Jóhann Viking
Kolaportið in Reykjavik
Kolaportið is a Reykjavik institution and the largest flea market in Iceland. It is very good for Iceland shopping.
A weekend browse through its stuffed isles, in the old warehouse building by the harbour, is as ingrained in our culture as our soaks in our local swimming pools.
As with any good flea market, you can find pretty much anything between heaven and earth, and then some. Hand-knitted mittens by little old ladies, a flood of second hand books and vinyl records guarded over by elderly men, hipsters selling their retro clothes and collectables, antiques and bric-a-brac dealt out by folks who have long since become a part of the place’s interior, and your usual kitsch that tends to be attached to a place like this.
The food of Kolaportid:
And then there’s the food court. Authentic traditional Icelandic food, the kind of stuff our grandparents grew up on. Is maybe the most interesting aspect of Kolaportið. As you may have guessed from the “intriguing” smell, there’s a lot of fish! Here you have your legendary fermented shark, “harðfiskur” (dried fish we like to eat with tons of butter!), whale meat (completely delicious, if you have a chance to cook where you’re staying I urge you to sample some!), graflax (a delicious cured salmon you eat with “graflaxsósa”), horse meat (a staple where I grew up, out in the countryside in the north of Iceland), flatbrauð (“flatbread”, a traditional Icelandic bread), “kleinur” (doughnut-like pastries – my grandma used to regularly fry up a batch when I was a kid), heaps of traditional Icelandic candy (including licorice which we Icelanders pretty much treat like vitamins), Icelandic mountain herbs, and even tea made of Icelandic moss! The flea market café, Kaffi Port, is a cozy hang-out where Kolaportið regulars get together to gossip, discuss politics and compare their finds of the day.
And if for some reason you’re still hungry after your visit. The world-famous hot dog stand Bæjarins beztu is conveniently located outside! What a good place to be for Iceland shopping.
Everything under one roof:
Do not miss Kolaportið, one of the most quirky and unique places in downtown Reykjavík. Not to mention an excellent place for spotting locals. I mean, where else in the world can you get a copy of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, fermented shark, a hand-knitted “lopapeysa”(Icelandic wool sweater). Also a rare Björk poster worth a fortune, and a bag of licorice under the same roof? All good things for Iceland shopping.
Kolaportid is an indoor flea market and good for Iceland shopping, open during the weekend between 11:00am-5:00pm