Going Underground
Hello, beloved High Five Club members and prospective members,
It's your friends at the Reykjavík Grapevine (Opens in a new window), 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 (Opens in a new window).
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 (Opens in a new window).
Other must-reads from the Grapevine
Does authenticity matter when you're top ranking on WeChat? Ragnar Egilsson gauges the Icelandicness of Íslenski Barinn (Opens in a new window).
We caught up with librarian Hólmfríður Gunnlaugsdóttir to get to know her a little better. You can get to know her, too (Opens in a new window).
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Back-to-back avalanches fell on Neskaupstaður in East Iceland on Monday (Opens in a new window).
We’re a happy bunch here in Iceland — third happiest in the world, in fact (Opens in a new window).
A tourist died at a popular summer hiking trail last week (Opens in a new window).
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 (Opens in a new window) and stream our favourite new releases (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) and Grapevine's Go Travel portal (Opens in a new window). Want that?
