan to seize the land and sell it. The gov't ignored her pleas and sold the land, but the company didn't pay rent for a few months, so the gov't took the land back. Now these falls draw thousands of tourists every year as a major stop on the "Golden Circle Route."
That's me standing in front of Skogafoss. According to a local saga there's a chest of gold hidden behind these falls. Waterfalls are everywhere in Iceland, they basically follow the entire hwy along the south coast.

2 Comments:

  • So did she jump if the land was sold?

    By Blogger mari, at 10:21 AM  

  • Actually, I don't think she went through with her threat... or at least maybe she'd only jump off if they were actually going to dam the river that moment. I'm sure she had some sort of escape clause written in her contract!

    By Blogger Natasha, at 2:54 PM  

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