I suppose I should start today’s post with a tutorial on how to pronounce Qaqortoq, our current port of call in southern Greenland. The problem is that there seem to be slight variations in that pronunciation, both in online sources and among the locals. However, I think you’ll get by without much trouble if you don’t stray too far from Kuh-CORE-tuck, putting the emphasis on the middle syllable and saying the whole thing pretty fast. This will come in handy the next time you pop into town for some fresh seal meat.
Qaqortoq is the fourth largest town in Greenland with about 3050 residents, which tells you all you need to know about how sparsely populated the world’s largest island is. It’s a cute little town of brightly painted homes and businesses built into the side of a hill. There seem to be a lot of cars in Qaqortoq, and their drivers zip along pretty quickly, even though there’s no place to go. Qaqortoq, you see, isn’t connected to anywhere else by road. There are also a lot of flying insects, and packing mosquito netting to cover your head may not be a bad idea.
We tendered ashore (our last tender port of the cruise, hallelujah!) a little after 10:30 am and spent more than an hour exploring the town and looking for the landmarks we had been alerted to at an onboard enrichment presentation a couple days ago. For a small town there were quite a few interesting sights, including stone carvings, a small church and detached chapel, a central fountain, and a giant mukluk. There were also vendors selling locally made crafts in a row of outdoor stalls and a small but eclectic mix of shops. All in all it was more than enough to keep us cheerfully occupied until it was time to meet our guide on the dock and depart on our scheduled excursion.
Half an hour outside town by boat (and I mean very fast boat) are some old Viking ruins, including the church where the last Viking wedding in Greenland was held. The ruins at Hvalsey are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are the largest and best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland. The last records from this site are of a man burned for witchcraft in 1407 and the aforementioned wedding in 1408. Then the Vikings were gone. There really isn’t much to see at the Hvalsey ruins, but they are historically and culturally important, and the hour we spent there was well worth it.
We saw several large icebergs on our way out and back, and on the way back our NASCAR-trained boat pilot buzzed close by one, to our great pleasure. And then we were back in Qaqortoq, where we spent another 45 minutes finding and photographing the landmarks we hadn’t located before our excursion. As much as anything it was interesting to see how people live in a town so truly remote. As I wrote earlier, you can’t get out of Qaqortoq by car, and there’s no airport, just a helipad. If you want to go anywhere, it’s probably going to have to be by boat.
Tomorrow is a sea day, and we were scheduled to stop in Nuuk (Greenland) on Wednesday, though docking conditions there and the weather forecast had already made that a 50-50 proposition. Late this afternoon the captain announced that the worsening forecast will require us to skip Nuuk and head directly for St. John’s, Newfoundland, where we will dock on Thursday. And as compensation for missing Nuuk we’re getting a previously unscheduled stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on September 1. These kinds of changes have happened in the past and we’ve learned to be flexible and roll with the punches. We’ve never been to Halifax, and I’m already looking forward to it. Wherever we go I’ll post a full report, so stay tuned.
First look at Qaqortoq from the ship.
Qaqortoq’s pretty little working harbor.
The tourist office/souvenir shop is right off the pier.
Right next to the tourist office you can buy locally made handicrafts.
Qaqortoq is known for its rock carvings right in the center of town. They’re not ancient, just a way to brighten up the town, and they’re fun to look at.
I liked this one.
Actually I liked them all.
This one too.
A different view of the town as we walked around before our excursion.
There was a sale on hot dogs at the grocery store, so that was our pre-excursion lunch. I’ve never had one served quite this way. They slide the hot dog into a perfectly sized hole in a small baguette with some extra dog sticking out the top. It was good, too, but I didn’t ask what kind of meat they make them with up here. 😂
Off on our 30 minute boat ride to visit the Viking ruins. We passed some pretty large icebergs on the way.
And we have arrived at the best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland.
This church was the site of the last Viking wedding in Greenland in 1408. Some poor guy was burned for witchcraft somewhere around here the year before.
Door to the church. You’re not allowed to go inside.
The inside of the church is empty anyhow.
We did some hiking on the hill above the church. There are also foundations of a couple houses and outbuildings at the site, but unlike the church there’s almost nothing left of them.
View of the church from high above. Note the dock in the background and a couple people walking on the path for perspective.
Naturally I had to climb to the top of a nearby boulder to take in the view.
The view up from the church. Pretty harsh terrain.
On the way back to Qaqortoq we passed some fantastic icebergs.
The devil’s horns? I thought it was supposed to be hot where he hung out.
After the excursion we finished our walking tour of the town, starting with this sculpture.
Cool fountain in the center of town.
Closeup of the fish on the top of the fountain.
Qaqortoq’s pretty church.
There’s a cute little chapel behind the church.
This giant mukluk is in front of the town’s hotel. Everyone gets their photo taken with it.
I’ll finish with some homework. Your assignment is to figure out how to pronounce the name of this street. 😀
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