So What’s This Faroese Ship I Keep Hearing About?
The Faroese trawler ‘Næraberg’ was fishing for mackerel in Greenlandic waters when its engine suffered a malfunction. As the Icelandic Coast Guard was best situated to
Nuke The Middle-East, Give Up On Iceland
The Debates On Monday #1Today, Monday, Professor Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson, the Icelandic neoliberal experiment’s chief ideologue since the late 1970’s, recommends
This Is Not The First Time We’ve Seen Change
Gusgus on reaching the brink, and coming back strongerReykjavík Art Museum’s Hafnarhús is making more noise than usual. Normally a quiet gallery building, today it’s throbbin
News In Brief: Early September
Remember last issue when we complained that the Bárðarbunga volcano was a huge disappointment for not having the decency to erupt? Well, apparently the volcano gods read the Grap
Comic by Hugleikur Dagsson
Issue 14, 2014Renowned Icelandic comic artist Hugleikur Dagsson has yet another black-humoured comic for you all to enjoy.
Sour Grapes And Stuff: Issue 14, 2014
Most Awesome Letter of the Issue!Dear Grapevine, My name is Diana and I am German but living in Ireland. I love Iceland and will visit your beautiful country next week […]
Halló, I’m Back!
Anna’s 47th EditorialI went on a vacation last month. It was wonderful. I left the country. I spent very little time sitting behind a computer. I stopped following Icelandic news
So What’s This Hazing I Keep Hearing About?
Like young people the world over, Icelandic youths like to humiliate younger kids for fun. This behaviour takes many forms, but the one that has been in the news lately […]
More People = More Fun
To generalise: Icelanders are a greedy bunch. After we escaped from the claws of Danish colonialist rule, the national imperative has been to make as much money as possible. You [&
Dominique Believes
The constant outsider reflects, by requestDominique Lameule is a self-confessed, bona-fide Icelandophile. The 38-year-old Frenchman-slash-German has travelled to Iceland at least o
This Is Not A Media Blackout!
The Romans Have Not Taken Over The Media! Move Along, Please!You wouldn’t call it a media blackout, I guess. Because that would be hard to prove, and if you can’t [&hel
Our Own Worst Enemy
Greetings, readers! It’s time for another classic edition of “Someone Who Came Here As A Tourist Before Moving Here Tells You How You Should Really Be Running The Count
Ilan Has (not quite) Left The Building
The corridors in the basement of the decadent 19th-century masterpiece of architecture that is London’s Royal Albert Hall are teeming with musicians and hangers-on. The anticipat
A Volcano Bigger Than Timberlake
Or: How we learned to stop worrying and love the lavaThe most prominent, truly devastating volcanic eruption in Icelanders’ public memory is arguably the late-18th century erupti
“What A Hard Life Is That Of The Poor Icelanders!”
One day in August 1888, the British steamer ‘Camoens’ docked in the town of Akureyri in Northern Iceland. The ‘Camoens’-for some reason named for Portugal’s national poet
“Well, It Was Probably A Tourist That Did It…”
Is 101 sleepwalking towards xenophobia?Laugavegur, running as it does directly through the heart of 101 Reykjavík, becomes a very cosmopolitan street in summertime. Temporarily pe
The Puffinisation Of A Country: Tourism Today
When Grapevine started in 2003, we were in the midst of what at the time seemed like a considerable tourism boom. The number of tourists per year was fast approaching […]
Tourism: The Destruction Of Iceland
A strong title, sure, but bear with me whilst I explain…When I first experienced Iceland some fifteen years ago, it was an aspirational destination, high on many holiday bucket l
Growing Pains
As Iceland’s budding tourism industry grows mature, we ponder some of the challenges it faces, and wonder how it can best rise above...In the aftermath of 2008’s TOTAL ECONOMIC
Iceland On The Brain: 1200 Years Of Tourism
Everyone knows that Ingólfur Arnarson (that chap with the spear thing on the hill overlooking the city centre) was Iceland’s first settler. But, he was not the first person to [