Here's a Place Where One Can Really Get Away

---

Geo: 60.1453, -45.2571

We are in no rush to go ashore today as we have ample time to see this small town. I guess we didn't learn much from yesterday's mishap of arriving too late. It's no coincidence that Nanortalik, Greenland's southernmost town founded in 1797, means the "place of bears". In Nanortalik polar bears sometimes pass by on the field ice from East Greenland in the spring.

Of course, there's a main street in Nanortalik which is the focus of activity in the town of 1300. We had no problem finding it since it's the first street we came to when exiting the wharf. We walked down to the supermarket to visit the local “board”, where fishermen and hunters sell the day's catch. As usual, we arrived a little too late to see anything of interest although some locals presented their wares for sale. Also on the Main Street we find the tourist office, which has fishing licenses, arts & crafts and souvenirs produced by local artists. There's not much else here.

Karen finds a few things in the tourist office store. She likes the beautiful sealskin purses for $2200 but we move on. She finds a nice pair of earrings. Other than the tourist office and store, there's not much else here in town. You can hike to the top of a nearby mountain for a great view of the surrounding area but that's not happening. After struggling for about an hour in town to find something interesting, we bid farewell to Nanortalik and catch the next tender back to the ship. It's a short stay anyway.

The ship departs at 1:30pm so our time is limited ashore. There's a lecture at 2pm about the history of pleasure cruising but we pass, focusing on our stateroom, some snacks, a movie and the blog. I never finished writing today's notes so I really can't comment on the details of our afternoon, dining experience or the evening"s events. I just can't remember. It seems I'm always writing a day behind.

---