Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.07.2011, Síða 35

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 9 — 2011
MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS – Eddas and Sagas
The ancient vellums on display.
MILLENNIUM – Icelandic art through the ages.
Phase one. Starts 23 June.
CHILD OF HOPE – Youth and Jón Sigurðsson
Tribute to the leader of the independence movement.
EXHIBITIONS - GUIDED TOURS
CAFETERIA - CULTURE SHOP
The Culture House – Þjóðmenningarhúsið
National Centre for Cultural Heritage
Hverfisgata 15 · 101 Reykjavík (City Centre)
Tel: 545 1400 · thjodmenning.is · kultur.is
Open daily between 11 am and 5 pm
Free guided tour of THE MEDIEVAL
MANUSCRIPTS weekdays at 3 pm,
except Wednesdays.
When we had a meeting leading up to
the making of our Best Of issue, and
the question was raised regarding best
pizza, it seemed there was the clos-
est thing to total consensus you could
expect from a group as diverse as the
one we had assembled. To be sure, in
a town with as many pizza places as
Reykjavík, the title of ‘Best Pizza’ is no
small feat. So how do Gamla Smiðjan
do it?
I called owner Ásgeir Blöndal to find
out exactly that. Ásgeir said he'd been
making pizzas for some 20 years, and
knew that some day he would open
his own shop. When this dream finally
came true, he took the job very seri-
ously.
“Everything is made right on the
premises”, he said, explaining Gamla
Smiðjan's success. “I make the dough,
the sauce, the garlic oil. It's all done
here. Plus, we only use high-quality in-
gredients”.
Ásgeir also wanted to point out that
his pizzas are cooked in a wood-burn-
ing stove, using birch from Hallorms-
staður, Iceland's largest forest.
So while plenty of pizza companies
are available to you—with choices rang-
ing from the international to the do-
mestic—you can count on Gamla Smið-
jan to deliver, as Ásgeir put it, “Heaven
in pizza form”.
special | Best Of Reykjavík - Best Pizza
Gamla smiðjan
Lækjargata 8 , 101 E4
The secret ingredient
is love
PAul fonTAine
JuliA sTAPles
Pondering this question got me think-
ing hard about all my favourite concert
experiences in Reykjavík through the
years—and surprisingly enough, I found
that most of them had taken place in
the city’s churches. I think the fact
that Reykjavík’s churches are so open
to hosting pop and rock concerts is
pretty unique; it made me think that
since we’re not really that Christian,
our churches should just be turned into
concert venues. Jóhann Jóhannsson
at Hallgrímskirkja or Sufjan Stevens,
Wildbirds & Peacedrums or Hjaltalín at
Fríkirkjan—those were some of the best
shows I’ve witnessed and definitely
some memorable, once-in-a-lifetime
experiences.
Thus I have to recommend that
if people have the chance to catch
a concert in a church, for instance at
Fríkirkjan, while in Reykjavík, they take
it. Even though you don’t necessarily
know the musician. You can be pleas-
antly surprised.
Of course, visiting some of the city’s
many bars and clubs for concerts can
be a great experience too. My personal
favourite is Rósenberg. It has a cosy
environment, not unlike being in some-
one’s living room, and they have shows
every night ensuring that most people
can find something that appeal to their
tastes. They also serve dinner, so you
can have a complete night out there for
that matter.
special | Best Of Reykjavík
Kamilla Ingibergsdóttir, Iceland Airwaves PR & Marketing Director
Reykjavík’s best spots To catch A live show
special | Best Of Reykjavík
The best Places for skate-
boarding in Reykjavík
Skateboarding is doing great in Reyk-
javík these days. There are some new
spots and people making some nice
skating videos, me being one of them
(search Facebook for ‘First try fail Mon-
days’)... I even hear some people are
signing sponsorship deals. This makes
me pretty happy.
Telling everyone about the best
skating spots in Reykjavík kinda bugs
me, because it means they might fill up
with people. But still, Iceland is small
country, so I’ll let it slide...
Harpan, 101 Reykjavík
The lot around Harpa, Reykjavík’s new
concert hall, is absolutely the best
skateboarding spot Reykjavík has seen
for a long time. There are rumours
that one of the people responsible for
designing the area spent a lot of time
looking at skateboarding magazines
and the like—I have no idea if that’s
true, but the entire grounds are cer-
tainly great to get up to some skating.
The benches, the pavement... Do the
house authorities mind? They don’t
seem to, but we are sort of waiting for
them to take notice and drive us away.
Hopefully that won’t happen—the skat-
ers around there are contributing life
and fun to the area.
ingólfstorg, 101 Reykjavík
Ingólfstorg is always a classic. It’s really
Reykjavík’s first skate central, save for
a couple other places. It is excellently
situated in the middle of 101, in fact a
lot of sessions start out there, and the
environment provides ample opportu-
nities for skating. This is probably the
best place to go if one wants to hook up
with Reykjavík’s community of skaters.
Harpan and the skating area at Fífan
(in Kópavogur) are also fine places to
check in on the skating community.
The skatepark at fífan, kópavogur
Technically, this ain’t in Reykjavík, but
it’s close enough and they offer some
excellent facilities. Recommended.
Háskólinn í Reykjavík, Öskjuhlíð
The lot around there has some nice
skateboarding spots. Lots of gaps,
flowerbeds and stuff to ollie over, and
also some benches—although those
could do with a little modification....
The benches at Grandi
I’m not going to tell you anything more
about those. It’s one of the better spots,
and if you’re interested, you’ll just have
to find ‘em.
HAukuR s. MAGnússon
JuliA sTAPles
HAukuR s. MAGnússon
VAnessA scHiPAni
Introbeats on skating
Do you think it's possible that the lot around Harpa was actually secretly
designed by skaters? That would be kind of cool, truth be told.