Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin editor Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨We discuss an upcoming storm warning for the whole island. Iceland is expecting strong winds with near freezing temperatures and snow expected in the north and east of the island.

✨ We discuss the parking fees in and around popular tourist locations in Iceland, also known as the habit of charging people for nothing.

✨ From June 1, 2025 swimming pools in Reykjavík will be open until 22:00 in the evenings until August 31, adding a welcome hour to the hot tub soaking of the many pool fans of Reykjavík. The pools had historically been open until 22:00, but those hours were cut by the city in April 2024 in order to save money. Since it is estimated that the extra hour will cost the city just 7 million ISK, keeping the pools open for the extra hour for a whole year would cost 28 million ISK. A puny amount of money in a city of almost 150.000 inhabitants.

✨ On the last day of May a concert was held at Laugardalshöll stadium to commemorate a 14 year anniversary of a popular radio show called FM95BLÖ. The show, which featured numerous popular pop artists including Jóhanna Guðrún of Eurovision fame, Prettyboytjokkó, Birnir and Herra Hnetusmjör, to name a few. Around 10.000 people showed up, and due to a mixture of overcrowding and organisational failures, numerous people had to seek medical help, though nobody is reported to have been badly injured.

✨A protest took place in Austurvöllur in front of Iceland's parliament this Saturday. “We are not racists” said the organizer of the protest, Sigfús Aðalsteinsson. We discuss.

✨An Icelander in his early 40s was stopped by the police in the last week of May while driving in Akureyri. A breathalyser test indicated that the man was under the influence of alcohol, yet the man claimed to have never drunk alcohol in his life. After an argument with the police officer who conducted the breathalyser test, the man was allowed to rinse his mouth of the sourdough sandwich he had been consuming. The subsequent test showed that he had not been drinking and according to the driver this annoyed the police officer somewhat. This is news to most - if not all - lovers of a good sourdough sandwich, who have until now remai

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Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist and Grapevine’s former Editor-in-Chief Valur Grettisson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨We start by catching up with Valur Grettisson to find out what he has been doing during the past 3 days, which turns into a discussion on the state of Icelandic journalism in general.

✨ We discuss Iceland’s oldest horse, a 36 winter old horse named “Sómi”, who is now retired and resides near by Skógar waterfall in south Iceland. Sómi still has great teeth and hoofs, according to his owners. We also find out that our current Prime Minister is just a year older than the horse in question.

✨ We discuss the Icelandic Socialist Party, whose leadership changed over the weekend, where the party’s founder and former media mogul Gunnar Smári Egilsson, was ousted at a politburo meeting.

✨We discuss the questionable ascetics of new video surveillance “towers” that have been erected by Iceland’s most famous church, Hallgrímskirkja, in order to counter pick-pocketing.

✨ The police chief in the Reykjanes peninsula, Úlfar Lúðvíksson quit last week. He did not leave quietly, and in with very colourful language took jabs at the Icelandic chief of police, the minister of justice and more.

✨ Somebody took a Tesla taxi into the Icelandic highlands. This surprised most people who thought they knew anything about electric vehicles and their ability to cross rivers without breaking down.

✨ We talk about an Icelandic farmer who bought a tank in the early 2000’s and how there used to be more variety in car design in the last century, and how modern cars look like the cars in the 1995 film Demolition Man.

✨ We talk about Climeworks, a story that Valur Grettisson has been covering for Heimildin (The Source).

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨ We talk about the record breaking excellent weather Iceland has been enjoying during the last few days, and why Icelanders tend to assume that something this good (the weather), will always result in something bad. And how at least one of the hosts had a “Swedish” summer experience over the weekend (hotdogs in a thermos), while another host enjoyed lambing season.

✨ We talk about last week’s debate about serving alcohol at sporting events in Iceland and ponder if Icelandic swimming pools will eventually serve beer.

✨ We discuss the Icelandic government’s sale of a 45% share in Icelandic bank Íslandsbanki, which was bought last week by the general public. We also contrast this to the sale of the other 50% of the bank which took place some years previously.

✨ Eurovision happened last weekend. We talk about that, the debate within Iceland (and elsewhere) on the competition, the songs (are they songs?) and the Eurovision parties some of the hosts “enjoyed”.

✨ Lastly, we discuss at length Heimildin’s story from a couple of weeks ago about the carbon capture company Climeworks, a Swiss founded company that operates out of Iceland. We discuss the problems with projects such as theirs, and wether or not Heimildin was being too harsh or critical in their article, written by Grapevine’s former Editor-in-Chief, Valur Grettisson.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨ On Wednesday RÚV continued its report regarding covert surveillance by former police officers for Iceland’s richest man, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson. The same two police officers also stole surveillance data from the Special Prosecutors office in 2012. We discuss that.

✨ The police found two snakes in someone's home. The snakes were disposed of.

✨ We discuss The Reykjavík Grapevine's recent feature on Eurovision and the debate surrounding Iceland's participation in it this year and last.

✨ A new filibuster record was set in the halls of Iceland's parliament, Althingi, last Friday when the opposition opposed a new proposed law that would increase the revenue the Icelandic state receives from its fisheries.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨ On Wednesday RÚV reported that Iceland’s richest man, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, had hired police officers to carry out covert surveillance on a group of citizens who had filed a lawsuit against him. The operation reportedly cost tens of millions of krónur and involved three officers — two retired, one still on active duty at the time. We discuss this story and the fact that one of the former police officers, Jón Óttar Ólafsson, had also been subsequently been paid by rich Icelanders for various other tasks, including surveillance of journalists.

✨ We discuss a story about a tourist that was held hostage in Reykjavík on May Day.

✨ A Starbucks is set to be opened in Reykjavík later this summer.

✨ & a tourist was sexually harassed at the Blue Lagoon on Saturday.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨ Does it make sense to wear shorts in Iceland - or take cold baths, or hike naked- given the weather and everything?
✨ We mention but hardly discuss “Operation Mongoose”, a naval exercise taking place in Iceland + what types join the Icelandic Coast Guard
✨The population of Iceland’s two most loved spring birds, Lóa (Eurasian golden plover) and Spói (Eurasian whimbrel) are in stark decline in Iceland. 30% of all whimbrels in the world lay eggs in Iceland and so do 50-60% of all golden plovers. We discuss why.
✨ Fisheries Iceland, the organisation that lobbies on the behalf of the Icelandic fishing companies, has been critiqued for being somewhat tone def in the advertising they’ve commissioned to oppose plans to raise taxes on the industry. We discuss.
✨In 2024, 5546 people got married in Iceland. Which is a new record. Also, 2023 marked the first year when more people were married in Iceland by a state magistrate than the state church. We discuss.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨ We discuss the annual debate on the quality of idioms found in Icelandic Easter eggs, the quality of Icelandic chocolate and the risk of overeating liquorice.
✨ Pope Francis died on Monday, and the President of Iceland got into trouble for a Facebook post she wrote on his passing, while glazing potatoes. We also compare the Icelandic foreign minister, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir to JFK.
✨ We discuss Icelandic names for cities and rivers in Europe, along with Icelandic names for various dinosaurs.
✨ An Icelandic weather man predicts a good summer in Iceland. We question his ability to predict the weather from Spain, where he resides, and point out his failure to predict last year's terrible summer.
✨We briefly discuss the increase in international flights to Iceland's second "city" Akureyri.
✨ Reykjavík Energy proposes building 30 windmills between Reykjavík and Þingvellir and the meaning of "green" energy in Iceland.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

✨ Iceland’s (more or less) only whaling company Hvalur hf. (Whale ltd.) will not be doing any whaling this year, even though they were recently issued permits to do so. According to the companies CEO, Kristján Loftsson, the “price development of our products in our main market, Japan, has been unfavourable lately and is getting worse, which makes the price of our products so low that it is not justifiable to continue fishing,” Mr. Loftsson also pointed to the market uncertainty brought about by the USA’s tariffs. We discuss.

✨ Last Friday, Iceland formally opened discussions with the EU on defence and security cooperation when Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, met with the EU’s Andrius Kubilisu and Kaja Kallas. We discuss that, and questions about whether the USA might simply “veto” such cooperation.

✨ A car owner in Kópavogur reported his car stolen on Thursday night. The car had not been stolen, the owner had simply forgotten where it was parked.

✨ On Tuesday, an unidentified male tried to blow up an ATM in Hafnarfjörður. This failed. In December a couple of masked perpetrators on a stolen car tried to steal that same ATM by attaching it to the car and pulling it out of the building. That also failed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is