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Springtime In Svalbard: Ice Caves, Dog Sleds And Tinder In The Arctic
The very first written mention of the group of islands known as Svalbard, meaning “cold coast” or “cold edge,” comes from a 12th century Icelandic Saga. “Svalbard fundinn,” it reads in Old Icelandic, meaning, in English: “Svalbard found.” After the Vikings came,…
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Who Are Iceland’s Shadow Editors?
Study shows bloggers and social media commenters may have biggest impact on what Iceland’s journalists say—and don’t. Here at the Grapevine we are, admittedly, more prone to over-sharing than self-censorship (see our recent story “Mystery Of Weed-Stuffed ‘Dildo’ Solved,” and any restaurant…
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Harmful Byproduct Of Icelandic Skyr Production Reaching The Country’s Largest River
Icelandic and Greek style yoghurts (or cheese, in the case of skyr. Yes, skyr is technically a soft cheese, through it is widely branded and eaten as a yoghurt) are among the hippest on the international dairy scene, where popularity is proportional…
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Women Have Always Made Waves Here: Unearthing The History of Iceland’s Female Sea Workers
Born in 1777 and out to sea by 1788, Captain Þuríður was a legend among Iceland’s seafarers. Þuríður brought in the largest catches, read the weather as keen as a bird and fished for 60 years without losing a single crewmem- ber.…
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One Man’s Cave
Everyone should have a place to exist outside of his or her own mind, which is probably why some people have kids, some write books, some make music and 28-year-old Frosti Gnarr created Grotta (“Cave”) Zine. He publishes the 30-something-page zine under…
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Northern Iceland: Where Winter Is Always Coming
The guy from New York has seen all three seasons of the television series ‘Game Of Thrones,’ “at least five times,” he says. He, a couple from Colorado, a father and son from New Zealand and South Korea, Nanna (our Icelandic photographer)…
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Meet Iceland’s Pinball Wizard
As it is for many hobbyists and collectors, it was inevitably a love of Star Wars that spurred Þröstur Höskuldsson to act on an ad in a local newspaper for a broken pinball machine. He bought it about six years ago while…
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Freelancing The Work Place
An Icelander, two Germans and a Brit are sitting in a bright and cavernous room in Reykjavík’s Old Harbour, drinking coffee side by side in total silence, physically together but intellectually apart. They are freelance PR representatives, freelance photographers, freelance whatever-ists, each…
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Looking Back, Looking Forward
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Geophysicist and 2012 presidential candidate What was the biggest shock of 2013? “The incompetence and lack of professionalism of the new government. It lacks any kind of long-term vision.” What do you think will be the next big Icelandic…
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It’s Time To Give A Puck About Women’s Hockey
On the shortest day of the year, the women’s hockey team from the Reykjavík suburb of Grafarvogur are on a long journey north. They go by the name Björninn (“The Bear”) and they’re driving 386 kilometres to play the Akureyri women’s team,…
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In Iceland’s Fish Industry, The Women Are From Marz
The very centre of the Marz Seafood headquar ters in Stykkishólmur is pillared by a tall shelf, stacked with books by female writers, Annie Leibowitz’s photography collection “Women” and a big tablet of female body paintings titled “The Nude.” It is a bright…
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Jingle Bells In July
Twelve years ago, Reykjavík’s “Little Christmas Shop” (Litla Jólabúðin) opened up in Anne Helen Lindsay’s garage. Hers was the house with the Christmas lights up year round and the painted Santa Claus footsteps marking a path through her garden. She had been…
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Christmas Time With The Grumpiest Man In Reykjavík
In order to curb the disgusting amount of holiday cheer you all have, we wanted to get some perspective from the grumpiest person in Reykjavík. We put out the call for Grumps on Facebook and you delivered us a familiar friend: 30-year-old…
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Lose Yourself To Swants
It takes a keen eye and a bold character to see a sweater as “sassy.” It takes scissors, a tapestry needle, some safety pins, waste yarn and eight simple steps to see a sassy sweater as sassy sweater pants. “Swants,” as they’ve…
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Trading Reykjavík For Hornafjörður Reindeer
The novelty of a reindeer tour in the Icelandic countryside is the novelty of almost all ‘tours’ that take place in the Icelandic countryside: being in those pockets of remote beauty and getting the fuck out of Reykjavík for awhile. I took…
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Australian Artist Reclaims Reykjavík’s Rough Walls
Australian artist Guido Van Helten rides up a construction lift at Seljavegur 2 to meet his canvas. The wall he paints is old and slightly corroded, two stories high and the west facing part of a building that once used to be…
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Ever Wonder About That Guy In The 66° North Ads?
You’re more likely to spot the 2D version of 29-year old Emil Guðmundsson in Reykjavík than the man himself. The co-owner of Kría Cycles and reluctant model spends most of his free time mapping new bike trails in the Icelandic countryside, even…
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Giving Life To The Walking Dead
In order to raise the dead, wait until midnight on a Friday or Saturday, preferably on the 18th, 19th, 28th or 29th of the month. The night before, write “Our Father” backwards on paper with a water-rail’s quill, using blood drawn from…
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Suspended In Silfra
Fifty kilometres north of Iceland’s Þingvellir National Park, a drop of water melts from the glacier Lángjökull, liberated from the 1,000-year-old frozen mass. The drop falls into porous, volcanic rock where it spends 30 to 100 years being filtered through the ground…
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Getting To Know Tiernan Douieb
The Icelandic Comedy Festival will take place in Reykjavík and parts of Western and Southern Iceland between November 6 and 23 with a mix of International and Icelandic comedians. Tiernan Douieb, a U.K.-based standup artist and opening act of the fest, talked…
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Finally (Hopefully) Home
Mazen Maarouf never thought that he would leave Lebanon forever. That changed in November 2011, when it became clear that his future there was on limited time. He left Beirut for Reykjavík as an International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) ‘writer in…
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On Ryan Gosling’s Feet
Perhaps in the local toe-up, babenalysis of Ryan Gosling that surrounded his summer in Iceland, what many truly became inspired by (or infatuated with) were his feet. It is not with a great deal of pride that I write about Ryan Gosling’s…
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The Reykjavík Grapevine Podcast
We talked with Magnús (Maggi) Trygvason Eliassen about Airwaves, lessons learned and the Moses Hightower fan club – while a jack hammer went off in the background.
