Welcome To The Rock

Hey there, beloved High Five Club members and prospective members,

It's your friends at the Reykjavík Grapevine (Opens in a new window), saying hello and bringing you the latest reads from our mag and news from Iceland.

FROM THE MAG

Travel doesn’t have to entail hopping on a plane or even hitting the open road — there’s a lot to be seen right in your immediate surroundings. In the March issue of the Grapevine, Elías Þórsson took a peek into another iconic Reykjavík building, uncovering stories from its past and asking important questions about its future. Read all about Hegningarhúsið, the Alcatraz of Iceland, right here (Opens in a new window).

What would have happened if settlers in Iceland didn’t willingly adopt Christianity in the year 1000? What if pagan Icelanders had instead fled west to North America? Historian Valur Gunnarsson considers how such an alternate reality could have played out. Stretch your imagination right here (Opens in a new window).

Other weekend reading from the Grapevine

• Shruthi Basappa explores Iceland’s burgeoning wine culture in her latest food feature (Opens in a new window).

• Catherine Magnúsdóttir asks a linguist where Icelandic curse words come from (Opens in a new window).

WATCH THIS

International man of mystery (and photographer extraordinaire) Art Bicnick has been hard at work making new videos to feast your eyes upon. For the debut video of the Grapevine’s How It’s Made series, Art caught up with Jóhannes from Von Iceland to learn how the traditional Icelandic snack harðfiskur is prepared. 

EXTRA! EXTRA!

• Parliament passed a controversial new immigration law this week that lessens the rights of adults and children seeking international protection (Opens in a new window).

• Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir went to Ukraine earlier this week (Opens in a new window).

• Artificial intelligence could soon master the Icelandic language (Opens in a new window).

• Icelandic pool culture and laufabrað could get the UNESCO seal of approval (Opens in a new window).

• What climate crisis? Iceland is importing a record amount of oil (Opens in a new window).

LISTEN UP

It was another productive week for Iceland-based musicians. And it was a big week for the Grapevine — we launched a new weekly radio show on Útvarp 101! You can tune to 101.live (Opens in a new window) every FriIf 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 and travel portal. Want that?day at 16:30 GMT when Jóhannes Bjarkason and Rex Beckett run through our event and new music picks.

Read about and listen to the new music streaming at Grapevine HQ in our weekly new music dispatch (Opens in a new window).

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, sweet discount codes for the Grapevine store and travel portal, and more. 

Want all that?