Going Underground
Hello, beloved High Five Club members and prospective members,
It's your friends at the Reykjavík Grapevine (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), popping back into your inbox with a hello and to bring you the latest reads from our mag and news from Iceland.
FROM THE MAG
Iceland is a beautiful place to explore above ground, but what about deep underground? Travel writer Lea Dörschel descended into a dormant lava tunnel to get a view of Iceland from an entirely different angle. Take a gander here (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
What is Skeifan? A neighbourhood? A parking lot? A wasteland? “Everyone who has spent more than a day in Reykjavík and traversed this borderline post-apocalyptic hellscape has a strong opinion about it. Most of those opinions are based on regret, as Skeifan itself shows potential. Its convenience is only overshadowed by its awful planning. Due to the fact that most of Skeifan‘s streets are parking lots, neither human nor natural laws apply.” Read what else Jóhannes Bjarkason has to say about these Reykjavík oddity here (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Other must-reads from the Grapevine
Does authenticity matter when you're top ranking on WeChat? Ragnar Egilsson gauges the Icelandicness of Íslenski Barinn (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
We caught up with librarian Hólmfríður Gunnlaugsdóttir to get to know her a little better. You can get to know her, too (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Back-to-back avalanches fell on Neskaupstaður in East Iceland on Monday (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
We’re a happy bunch here in Iceland — third happiest in the world, in fact (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
A tourist died at a popular summer hiking trail last week (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
LISTEN UP
We went broad with our new music picks this week. There’s literally something for everyone — Gen Z rapping, neoclassical simplicity, intense goth-metal, pocket-symphonic bombastic pop, country-rock sadness, bedroom electropop, and some jazzy versions of Björk classics.
Read about (and listen to) the new music playing on repeat at Grapevine HQ in our weekly new music dispatch (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and stream our favourite new releases (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on Spotify.
That's it from us this week. As always, thanks for your support.
<3 Team Grapevine
If you were a member of our High Five Club, this post would have included an exclusive early access link to view our newest YouTube video content, plus sweet discount codes for the Grapevine Store (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and Grapevine's Go Travel portal (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Want that?
