Saturday – September 2, 2017
Early light over Greenland:
Morning light over Nanortalik, Greenland:
Not in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to visit Greenland – let alone two villages! As I walked along the gravely roads of Nanortalik today, one thought kept surfacing: wow! I’m really in Greenland! I can’t believe I’m walking on Greenland! Greenland wasn’t on my ‘Bucket List.’
Below is a map of the southern coast of Greenland called Cape Farewell. the location of the village of Nanortalik is marked:
The view from the tender as we approached the tiny village of Nanortalik:
We left incredibly beautiful Prince Christian Sound by early evening and slowly cruised along the rugged south Greenland coast. It’s hard to believe the Vikings considered settling among the tall jagged rocks which jut out of the deep sea.
Several of my photos taken on Nanortalik:
It had been a calm night. The ship didn’t have far to go to reach the island of Nanortalik at the mouth of the Tasermiut Fjord, so the ship hugged the shore and cruised slowly. When the Rotterdam reached the village very early in the morning, it dropped anchor and we enjoyed a few calm hours.
There was a buzz in the elevator that some people had seen Northern Lights last night. They said it was a green haze in the clear sky. I guess the conditions were just right for an Aurora Borealis, which are more frequent in the winter in Greenland. It was a dry crisp morning – a cloudless 41 degrees.
The father carried his young child and a huge backpack along the road on their way to his boat:
Children in snowsuits hurried along way behind their dad. One of them is carrying a stuffed Winnie the Pooh doll:
The village of Nanortalik is located on an island of the same name and is the southernmost town in Greenland with a population of about 1350 people. Nanortalik means “the place with polar bears” and is the 10th largest village in Greenland.
The village a flat shelf of solid rock surrounded by vertical cliffs and steep peaks. There was a relatively small harbor for fishing boats, small container ships, and a large building which was probably a fish processing plant. The small simple houses were painted in bright colors.
Advertisement outside the only supermarket: A cold soda and a hotdog is 25 Danish Kroners
Inside the supermarket with Greenland flags flying:
Jeff and I boarded the tender and thought we wouldn’t be spending much time in Nanortalik. Four hours later, we barely made one of the last tenders back to the ship.
We walked all over the village and took lots of photos because the weather was clear and sunny; perfect for taking pictures. We tried to imagine what it would be like to live in Nanortalik in the dark northern winters. There was one supermarket, ( which was part of a Danish chain), a school, a tourist information shop, two hotels (one boarded up), a tiny store selling new & used clothing, a church, a heliport, hospital, and an excellent living Heritage Museum.
Whale blubber press for extracting oil:
We ended up paying $5.00 each go through the living-history Heritage Museum buildings. There was a charming grandfatherly local man collecting the entrance fee. The museum is made up of a dozen small buildings with specific themes of early life in Greenland. My favorite was the whale and seal processing house. It had an actual “blubber press” as well as huge vats and barrels and other tools of the whale processing trade.
Young boys on the roof of a house watching the tourists:
Another building housed a baking and brewing shop. Inside one building there was an exhibit of small whale boats and an antique kayak. We could have spent more time touring the museum, but unfortunately our time on Nanortalik was limited and we had to return to the ship by 1:30.
The Rotterdam turned around and cruised out of the harbor and into the North Atlantic Ocean. Huge icebergs, or “sea ice” as it’s called in Greenland, lined the shore. Sometimes the sea ice is so prevalent it collects in Nanortalik’s harbor and closes access to the tiny village.
Captain van der Wal announced potential heavy seas ahead and sizable waves as we made our way westward to our next port of call: St. Anthony, Newfoundland.