Take It From The Kids

Krakkaveldi-approved travel destinations to plan Your next adventure around

Words: Krakkaveldi Imag

You’ve read the travel blogs, leafed through the latest Frommers and consulted an oracle. But did you ever think to ask a bunch of kids what areas to visit when in Iceland? We did it for you. Here’s where the Krakkaveldi kids suggest you go.

“Mount Esja, because you are not in the city and you have fresh air and a great view. It is so much fun to gain new energy by walking up a mountain.”

Eldlilja Kaja Heimisdóttir, 14

“My favorite place to travel in Iceland is Ölfusborgir summer house area, because it is close to Geysir and there are a lot of things to do with friends there. Meaning they have many playgrounds and stuff for children to do there.”

Borghildur Lukka Kolbeinsdóttir, 8 “Ólafsvík, because my grandparents live there.”

Sóley Hulda Nílsen Viðarsdóttir, 8

“I would say Reykjavík, because I live in Reykjavík.”

Margrét Aðalgeirsdóttir, 8

“My favorite place is Keflavík because from there I can fly away from Iceland.”

Brynja Steinunn Helgesson Danielsen, 12

“Akureyri because it is different from Reykjavík. It reminds me of Reykjavík but it’s fun to see something different than the capital city.”

Yrsa Rún Gunnarsdóttir, 11

“Akureyri has a crazy swimming pool, a Christmas house, and a big part of my family lives there. They also have the Akureyri botanic garden, which is a great change of scenery.”

Nína Marín Andradóttir, 12

Sóley has tasted McDonald’s like a thousand, million, trillion, zillion times, both in New York City and once in London. Borghildur first tasted McDonald’s in Portugal. That’s a very nice country. The McDonald’s in Portugal is right by the beach.

McDonald’s has better soda, better toys, better french fries and better everything! We think McDonald’s offers very good food, very good toys, funny dolls and that sort of thing. It’s just better food than Metro, although Sóley wants to mention that she has always gotten good food at Metro.

The toys you get at Metro are quick to break and get lost easily. One time, Borghildur got a toy at KFC, which was a squishy dog, and it got destroyed the very next day! A friend of Sóley’s got a springy toy once at Metro and was super happy with it, but when she woke the next day, it was lost. Borghildur’s sister also got a spring at Metro, but lost it before the family got home!

That one time when Sóley went to McDonald’s in London — you’re not gonna believe this — there were NO CHAIRS. It was extremely uncomfortable for people’s feet. Some people were lying on the tables because they had stood for so long. That’s at least one point for Metro.

There’s actually a playground at Metro in Iceland, so that’s OK. Children are taken care of in these fast food restaurants; it’s a fun experience for them. There’s even more McDonald’s places in the world, but there’s no Metro anywhere else other than in Iceland. We don’t understand why McDonald’s closed in Iceland. We would be happy with having both Metro and McDonald’s. That would be a good compromise!

Here with the

JÖRGENSEN KITCHEN & BAR Mon, Tues, Wed 16:00 - 18:00, Thursday from 16:00 - 20:00, Weekends from 12:00 to 18:00.

750 ISK, Wine 900 ISK.

JUNGLE COCKTAIL BAR

Every day from 16:00 to 18:00. Beer 900 ISK, Wine 1000 ISK Cocktails 1600 ISK.

KAFFI LÆKUR

Every day from 16:00 to 19:00 & 22:00 to 23:00 on Tue-Sat Beer 890 ISK, Wine 1050 ISK.

KOFINN BAR

Every day from 12:00 to 19:00. Beer 600 ISK, Wine 1000 ISK.

KALDI

Every day from 16:00 to 19:00. Beer 950 ISK, Wine 950 ISK.

LOFT

Every day from 16:00 to 20:00.

Beer 860 ISK, Wine 950 ISK.

LÓLA FLORENS Every day from 15:00 to 18:00. Beer 1000 ISK, Wine 1000 ISK.

LUNA FLORENS

Tue-Sat from 15:00 to 18:00. Beer 1000 ISK, Wine 1000 ISK. Discount or a free appetiser.

PETERSEN SVÍTAN

Every day from 16:00 to 19:00.

Beer 850 ISK Wine 1100 ISK.

PRIKIÐ

Every day from 16:00 to 20:00.

Beer 700 ISK,

SLIPPBARINN

Every day from 15:00 to 18:00.

Beer 1000 ISK, Wine 1000 ISK.

SPILAKAFFI

Every day from 17:00 to 19:00.

Beer 850 ISK.

STÚDENT-

AKJALLARINN

Everyday from 16:00 to 19:00

Beer to 18:00.

Beer 990 ISK, Wine 1090 ISK.

SKÚLI CRAFT

Every day from 12:00 to 19:00.

Beer 900 ISK, Wine 900 ISK. Happy hour includes four selected tap beers

Hverfisgata12

Featured

Happy hour / 4–7pm

Beer / Wine / Cocktails

What’s better than going to the record store and listening to some tunes? Going to the record store and listening to some tunes while drinking a delicious craft beer, that’s what! Ever since this legendary record shop added a bar a couple of years ago, it’s become a perfect place for a chill evening drink. Their roster of DJs keep things spicy with their unique array of playlists, ranging from making you wanna get up and dance to making you say “WTF” — but in a good way! The beer selection is great and with the weather getting nicer (knock on wood), the back garden is soon to be a delightful respite from the downtown bustle. Oh, and you can also buy albums.

Happy hours: Every day from 14:00 - 19:00

Review

We All Scream!

It’s the kids’ choice ice cream battle royale

Words: Krakkaveldi & Catharine Fulton Images: Art Bicnick

It’s been a week since the Krakkaveldi kids descended on Grapevine HQ for the ultimate ice cream taste test and this place is still a sticky mess. But it’s all worth it, because eating copious amounts of ice cream is fun and because it got results. Well… it got opinions. Varied, sometimes nonsensical opinions. The kids sampled 10 flavours of ice cream and gelato, rating each on a scale of one to 10. Here’s how it went.

Valdis: Salted Caramel — 9/10

The first scoop of the tasting elicited happy sounds from all the kids at the table. We were off to a strong start.

Eldlilja: “It’s very salty.”

Yrsa: “I think it’s a perfect flavour. But it can be a little bit less sweet I think, just a little bit.”

Borghildur: “At first I thought it was 11/10, now I think it’s 9.”

Valdís: Raspberry — 9.5/10

Another flavour unanimously enjoyed by the young food critics. When one adult at the tasting dared to question whether it tasted slightly artificial, they were rebuked. As Nína clapped back: “Kids don’t mind artificial taste, we’re used to it.”

Valdís: Danish Liquorice — 3/10

The flavour of liquorice has always been divisive, and that held true during the Krakkaveldi tasting. Some testers were unsure what they were eating, others finished every bite, and others still promptly scraped the contents of their bowl into the trash.

Borghildur: “I think this one is coffee.”

Sóley: “One time my grandma gave me coffee ice cream.”

Borghildur, Sóley, Margrét: “Where’s the trash? It’s zerooooooooooooooo.”

Brynja: “I love liquorice.”

Yrsa: “The aftertaste is not very good.”

Margrét: “I want more of the raspberry.”

Valdís: Chocolate — 5/10

At this point in the tasting, the adults in the room questioned whether we had stumbled into an alternate reality in which children universally detest chocolate.

Margrét: “I hate chocolate.”

Sóley: “No more chocolate.”

Yrsa: “I think this is definitely 10 but I think they could have used milk chocolate. This is very chocolatey.”

Sóley: “Chocolate gets a four.”

Valdís: Mint Chocolate Chip — 5/10

After proclaiming the next flavour as my own personal favourite, it was particularly heartbreaking to hear a chorus of little voices uttering their displeasure and drawing comparisons to toothpaste.

Eldlilja: “Zero.”

Brynja: “I love mint chocolate.”

Borghildur, Sóley, Margrét: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.” (Margrét mimics being ill.) “It’s zero. Below zero.”

Yrsa: 10/10

Valdís: Strawberry — 3/10

File this under the same mystery as the kids not enjoying the chocolate ice cream; a classic strawberry scoop also fell flat.

Margrét: “I think it’s bubble gum.”

Yrsa: “It looks cheap.”

Brynja: “It’s like strawberry medicine. It’s medicine that tastes like strawberry but doesn’t taste like strawberry at all.”

Borghildur: “Can I have more?”

and 1000/10

Perhaps our young taste-testers had overworked their taste buds by this point, but their review started to take a turn for the loopy.

Yrsa: “This is so good. It’s 1000 out of 10. (30 seconds later) The aftertaste is a little too much. 4/10 for me.”

Brynja: “Stracciatellaaaaa!” (Editor’s note: it was not, in fact, stracciatella)

Eldlilja: “It reminds me of bananas.”

Gaeta: Strawberry

Cheesecake — 8/10

Gaeta’s flavours were the bigger hit for the adults in the room, but they continued to confound the youths.

Brynja: “It tastes exactly like strawberry jam. That is strawberry cheesecake! Strawberry cheesecake, yoghourt, with jam and strawberries. I’d give it a solid 8.”

Yrsa: “It tastes like strawberry yoghourt. It’s not good.”

Eldlilja: “Very. Weird. Jam.”

Gaeta: Stracciatella — 6/10

When ordering gelato, one has to try a classic stracciatella. The kids, however, were thrown off by the sparsity of chocolate shavings, and a heated debate ensued over whether this was actually stracciatella or more of the Oreo flavour sampled earlier.

Brynja: “It’s stracciatella again. The other one wasn’t stracciatella. How was I wrong?!”

Sóley: “It’s fine.”

Yrsa: “They didn’t do a good job at doing Oreo.” (Editor’s note: because this one wasn’t Oreo)

Gaeta: Mango — 10/10

Ah, the final scoop of the tasting session. Some young reviewers were totally ice creamed out, others were demanding seconds of their favourite flavours. The experiment ends on a high note, with Gaeta’s fresh mango gelato hitting a home run with everyone.

Brynja: “This is my childhood in one bite. I am mango.”

Yrsa: “That’s perfect out of 10.”

Borghildur: “I love it.”