Going Underground

Hello, beloved High Five Club members and prospective members,

It's your friends at the Reykjavík Grapevine (Si apre in una nuova finestra), 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

Other must-reads from the Grapevine

• Does authenticity matter when you're top ranking on WeChat? Ragnar Egilsson gauges the Icelandicness of Íslenski Barinn (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

• We caught up with librarian Hólmfríður Gunnlaugsdóttir to get to know her a little better. You can get to know her, too (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

EXTRA! EXTRA!

• Back-to-back avalanches fell on Neskaupstaður in East Iceland on Monday (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

• We’re a happy bunch here in Iceland — third happiest in the world, in fact (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

• A tourist died at a popular summer hiking trail last week (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

• The next car you rent in Iceland could be electric thanks to big government spending (Si apre in una nuova finestra).

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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and stream our favourite new releases (Si apre in una nuova finestra) 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 (Si apre in una nuova finestra) and Grapevine's Go Travel portal (Si apre in una nuova finestra). Want that?