Kolaportið

When I wrote my Reykjavik journal, I, for reasons I can't imagine, neglected to talk about one of the many cool places we visited. Kolaportið is a big fleamarket in Reykjavik that operates on Saturday and Sunday from 11-5. Like fleamarkets here in the States, you can find all of the usual things that people no longer want or never wanted. There is of course clothing, whether its sweaters or vintage or sports gear (Manchester United is very popular in Reykjavik); you can find antiques and jewelry and games and videos and books and toys. All sorts of stuff.

One unique part of the fleamarket though is the food section, featuring all of your favorite fish treats, whether its dried or fresh or salted or whatever. Unlike most other fleamarkets, you can also purchase rotted shark from your favorite fishmonger. mmmmmmm rotted shark. Okay, I didn't try this delicacy when we were there, but I might if the opportunity arises next time. I know that might be a mistake, but it's one I'm willing to make.

Anyway, I don't remember purchasing anything myself, although one item did catch my attention. It was a baseball hat that had the logo of all logos on it: Texas Red Sox. Yes, that's right. The "Texas Red Sox"--why oh why didn't I buy that gem? Or at least take a picture of it. I'm guessing that particular merchandise is not licensed by Major League Baseball. We did a lot of browsing and Kristen bought lots of things though. Her favorite were some scarves, very beautiful items. They were synthetic silk. One was multi-colored, the other was the color of eggshells and had pretty embroidered flowers on it. (Thank you for the description, Kristen. I'll add a picture of them here when I can take one). She also purchased some games which came from Norway or Sweden, I forget which. It was a great experience among great experiences.

Anyway, our adventure there led me to ask a few people in Reykjavik a question about Kolaportið: what's the coolest thing you ever bought there? My first response came from Audi: "The coolest thing I ever bought in Kolaportið was a pair of really cheap sneakers. I loved them passionately and I wore them until there was nothing left of them." And, apparently, shoes are a popular item there because Thora wrote: "The coolest thing I ever bought in Kolaportið: a very old old pair of shoes....a very long time ago!!! I never wore them...but I thought they were cool, they were so old and funky looking. But as I recall I think my mum threw them out soon after!!! They were really cheap so it was ok."

And, finally, from our W.I.T. friend Magga Dora: "I tend not to buy stuff at fleamarkets but I love browsing through books. Me and my beau are avid book collectors on all sorts of subjects and whenever I go to Kolaportið I look for two types of books. Comics and books on computers. There's just something wonderful about leafing through 20 year old books on computers. What was cool at the time? What big claims did they make (on par with "No one will ever need a more powerful machine.")? In one of these books (pub. 1977) a chapter describes what a programmer does. There's even an illustration that shows the tools a programmer needs. This illustration does not include a computer."

Kolaportið is well worth the visit, even if only to spend a few minutes soaking up some of the local atmosphere. If you have ever bought anything there and would like to add to the list of cool finds, please comment below.