The Grand Tour of Greenland - Boat trip to Qaqortoq

The Grand tour of Greenland from south to north

14JUL: Boat transfer to Qaqortoq guided tour in town

Day 4

Today we sail to Qaqortoq a wonderful trip through fantastic scenery with ice bergs, cliffs and the 1930s and the modern stone sculpture project Stone and Man carved directly into the cliffs.

And when we're going to Qaqortoq we will make a de tour to the abandoned Greenlandic Norse settlement of Hvalsey to see the remains of the old Hvalsey Church and other buildings in the settlement

Tuesday 14^th of July 2015 and they woke me up quarter past 7 or something like that. We will leave Igaliku Country Hotel at 8 thirty. I was in the dinner hall just after 8 and I had to wait for a few minutes before the food fight was over. Then I made a quick raid, a stealth move and I grabbed 2 slices of their excellent home-made bread and a beer glass of tea and I moved out to the terrace where I enjoyed my breakfast in the sunshine.

I returned my tea glass to the kitchen and I brought out my luggage to the car in the back. I said good bye to the staff, from Iceland and they had provided us with an excellent service. Yes, staff from Iceland and excellent service, must

Qaqortoq

formerly Julianehåb, is a town in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. With a population of 3,229 in 2013, it is the most populous town in southern Greenland and the fourth-largest town on the island.

Igaliku is located southeast of Narsarsuaq, on a peninsula jutting off the mainland of Greenland near the eastern shore of upper Tunulliarfik Fjord Access is easier from the small nearby harbour of Itilleq.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Qaqortoq

The city was founded in 1775 and it still has many beautiful old colonial buildings clustered around the old town square with its iconic fountain. Today it is South Greenland’s largest town with about 3,300 inhabitants. It is the main centre of education in South Greenland with an upper secondary school, a business school, a vocational school for adults and a school for tourism management and guide training. The many young people give the town a vibrant atmosphere. In addition, Qaqortoq is home to many Greenlandic artists, and they have left their mark on the city. The project “Stone and Man” consists of more than 30 sculptures that are carved into the granite bedrock by various artists. This permanent exhibition makes a stroll around the city a very special experience.

From Qaqortoq you can also visit the famous Hvalsey Church on a short excursion (half an hour by boat one way). This is the best preserved ruin from the Norse period. The trip is occasionally combined with a stop at the Upernaviarsuk agricultural college and research station, where you can see the latest experiments with growing crops and vegetables in the Arctic, both in greenhouses and outdoors.

From http://blueice.gl

be the first time you see these two words in the same sentence here on www.aladdin.st.

The food had been excellent and if it wasn't for the shower in the hallway outside the room it would have been a 5 star experience. Well, without the young and super friendly staff it would have been a pain in the arse staying at Igaliku Country Hotel.

And yes, I had been trotting over the mountain from the harbour in Itilleq and never mind how much you call it the King's Road, I was tired, thirsty and I was dying for a shower. So imagine me bursting in to Igaliku Country Hotel after the march over the mountain. I needed to check in and when I saw my room I was shitting my pants. A room, 2 beds and no sign of any bathroom. Not even a desk for my computer. Not even a sink and they didn't sell bottled water in the bar. I WAS NOT HAPPY!!

But the staff arranged a tiller with water and a plastic box I could use as a desk. She told me that I could have a shower when she had scrubbed the showers in the morning. I told her never mind and thank you. This is how I lived travelling around India in the 80's. Today and I'm like thousand years older and have grown used to a wee different standard. Never mind, it had been nice at Igaliku Country Hotel.

Well, anyway, I started to walk down to the jetty where our boat will depart from at 8 thirty.

It was a beautiful morning and the weather, yeah, nothing less than gorgeous and I enjoyed my walk down to the jetty in the marina. Well, the marina is a breaker and a floating platform. I arrived at the same time as the car with our luggage and I was soon having my luggage on the platform waiting for the boat to back up to the platform.

We were joined by another group and I was surprised, I thought that we were going alone, but there were 6 others going with us. And I recognised them from Igaliku Country Hotel. They were eating with us there and I think that they had lived in the huts on the hill. We were soon on our way towards Qaqortoq. We will make a stop at the Hvalsey Church on our way.

Leaving Igaliku behind

Leaving Igaliku behind

On our way to Qaqortoq

Passing a mountain with a strange black rock

One of our new friends form the other group

Passing ice

On our way to Qaqortoq

One of our new friends form the other group

Our Guide serving Narwhal

Our Guide serving Narwhal and he try to talk our new friend in to trying
I do what I can to stop it, there are only 2 known Narwhals still alive in the world

He don't give up, narwhale and he could as well have been serving Rhino

Our Guide wins the argument and she decide to try some Narwhal

And just for your information, she didn't liked it

Another one of our new friends, he is eating Lamb - That's the spirit we're looking for

We approach the Hvalsey Church

It was a gorgeous morning and we had a beautiful cruise down the Einarfjord towards Qaqortoq. We passed beautiful mountains and icebergs. Small icebergs only, but a little teaser of what will come to us when we're arriving North to Ilulissat with midnight sun cruise among the icebergs.

I was sitting in the back with 2 from my group and 4 people from the other group, new friends! One of the girls had a Banderas around her head saying CANADA and I asked her if she came from Canada. She started with Cana... and the Capital of Canada was Montr.... and Ottawa after a few seconds hesitation. But she was from Alaska and one of the other girls told me she was half Canadian. They had a sense of humour but I don't think being half Canadian carries much weight around here.

Well, I enjoyed the trip even though we were offered Narwhal, I tried to stop my fellow passengers to eat as the Narwhal is like the Rhinos, only a few remaining and, well, why not? Kill everything! And no one liked the taste of the whale and they brought out dry beef to start chew trying to get rid of the Narwhal taste in the mouth.

A stop at the Hvalsey Church is included in the trip between Igaliku and Qaqortoq. We stopped at the Hvalsey Bridge and BAM! The boat was full of mosquitoes. But it took a while to realise that it was mosquitoes. Two of my fellow passengers started to complain about all the flies. And yes, it looked like flies but I was soon to realise that it was mosquitoes.
- No it is not flies, it is mosquitoes!

Hvalsey Church

(Danish: Hvalsø Kirke) was a church in the abandoned Greenlandic Norse settlement of Hvalsey (now modern-day Qaqortoq). The best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland, the Church was also the location of the last written record of the Greenlandic Norse, a wedding in September 1408.

According to the sagas, the land around Hvalsey was claimed by Thorkell Farserk, a cousin of Erik the Red. Christianity arrived in Greenland around the year 1000 and churches began to be built in the country. It is thought that Hvalsey Church was built in the early 14th century, but archaeological finds have shown that it was built on the remains of a previous church. The church is mentioned in several late medieval documents as one of the 10-14 parish churches in the Eastern Settlement.

The Church hosted the wedding of Thorstein Olafsson and Sigrid Björnsdóttir on either 14 or 16 September 1408. The wedding was mentioned in letters from a priest at Garðar and by several Icelanders, and is the last written record of the Greenlandic Norse. The married couple later settled in Olafsson's native Iceland.

In the Eskimo tradition, there is a legend about Hvalsey. According this legend, there was open war between the Norse chief Ungortoq and the Eskimo leader K'aissape. The Eskimos made a massive attack on Hvalsey and burned down the Norse inside their houses, but Ungortoq escaped with his family. K'aissape conquered him after a long pursuit, which ended near Kap Farvel. However, according to archaeological studies, there is no sign of a conflagration. The site is now part of a sheep farm.

Hvalsey is located on a narrow strip of land at the head of a fjord, with the church situated around 70 metres from the water. The church is a classic example of a Greenlandic farmstead, with several additional adjacent buildings. The farmstead included a large building approximately 1,300m² in size. It had eleven rooms, combining living quarters, an 8 by 5 metre banqueting hall and livestock pens. There were other livestock pens away from the main building, a horse enclosure for visitors to keep their horses, a storage building further up the hill and a warehouse at the edge of the water.

The dwelling was built on the top of an earlier building that dates back to the time of Erik the Red, and may have been Thorkell Farserk's home.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We're coming ashore at the Hvalsey Church

We're coming ashore at the Hvalsey Church

We're coming ashore at the Hvalsey Church

Hvalsey Church

Hvalsey settlement

The mosquitoes were terrible

The mosquitoes were terrible

Leaving Hvalsey Church and the mosquitoes behind

Yes, it was not flies, it was mosquitoes the size of giant flies and I was happy that I had my mosquito net from Iceland in my pocket. It never came to any use on Iceland, but here it was a must. We spent an hour in Hvalsey and at the Hvalsey Church. We had planned to have our lunch here. We had a bag of sandwiches that they had made for us at Igaliku Country Hotel

But to eat sandwiches with these mosquitoes, no thanks. We left after an hour and our passengers had their sandwiches in the boat as the mosquitoes were gone a few minutes after departure. I never had any sandwich, I had my Swedish Kex Chocolate that I had bought at the Hotel Narsarsuaq before we left for Qassiarsuk

Swedish chocolate, of course I offered some for our Danish Guide. They are for sure not spoiled with good chocolate in Denmark. I wanted to offer chocolate for the two girls, but if I offered them it would seem strange not to offer the rest of the passengers sitting with me in the back.

And if I would have offered them, well, then I could as well have skipped to buy the chocolate as there would be nothing left for me. And that was not the plan when I bought the chocolate. So I munched on my chocolate and it was delicious.

Passing more ice on our way to Qaqortoq

Passing more ice on our way to Qaqortoq

Passing more ice on our way to Qaqortoq

Passing more ice on our way to Qaqortoq

Arriving to Qaqortoq

Arriving to Qaqortoq

Arriving to Qaqortoq

Arriving to Qaqortoq

Coming of the boat in Qaqortoq

We were soon approaching Qaqortoq, time turns quick when you're having a good time and I had really had have a good time. OK, maybe not the mosquitoes. The biggest mosquitoes I have ever seen, and they were of an aggressive attack breed.

We got of the boat and there was a huge Hummer truck coming to pick us up. Well, my fellow passengers choose to walk. We loaded the car with our luggage and I took the seat up front and I was the first of us to arrive to the hotel.

Hotel Qaqortoq and it looked to be a very nice hotel. Our rooms were not quite ready yet and as soon as I had put my luggage in the room I went down to the coffee shop to see if they had boiled potatoes and smoked salmon. A pot of tea on top of that and I felt like a million when I was back up in my room.

A shower and a change of clothes, seriously, I felt like three million. No change of clothes at Igaliku Country Hotel. And only the quickest shower I have ever experienced in my life during the stay

New clothes and fresh out from a 30 minutes hot shower and I was ready to take on the town. We will meet in the reception at 2 thirty and we will go down to the port to have a look at a seal skin shop. There was of course nothing in my size in the seal skin shop. We were soon introduced to a guy that would take us on a tour around the seal skin place.

We see the harpoon and we know it is a ship hunting whales

The seal skin Guide told our Guide that he had never experienced any more critical (pain in the ass) visitor than me. Of course, the first thing he said is that they did a good job as the seals were eating so much fish. He starting be being defending of the whole thing.

Then he told us that they were stock piling skin as no one wanted to buy the skins. I asked him if Greenland was right and the rest of the world was wrong. The government pay the hunters per skin and they stock pile it here. I told him that this was called communism a few years back and was the worst thing the western world knew until the Soviet Union collapsed.

He told us that they were the good guys as they only shot the grown up seals, no baby killers to be found around here. They only used natural products and no “dangerous” chemicals. yes, we remember my dangerous cargo course in Kalmar.

All the drums were tagged with dangerous cargo labels and the orange warning labels. Pure poison and I asked what the label meant, and as I mentioned. No idea to try blow smoke up my arse as I knew exactly what the labels meant.

And I don't care, go ahead, shot everything. Kill the last seal I really don't care, I'm soon out of here. But I just have to argue with people that just goes on and on like we're not able to think for our self.

It was about keeping the Greenland tradition alive. Tradition, then I just wonder why they drive cars and wear jeans. They should wear seal skin clothes and not stock pile the skins. And of course, old traditional machinery and chemicals. And the very old tradition to send the skins to India to make clothes out of it. The tradition with cheap labour must be thousands of years old.

On our way to down town Qaqortoq

I found the fountain and I'm in the city centre

Iceberg sticking up

We stopped at a souvenir shop on our way to “down town” and this is also a tourist centre. I will leave for Uunartoq/ The Hot Springs tomorrow. There are 2 other Swedish in our group and they also want to go and they could pay their tickets here. There will only be three of us going for the Uunartoq/ The Hot Springs tomorrow.

I have pre booked everything so no need for me to worry. I ended up at Ban Thai, the only restaurant in the village except for the restaurant on the hotel. I had tea and food before continuing my search for a supermarket.

No Diet MAX on Greenland. I asked for Diet MAX at the hotel and they told me that there are only Coca Cola products on Greenland. Coca Cola had told them that they would stop deliver to Greenland if they brought anything else to Greenland.

Greenland is Greenland, but I think this would have been a death sentence for Coca Cola in any other part of the world as people would stop buying the shit. I ran in to our Guide and he was on the way to Ban Thai and I would join him with a cup of tea while he was eating. But first the supermarket.

I was back at Ban Thai and I ordered a cup of tea and a cup of tea was soon turning in to a plate of pancakes. But I made sure it was European styled pancakes and not the American uneatable pancakes.

Our Guide had been working at the glacier at Ilulissat and it was very beautiful and impressive with the icebergs. I told him that I had booked a midnight sailing among the icebergs and he told me that it was an amazing tour. Well, that sounded great and I had him to call his friend in Ilulissat to book me for a second tour among the icebergs.

I told him that I will do the “Master Explorer” fight as well. He told me that they had helicopter trips landing at the glacier where we can see the calving up front.

Well, he was soon talking with his friend at Ilulissat and I had booked a helicopter tour as well. The glacier shrinks with 1,7 km every year and they are not left for the next generation. So I really want to see as much as I can while here because I'm not coming back to Greenland again.

And that is even though it have been a super fantastic trip so far. But once is enough, so I want all the experience I can get. Imagine coming back home regretting that I had not going up the glacier front with a helicopter. Now I really hope they can take me, I remember that I have had some problems with my helicopter bookings in the past.

Well, I will hopefully get on the flight. But I have given up all hopes on renting seal skin clothes for the midnight sailing among the icebergs. But the seal skin clothing was only for the fun of it.

We paid our bill and we walked back to Hotel Qaqortoq. We stopped in the reception to have a chat with the Australian couple. They were soon leaving for Ban Thai with the Swedish couple for dinner and I returned to my cabin. Plenty to update on my web page before I can go to bed.

Seal skin place from my hotel window

Yet another fantastic day here on Greenland have come to an end. Early 7 o'clock wake-up call ordered for tomorrow as we will take off for the Uunartoq/ The Hot Springs adventure at 8 o'clock. And if you want to know how this turns out you just have to click HERE!


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OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizen visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

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