Goðafoss

UNIQUE

Goðafoss in Skjálfandafljót is quite unique. One of the most powerful waterfalls in the country, beautiful and only a half an hour drive from Akureyri, Húsavík or Mývatn. Located a few hundred meters from Ring Road 1. It is not high, about 15 meters and 30 meters wide. Goðafoss was (finally) protected by law in 2020. Long before that, in the year 1000, Þorgeir Þorkelsson, a pagan representative of Alþingi, was entrusted with the difficult task of reaching a settlement in the parliament at Þingvellir between pagans and Christians. Þorgeir laid down under a fur coat, and did not stir until the next day, and then called the members of parliament to Lögberg. He said it would be against the public interest if people should not have the same laws for everyone in this country. Þorgeir was worried about religious disputes, and wanted to mediate. He then pronounced his sentence and it was stated in the law that all men should be Christians and be baptized. Pagans were accommodated with some deviations from Christian custom, for example pagan feasting could be done secretly. Þorgeir had been a pagan himself until that time. Folklore says that he threw his idols in Goðafoss, when he came from Alþingi, as he lived just west of the waterfall at Ljósavatn, where Bárðardalur, Ljósavatnsskarð / Fnjóskadalur and Kaldakinn meet. Here are pictures of Godafoss, summer, winter, spring and autumn.