Kolaportið is Iceland's only flea market. It takes place at weekends in a large warehouse building by the harbour.
In Kolaportið you can buy everything from old records to jewellery to voluminous knitted patterned jumpers to liquorice to second hand clothing to vacuum-packed salmon to fermented shark. Kolaportið is open only during weekends.

Kolaportið, Tryggvagötu 19, 101 Reykjavík
+354 562 5030
www.kolaportid.is
Google map: bit.ly/fIvGRH

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Just back from a visit at the end of October, after the kronor had crashed and this made things cheaper, though still about the same as the UK.

We loved a second hand bookshop off the main drag and just down from Cafe Rosenberg and near the old Cirkus club. It was piled high with books, with a fair few in English. It has a vibe of total happy chaos.

Our favourite cafe was the one on the corner of Laugeamur and the street where Cafe Rosenberg is - it's a yellow house. Very good coffee, cakes and atmosphere.

We ate at two very good places down at the harbour. One is called "The Baron" and is a fish market. The owner takes his leftover fish and makes the most delicious crayfish soup you can imagine. You sit on old barrels and
drink beer while sipping your soup from a cup which is very atmospheric. If you get fed up with fish just by it is a very good hamburger joint with terrific burgers and fries. Even cheaper is the hot dog stand round the corner from it selling Icelandic sausages in a roll. Very reasonable.

Best bargain for shopping were the Red Cross
charity shops on Laugeamur. I got a beautiful
Icelandic wool jumper there for about five pounds.

And do try the public thermal pools of the city. They are more "real" than the Blue Lagoon, which though fabulous, is rather touristy in feel.

Café Rosenberg, Lækjargata 2, 101 Reykjavík
The Baron, Geirsgata 101

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A small record shop where you are encouraged to listen before you buy whilst sipping a free coffee. The shop is like an Icelandic version of Rough Trade.

It holds in-store performances which get so packed that people are squeezed up against the windows. Fill in a form to claim back tax.

www.12tonar.is/

Skólavördustíg 15
101 Reykjavík
+354 5115656
12tonar@12tonar.is

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