Greenland Nuuk and the far south

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Now we are here, it is hard to understand why Greenland is so unknown. Its a huge country with so much to see and do and undiscovered by most travellers.



We started in Nuuk, the capital city (pop. 18,000), and, we're told, the least Greenlandic. It is certainly not all red houses and snowmobiles but, nevertheless, it is very Greenlandic to us. All around the city are snow capped mountains - we're in the last days of April - and the fjords are deep blue and the sun is shining.



There is a new part to the city which has lots of cafes, good restaurants and an art gallery full of work by local artists. Indeed, we are discovering there is art everywhere in Greenland. Down by the old Colonial Harbour are many preserved building from the time of the Danish settlers. These are now home to a few museums and a good place for us to catch up on Inuit history and the roles of Vikings, whalers and the Danes.



Nuuk is at the mouth of the Nuuk Fjord, the second largest fjord in the world and over 800 metres deep in places. The fjord system forms deep gashes into the mountains, eventually reaching glaciers, fingers of the Greenlandic ice sheet; 80% of Greenland is covered in this ice sheet. We spent a day in a small boat travelling up the fjord to a small settlement, population 55. The Greenland government supports all its settlements with a state-run shop/post office/fuel station (for boats and snowmobiles). There is even a school, 8 pupils, where the teacher arrives by boat in summer or snowmobile across the ice in winter.



We also visit one of the abandoned settlements that were cleared by the government in the 1960s. Bizarrely, it is now the location of about 70 holiday houses, only used in summer of course.



At the very end of the fjord we were blocked by ice, blue icebergs trapped in white sea ice. We chipped off some many-million-year-old iceberg - it was clearer than the clearest glass and went well with a little whisky. Our trip back was escorted by hunting sea eagles as well as Arctic terns and cormorants. The fjord is full of fish, fishing trips guarantee you will come home with a catch.



Leaving Nuuk, we were to fly south to Narsarsuaq but the flight was delayed and then cancelled. The reason, it turned out, was that the only fire engine was called to a fire in the town, so the airport had to closed as no plane could lane without a fire engine present. A complex set of event then meant we had an extra day in Narsarsuaq as we couldn't fly onward on a Sunday. Undaunted, we took an all-terrain-vehicle around the fjord to Qassiarsuk to visit two sheep farms. It's a popular area for walking and riding and we could see why. At lunch in a farm we heard how they expected to deliver over 1,000 lambs in the next 3 weeks!



On our way back we called in at a kaffemik, an informal party, to celebrate a 25 birthday. The young lady was missing when we arrived, she had gone out to feed some animals. On her return, her head was showered with cinnamon, a tradition for unmarried 25-year-olds on their birthday; for 30-year-olds they use pepper.



On Monday we flew on to Qaqortoq in a scheduled helicopter flight; Air Greenland has a large fleet of these 10 seater aircraft. Needless to say, flying over the mountains and valleys of south Greenland was amazing - a free sightseeing flight.



Qaqortoq looks like Greenland is supposed to - little houses dotted up the hillside in every colour, fishing boats in the harbour, dark cafes and bars. We really loved Qaqortoq. We even had the treat of flying in a small helicopter across more fjords with even bigger granite mountains to see some cabins in the Tasermuit fjord. Another spectacular flight, flying so low that we spotted musk ox. The cabins were idyllic, set on the side on the unspoilt fjord - it was very temping to stay a while.



We are now on the coastal boat heading north up the west coast to Nuuk and on to Aassiat. More soon.

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Photos

Nuuk old cathedral

Eric the Red's homestead church, reconstruction