The Reykjavík Grapevine

The Reykjavík Grapevine The Reykjavík Grapevine is your essential guide to Icelandic life, culture, travel, music and more.

Editor's note for our recent issue on the eclipse, among other things:Welcome to Iceland at a time of extreme internatio...
11/08/2026

Editor's note for our recent issue on the eclipse, among other things:

Welcome to Iceland at a time of extreme international interest. While this issue is on the streets, this nation will be all over movie theatres, serving as Hell during Elliot Page’s excellent rants at Odysseus. We’ll also be, I assume, in travel guides because of our almost two minutes of eclipse. And the nation is preparing to vote on whether or not it can continue negotiations to join the European Union.

We are also coming off the most popular cover story we’ve published in the last few years, our discussion of the damage done by French tourists to the interior of the country driving modified Land Rovers. On our back page, we’ve run a few of the letters we received from their outraged, ashamed compatriots.

With all this coming together, there has never been a more important time to have an editor in the office. Yet local customs dictated that I take a slightly abbreviated summer vacation. This is written into my union contract, and our own publishers reminded me that despite our tricky schedule, we are required to actually take breaks. So while I will be back before we go to print, I am in fact in California as we send everything to our proofreader. I have a family. A water-polo-playing family. And a water polo tournament in California beckoned. This was my choice for a vacation.

Our trip to America coincided with the Cyclospora outbreak, with constant warnings in news stories of the strange medical term of “explosive watery diarrhea.” I happen to be a Steinbeck fan. The experience of driving through the area where East of Eden was set, listening to reporters talk about toxic iceberg lettuce at exactly the location where Adam Trask, in the book, launches his great lettuce-shipping experiment suggested that most of Steinbeck’s themes have aged well.

🔗 Full article in the comments.

The eclipse is tomorrow. Sure, the forecast isn’t great with cloud cover over most of Iceland during the eclipse, but we...
11/08/2026

The eclipse is tomorrow. Sure, the forecast isn’t great with cloud cover over most of Iceland during the eclipse, but we’re here, so let’s try to enjoy it. Here is Hugleikur dagsins Eclipse Festival Bingo card from our current issue. Enjoy!

I was recently in the Westfjords, visiting one of my houses, motoring along the mountainous roads, when I caught sight o...
10/08/2026

I was recently in the Westfjords, visiting one of my houses, motoring along the mountainous roads, when I caught sight of Beauty through my Bentley’s five-percent tinted windows: even here, in the remotest parts of God’s green earth, man’s dominance over nature is on full display. Large round sea cages lie deep in the fjord’s protected embrace. Inside them crowd salmon destined for the dinner tables of New York, where they are to be eaten by diamond-studded hands, at high retail prices. I asked Jeffrey to bring the motor vehicle to a halt, so that I could have a closer look. He produced the binoculars from their leather case.

Yes indeed, we are talking about a river’s worth of salmon in each cage, a host of flapping money. It occurred to me then that there’s a good reason our wonderful coins are studded with underwater creatures. Whether it was the wind that made me tear up or the sight of such high resource utilisation, I cannot say. What matters is this: I vowed then and there to write this article, and to campaign to bring salmon farming to every fjord in this country.

The idea behind salmon farming is simple: place a bunch of well-bred salmon in a big cage in a protected bit of ocean, feed the little rascals their pellets, wait until they grow to an acceptable size and then grab a bunch, gut them and chill or freeze them immediately. Export them to the fish markets abroad for a tidy profit. Rinse and repeat.

🔗 Full article in the comments.

A few years ago, the most popular summer song on Icelandic radio was a slow lo-fi track with indie vibes by the band Hip...
09/08/2026

A few years ago, the most popular summer song on Icelandic radio was a slow lo-fi track with indie vibes by the band Hipsumhaps, that drew up a charming picture of an idyllic, cosy, and traditional Icelandic life, camping in nature, enjoying hot cocoa, and finding a partner who loved wine and dogs. The chorus of the song translates to: “I want a pickup truck / that is towing a horse trailer / this is the life that I want.”

Liking horses and hounds is a well-known phenomenon everywhere. Here it has its peculiarities. Those driving the narrow rural roads of Iceland this time of year will soon notice the traffic of big cars towing large horse-trailers that can carry up to seven horses. Often those vehicles are American pickups with huge hoods and shiny chrome grills that are found nowhere else in Europe.

Last week most of the horse-loving people of Iceland and hundreds of people from abroad were headed in the same direction — to the bi-annual national horse-breeding show / national competition in Hólar in Skagafjörður in North Iceland.

There is only one breed of horse here – the Icelandic horse.

🔗 Full article in the comments.

09/08/2026

With the soon upon us, we checked out the condition of the road to Snæfellsnes peninsula (hint; it’s not great), but also wanted to remind those of you here for the eclipse to check out the Icelandic Road and Costal Authority website www.vegagerdin.is for information about road conditions, traffic control and temporary road closures because of the eclipse. Drive safely and be patient!

You know the rules. Name that sheep. Tell us the name of this specific sheep. Email us at sheep@grapevine.is. If you get...
08/08/2026

You know the rules. Name that sheep. Tell us the name of this specific sheep. Email us at [email protected]. If you get the right name, and you’re in Iceland, you win a hot dog, made in part with sheep. One guess per email address please.

Not in Iceland? Guess the right name, and you’ll get a separate prize from our Grapevine store.

But wait: How can you possibly guess the name of a single sheep? We don’t know. This isn’t the New York Times. Our games are cruel. However, if you give us a name the sheep SHOULD have, we’ll give one prize for the best name the sheep doesn’t have but would in an ideal world.

🔗 Find out who won week 5 in the comments.

"This issue features a Björk interview. Normally, that would put Björk on our cover. Every time she has been so kind as ...
08/08/2026

"This issue features a Björk interview. Normally, that would put Björk on our cover. Every time she has been so kind as to grant us an interview, which is more often than you’d think (thanks Björk!) we’ve put her on the cover. But this time around she is eclipsed, literally, by the solar eclipse, which will hit Reykjavík on August 12 at 16:47:12, exactly.

The eclipse is bringing thousands of people to Iceland. And while the total eclipse can be experienced for 59 seconds in Reykjavík, darkness will exceed two minutes if one travels to the western parts of Snæfellsnes peninsula or the southern part of the Westfjords. This will prompt many people to drive out there for that extra minute.

So if you are here for that, you have to accept that you will be participating in an Icelandic transportation infrastructure stress test."

🔗 Full article in the comments.

Even though Reykjavík Pride lasts for just under a week, its organisation is a year-round effort that begins again almos...
07/08/2026

Even though Reykjavík Pride lasts for just under a week, its organisation is a year-round effort that begins again almost as soon as each Pride ends. This work is done by a dedicated team of seven volunteers and one paid part-time employee, financially supported by sponsors. The publication of an annual magazine with a print run of 4,000 copies also helps with financing the work.

In August 2025, the city of Reykjavík estimated 80,000 or more people attended Reykjavík Pride, a staggering number given the 400,000 people who live in Iceland, or the 190,000 who live in Reykjavík specifically.

“We’re the biggest Pride in the world’s smallest capital,” said Helga Haralds, the president of Reykjavik Pride, going on to say, “the original aim of Pride was for LGBTQ+ people to be accepted as equal members of society, to be recognised as people with the same dignity, rights, and aspirations as everyone else. I think the fact that Reykjavík Pride has become such a family-friendly event reflects how far we’ve come on that journey.”

🔗 Full article in the comments.

Grapevine (GV): Do you find Iceland to be a more accepting place for gender nonconformity, and was that why you wanted t...
07/08/2026

Grapevine (GV): Do you find Iceland to be a more accepting place for gender nonconformity, and was that why you wanted to come back?

Alok: It’s my third time in Iceland! I came for the first time almost a decade ago, and it’s been three years since I was back. I love performing in Iceland! It felt important to return with this tour. I’m going to keep on coming back, regardless of the attitudes to trans and gender non-conforming people because trans and gender non-conforming people exist everywhere, even in the most seemingly inhospitable places. Certainly Iceland has some progressive legislation to protect trans and gender non-conforming rights, and many trans and gender non-conforming people from across the world seek refuge and asylum because of this. I haven’t spent enough time in the country yet to know if that legal equality translates into meaningful acceptance and integration for trans and gender non-conforming people, and especially immigrants of colour. But on my trips throughout the years I’ve felt safe, welcome, and shown incredible kindness and (and a wicked sense of humour)!

GV: Besides Texas, do you perform in similarly oppressive states where drag shows are deemed illegal?
Alok: Yes, every year. I’ve performed in 42 of the 50 U.S. states and hope to finish all 50 by 2027! It’s really important to me. I grew up feeling this constant sense of FOMO, that all of the cool things were happening far away from me. Feeling like I had to leave my home in order to experience q***r art. It’s important to me that q***r people – well really, people who believe in love – feel seen everywhere we are.

GV: How did growing up in Texas form who you became? Would it have been different elsewhere?
Alok: Oh, absolutely. I spent almost two decades in Texas during the years when my brain was basically still under construction, so Texas is very much in the drywall.
It was tough in a lot of ways, but it was also beautiful, complicated, funny, and full of people and experiences that shaped me deeply. It taught me resilience, how to read a room, how to hold contradiction, how to relate to people enormously different than me. So much of how I show up in the world now, what I value, what I question, what I fight for, and how I connect with people, comes from growing up there.

🔗 Full article in the comments.

Verslunarmannahelgi falls on the first weekend of August. It is the biggest travel weekend of the Icelandic year. Everyo...
06/08/2026

Verslunarmannahelgi falls on the first weekend of August. It is the biggest travel weekend of the Icelandic year. Everyone is camping or at a festival or both. Þjóðhátíð in Vestmannaeyjar, Neistaflug in Neskaupstaður, Ein með öllu in Akureyri. Tents, fireworks, a white marquee full of singing.

Innipúkinn, the indoor demon, has been the counterpoint since 2002. Asphalt over campsite. For those who have to keep the city running, or who just didn’t want to leave it. It has no permanent address and has moved through NASA, Iðnó, Húrra and Gaukurinn. This is its second year at Austurbæjarbíó.

The city does not empty so much as change hands. Icelanders go, tourists arrive. Those left behind get three nights of almost entirely Icelandic music indoors. Friday was pop and hip-hop, Emmsjé Gauti, GDRN, gugusar. Saturday was the loud one.

🔗 Full article in the comments.

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