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- 11 of Reykjavik’s coolest bars
- Elf School spills secrets of Iceland's 'Hidden People'
- How to be a Reykjaviker: 8 ways to be cool in Iceland
- CNNGo in Reykjavik: Thermal pools and comfy sweaters
| 11 of Reykjavik’s coolest bars Posted: 12 Nov 2013 10:00 PM PST Sure they're in Iceland, but these watering holes are cool for more reasons than that  For a country that banned full-strength beer until 1989, Iceland sure knows how to party. "Walking down the main drag of Reykjavik at 3 a.m. on a Friday or Saturday night -- even in the middle of winter -- it's still standing room only on the sidewalk," says Anna Andersen, editor of the local English newspaper Reykjavik Grapevine. Beyond the traditional beer halls with pounding music, the 11 nightspots below let you sip craft cocktails in style or dance until dawn. At the end of the list, you'll find some Reykjavik bar-hopping tips to help you fit in. Kex Hostel -- the bar in a biscuit factory
The owners transformed the building into a chic hostel, bar and eatery, naming it after the Icelandic word for biscuit. Travelers and Reykjavikers come here to drink beer and catch impromptu gigs. Johannes Agustsson, founder of local indie record label 12 Tónar, says keep your eye out for up-and-coming female artist Mr Silla and three-piece band Samaris playing at Kex. Kex Hostel, Skúlagata 28, +354 561 6060 More on CNN: How to be a Reykjaviker: 8 ways to fit in Kaffibarinn -- the institution
"We put a lot of energy into hiring good DJs and our staff are very close knit, which helps our customers feel engaged," says a manager, Katherina Hauptmann. By day it's a cool coffee shop, but Kaffibarinn gets fiendishly busy at night, when it turns into a bar. Worth trying are Topas or Ópal (local liquorice liqueurs) and Reyka, Icelandic vodka. Kaffibarinn, Bergstaðastræti 1, +354 551 1588 Gallery Bar -- part art gallery, part gentleman's club
"The bartenders here really know how to make drinks -- not a given elsewhere in Reykjavík, where most people just drink beer," Andersen says. There are red leather club chairs to sink into and tempting cocktails of the day. "You might have the place to yourself, but you'll be in good company with paintings by some of Iceland's most renowned artists on the walls." Gallery Bar, Bergstadastraeti 37; +354 552 5700 More on CNN: CNNGo in Reykjavik: Thermal pools and comfy sweaters Snaps -- comes with 'best goddamn restaurant'
With its glass walls and hanging plants, the venue feels like a giant, cozy greenhouse -- people drop by for a quick beer and then find they have no reason to leave. There's a piano in the corner if you feel like banging out a tune. Snaps, Þórsgata 1, +354 511 6677 Le Chateau des Dix Gouttes -- retro French with Icelandic wine
One of a few dedicated wine bars emerging in Reykjavik, Le Chateau sells Iceland's only wine brand, Kvöldsól, made from crowberries, rhubarb, blueberries and Icelandic herbs. Le Chateau also serves cheese, waffles and charcuterie to the strains of Edith Piaf. Le Chateau des Dix Gouttes, Laugarvegur 27; +354 551 9380 More on CNN: Inside the cold heart of an Icelandic volcano Micro Bar -- for beer nerds
With mountainous wall murals by the native cartoonist Hugleikur Dagsson, it's a sweet space to pull up a stool and try anything from a local Kaldi draft to a Tactical Nuclear Penguin from Scotland. Micro Bar is located in, but not affiliated to, the Center Hotel if you can't be bothered walking home. Micro Bar, Austurstræti 6; +354 847 9084 Slippbarinn -- Reykjavik's first cocktail bar
"Cocktail culture in Iceland is very young but catching up quickly," explains Slippbarinn's master mixologist, Ásgeir Má. On any given night you'll find as many Reykjavik residents as hotel guests sampling Má's ever-changing creations, all mixed with house-made syrups and freshly squeezed juices. Located right on the harbor, it's possible to see the Northern Lights from your bar stool in the right conditions. Slippbarinn, Mýragata 2; +354 560 8080 Loftið -- the place with a dress code
Being one of the only establishments in town to enforce a strict dress code helps Loftið maintain an added element of class -- but while you won't find anyone dancing on tables here, the mood is far from stuffy. Loftið, Austurstræti 9, +354 551 9400 More on CNN: Elf School spills secrets of Iceland's 'Hidden People' Harlem -- the (street) arty placeSome visitors are pleasantly surprised by Reykjavik's blossoming street art scene -- it can certainly lift the mood amid the city's rather somber colors. Sixteen street artists were commissioned to put their mark on the interior of Harlem, a gritty downtown bar that attracts an appropriately arty crowd along with some of the city's best DJs. "Come early, before the crowds arrive, to check out the amazing artwork and stay on to make shapes on the dance floor," Agustsson suggests. Harlem, Tryggvagötu 22 Kaldi -- has Icelandic beer on tap
Fortunately, you don't have to head to its northern Icelandic brewery to drink it fresh -- this industrial-styled Reykjavik brew bar offers four varieties on tap, including the brand's unfiltered crowd favorite. Kaldi, Laugarvegur 20b Ölstofa Kormáks og Skjaldar -- the low-key jewel
With no dance floor and a soundtrack you can hear yourself chat over, Reykjavik residents come here to cozy up in wooden booths and unwind with a cold pint of award-winning house brand Brió (it beat more than 4,000 other beers to top the World Beer Cup competition in 2012). Ölstofan, Vegamótastig 4; +354 552 4687 Reykjavik bar rules -- there aren't manyIcelandic bars rarely impose a cover charge, unless it's a special event. Most Reykjavik bars don't impose a dress code -- you can stumble into just about any bar wearing your Gore-Tex jacket and hiking boots, if you want to. Most bars close by 1 a.m. from Sunday-Thursday and stay open until as late as 4.30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The legal drinking age in Iceland is 20, but many bars impose their own age limit of 21 or 22. Most city bars offer happy hour deals – download the Reykjavik Grapevine's Appy Hour app to keep track. |
| Elf School spills secrets of Iceland's 'Hidden People' Posted: 12 Nov 2013 10:00 PM PST Never cross an elf and other lessons from Reykjavik's premier institution for identifying imaginary creatures. 
Iceland. Home to around 320,000 Icelanders and an undetermined number of elves, dwarfs, fairies and trolls. With its eerie landscape of frozen lava fields, smoking geysers and barely dormant volcanoes, Iceland certainly seems the sort of place the latter group would inhabit. This alternative population is known locally as Huldufólk, which translates as Hidden Folk or Hidden People. Ask Icelanders if they believe in them and the answers are as elusive as their name suggests. To find out more about these hidden peeps, I enrol in a crash course on all things elvish at Reykjavik's Elf School. The psychics next door
The school is based on Sidmuli Street in the east of the capital. Naturally, it shares its premises with a psychic center. A tatty sign on a bright blue door guarded by a rosy-cheeked gnome statue provides an odd welcome. The solitary classroom looks like the study of an eccentric tutor. There are hundreds of books, lamps with frilly shades, fiber-optic flowers and painted, plaster elves. "Are the elves a good likeness?" I ask Magnus Skarphedinsson, the school headmaster. "What? These plastic things? Not at all!" he replies demonstratively, as if the little folk in question might be listening. More on CNN: 11 of Reykjavik's coolest bars Pure IcelandicElves first appeared in a literary sense in Iceland's medieval sagas -- epic, imaginative tales firmly rooted in the country's culture. In a long-isolated nation such as Iceland, the language has remained pure enough that the population can read these thousand-year-old legends as if they were today's newspapers or websites. Compared to say "Beowulf" in Old English, these elf stories must seem pretty fresh and modern. Skarphedinsson has spent 30 years talking to thousands of people who claim to have met the Hidden People.
Then there's Elly Erlingsdottir, who was convinced elves had borrowed her scissors. They weren't juvenile delinquents -- they returned them a week later. Sounds like the nights are long in rural Iceland, I think to myself. More on CNN: How to be a Reykjaviker: 8 ways to fit in True-ish believersBut urban Iceland, too, dishes up its fair share of (partial) believers. Before enrolling in Elf School, I bumped into Helga Thor. (Such legendary names are common in Iceland.) She's a student who tells me her aunt believes an elf lives in her neighbor's garden. "She's never seen him but she has a feeling he's there." So does she think the Hidden People are real? "I can't rule it out. They're like ghosts -- you don't have to see them to believe in them." A fence-sitter.
"Very few will say immediately that they 'believe' in [them] but they won't deny it either," the survey's author, Professor Terry Gunnell, later said. The country's long-serving current president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, thinks Icelanders long ago invented the Hidden People to keep them company. Iceland, after all, is among the least densely populated nations on the planet, with around three people per square kilometer. More on CNN: CNNGo in Reykjavik: Thermal pools and comfy sweaters Fleeting folkAnd Skarphedinsson? He has no doubts about these Hidden Folk. He tells me he can differentiate 13 types of elf, four kinds of gnome, two species of troll and three varieties of fairy -- handing me a text book to aid identification. Elves are depicted with long, spindly legs and big ears; dwarfs have pointed hats and turned-up shoes; gnomes are rotund and smiley. So far, so Christmas card.
What's more, they're apparently supernatural beings who look very similar to humans, although they wear unfashionable clothes. That would make them stand out all the more in a nation of hipsters such as Iceland (as any visit to pierced and tattooed Reykjavik will show). As for elves, Skarphedinsson describes them as farmers and fishermen with a fondness for fortune telling. When elves met our ancestors they explained the difference between right and wrong, "but we ignored them," the headmaster says. "We became liars and cheats -- poison to their ears." More on CNN: Inside the cold heart of an Icelandic volcano Never cross an elfThat's why elves have a bone to pick with humans, which leads to the most important lesson at Elf School: never cross an elf. In particular, disturb their homes (notably solitary rocks), and you'll pay for it. Skarphedinsson mentions a small boulder in a car park off Armula Street, near the school. The car park used to be a chicken farm. "The farmer who built the farm had a dream," the headmaster says. "An [elven voice] said, 'Save the big stone on the east of the land, because we live there.'
"But when he sold the farm, the new owners didn't show any respect. "When they shifted the stone their chickens all stopped laying. "Today everyone gives that stone space." I visit the site that evening. The parking spot next to the stone is empty, although cars are double parked elsewhere. Elf housesNowadays, Icelanders' actions towards the Hidden Folk speak at least as loudly as their ambivalent words. Many families have small wooden alfhol (elf houses) in their gardens for the tiny travelers. A highway in Kopavogur was narrowed to accommodate a protruding stone said to be inhabited by elves. Roadworks in Grasteinn were put on hold until a dwarf's boulder could be moved -- delicately -- to one side, and a hotel in Reykjavik (Hotel Klettur) has incorporated stones into a wall to prevent any bad elven feelings.
He's never seen one himself. "I asked my psychic friend if she knew why," he says. "A few days later she told me one of the Hidden People had appeared to her in a dream and told her they'd agreed never to reveal themselves to me." "Why?" I ask. "Because they thought I'd ask too many questions." Elf School (Sidumuli 31, Reykjavik; +354 588 6060) is open on Fridays, when three hour seminars are held. The cost is €39 ($52) per person, including coffee and pancakes or waffles. Groups of three or more can make special reservations if regular hours do not suit. Attendees receive a certificate. Tags: |
| How to be a Reykjaviker: 8 ways to be cool in Iceland Posted: 12 Nov 2013 10:00 PM PST Cultivate a love for wool sweaters, beer and fermented shark meat if you want to feel at home in Iceland's capital A cool geography teacher in multicolored thermal underwear, with a beer in one hand and a ram's testicle in the other. Confused? That's the average inhabitant of the Icelandic capital personified. Well, sort of. Never fear if you fall short of that image -- these tips for Reykjavik living will help you fit in with the city's small but friendly population. 1. Cultivate a hip, outdoorsy lookBecause that's how almost everyone dresses in Reykjavik, from grandmas to teenage rockers. In a country where summer temperatures rarely exceed 15C (59F), it makes sense to stock up on thermal underwear, wool gloves and waterproof jackets. But these are only the blank canvas for the cool Reykjaviker's fashion statement. To avoid resembling a boy scout on a polar expedition, your outerwear should be as bright as possible and worn over a T-shirt bearing the logo of the latest hot emo or death metal band.
For the more casual, lounging-around-a-log-fire look, snag a lopapeysa, a traditional Icelandic sweater. "They're as Icelandic as it gets," says Reykjavik blogger Auður Ösp. "Everybody needs a lopapeysa. Or many of them -- one to fit each mood!" The Handknitting Association of Iceland can point you toward purveyors of quality lopapeysas. More on CNN: CNNGo in Reykjavik: Thermal pools and comfy sweaters 2. Bone up on geographyThat way you'll appreciate the extraordinary, "Lord of the Rings"-like landscapes a short drive away from the Icelandic capital. "Within 20 minutes, you're seeing volcanoes, lava fields, waterfalls," says Hawk Parelius, a tour guide for Nature Explorer. J.R.R. Tolkien is said to have been inspired by a visit to Iceland when imagining Middle Earth. It's a landscape that makes terms like "tectonic plates" come alive. "We're actually growing by two centimeters a year, as the Eurasian and North American plates separate," Parelius says. "We're taking over the world slowly but surely." More on CNN: Inside the cold heart of an Icelandic volcano 3. Sandblast your sense of humorIcelanders' jokes are so dry they can be hard to digest. "Neil Armstrong practiced for the moon landing on the Langjökull glacier. Michael Jackson's been here, too." "Have some rotten shark -- it's a delicacy." All delivered with a face as straight as a frozen larval plain. It's often hard to tell what's meant to be funny and what's not, but considering Icelanders respond to jokes about as expressionlessly as they tell them, it doesn't really matter. 4. Don't turn your nose up at a ram's testicleIs there any member of the animal kingdom -- or any part of the animal -- that isn't on the menu in Iceland? The country's traditional dishes reflect the constant threat of starvation faced by early Icelanders in a land where neither fauna nor flora are abundant. Rams' testicles, sheep's head, puffin, whale and fermented (read "rotten") shark are all consumed, if not with relish, then at least consumed.
He photographs his customers' expressions on trying the "delicacy" and posts them on his Facebook page. "It tastes a bit like cheese, very old cheese," says Gardarsson. More on CNN: Elf School spills secrets of Iceland's 'Hidden People' 5. Be comfortable with those old, familiar facesTwo-thirds of Icelanders live in Reykjavik -- but that's still only 200,000 people. You're going to be passing the same people in the street again and again. "Reykjavik is like a village trying to be a city," says Unnsteinn Stefansson, lead singer with the band Retro Stefson. "I like that everyone knows each other -- but it's also my least favorite thing." 6. Brush up on your geothermal tub talkIn a country bubbling over with volcanic activity, it's not surprising to find a smattering of thermal pools even in urban Reykjavik. The city's inhabitants often take a dip first thing or linger later in the day for a spot of pottaspjall -- "tub talk." "People sit and chat about the weather or politics," says Olympic swimmer Ragga Ragnarsdóttir. "It's normal for strangers to join in." More on CNN: 11 of Reykjavik's coolest bars 7. Learn to say, "That's so 2007."Insert this phrase where appropriate to indicate that something is extravagant or excessive.
It refers to the period before the current mood of prudence and austerity took hold. Do say, "Ólafur's new silver-plated beard trimmers are so 2007." Don't say, "These thermals are great! I'll take a pair in every color!" 8. Relish your beerMore than most, Icelanders appreciate a nice pint -- beer was illegal in the country until 1989. Prohibition began in 1915, but was progressively lifted for other alcoholic drinks except for "strong beer" (above 2.25%), which temperance campaigners viewed as cheap devil's brew. Some Icelanders celebrate the lifting of the ban, on March 1, as Beer Day. In Reykjavik and elsewhere, pubs stay open on the day until 4 a.m. for rúnturs (bar crawls). Gull and Viking are the most common Icelandic lagers. Gull means "gold" in Icelandic, "although I can understand that it's confusing for tourists," says Hawk Parelius. "They're probably thinking, what's a bird got to do with beer?" |
| CNNGo in Reykjavik: Thermal pools and comfy sweaters Posted: 12 Nov 2013 08:00 PM PST This month, CNNGo visits the Icelandic capital -- dipping in its geothermal pools, hunting for the northern lights and boogying at one of the world's hippest music festivals  For the capital of a country called Iceland, perhaps it's not surprising Reykjavik's pretty cool. This month, CNN's roving TV show CNNGo took the temperature of the city with the help of a bunch of friendly Reykjavikers. A trip to one of the city's geothermal pools was an essential stop, where Icelanders enjoy regular bouts of pottaspjall -- "tub talk." But if that sounds too sedentary, the city's Airwaves Music Festival is one huge, rollicking alternative. Then there's Kolaportið Market, with its fermented shark meat on sale, and the Hand-knitting Association of Iceland, which makes what's almost the country's uniform -- lopapeysa woolen sweaters. Finally, the Golden Circle tour is a neat way to take in some of the country's greatest natural wonders. Airwaves Music Festival
The city's biggest event featured over 600 shows, taking place all over the city this year (October 3-November 3). From traditional venues such as Reykavik's new convert hall Harpa to quirky locations like hairdresser salons and geothermal pools, Airwaves showcases performers from local outfits to international big names. More on CNN: 11 of Reykjavik's coolest bars Blue Lagoon and other geothermal pools
Sitting in the mid-Atlantic Ridge, the geothermal pools are naturally heated to around 40C and known to sooth bathers. But for many residents, a visit to the public "hot-pot" in downtown Reykjavik and engaging in "pottaspjall," or tub-talk with your hot tub neighbors is the ideal way to start the day. The Blue Lagoon, 240 Grindaví, Iceland; +354 420 8800 Vesturbaejarlaug pool, Hofsvallagata, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland; +354 411 5150 The Hand-knitting Association of Iceland
Their products can be found at the association's store. Special requests can be made during their monthly reception at Akranes, a town on the western coast of Iceland. One of the most iconic designs would be the Lopapeysa sweater, with traditional patterns circling the collar. Hand-Knitting Association of Iceland, Skólavörðustígur 19, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland; +354 552 1890 More on CNN: How to be a Reykjaviker: 8 ways to fit in Kolaportið Market
Fermented shark, dried fish and jewelry made from the frozen lava of Eyjafjallajökull volcano are among the treasures on sale here. It lives by the mantra that one man's junk is another man's treasure. Kolaportið Market, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland; +354 562 5030 Reykjavik's "Golden Circle" tour
The day tour packs Icelandic natural wonders including the country's oldest geyser that shoots hot water up 30 meters, the country's second-largest glacier and the spectacular Northern Lights. Special "Super Jeep Day Tour" is available from Nature Explorer which tours around Reykjavik in a small group by a comfortable jeep. Golden Circle tour, 8-10 hours departs daily at 9 a.m.; +354 691 3900 More on CNN: Elf School spills secrets of Iceland's 'Hidden People' GuestsHawk Parelius, adventure tour guide, Nature Explorer Soundtrack"Solaris" (3:38) All by Retro Stefson Tags: |
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