Well, there are arguments for both sides of that question. The United Nations officially has 193 countries in it. However there are other countries that are not officially recognized as countries by the other countries. Examples are Kosovo, Taiwan, Western Sahara, Transnistria, Somaliland, Northern Cyprus, and Greenland. Among others. If you add these all up, it comes to 215 countries.
For our purposes, Greenland is a country! So, with that out of the way, welcome to Greenland...
We arrived in the town of Nanortalik at 7:00am Wednesday morning. They were very quick at getting the tender departures ready. We had gotten up at 6:30am, had a quick breakfast in the buffet area, then went and picked up our tender departure tickets. But quite a few others were there before us. We got departure group number 18! For perspective, there were about 65 departure groups for the entire day.
Each tender holds about 100 people. And there were four boats. There are about 3,200 people on board, and we heard later that 95% of them made the trip to shore.
Scenery as we approached Nanortalik.
Icebergs!
Sunrise as we approached Nanortalik.
Greenland.
View from the bow.
We had wanted to get to shore fairly early. But group 18 meant that it would be a while. You're supposed to wait in any of the public seating areas until they announce your number, but we went and hung out near the boarding area and asked one of the staff there that if they had room for two extras we would be happy to fill the spots. Sure enough, the girl came and found us and we managed to get on with group 11.
The town of Nanortalik (pop 1,050).
Nanortalik.
The bridge crew hard at work.
Icebergs!
We got off the tender at Nanortalik at 8:26am. Not bad, considering the number of people who wanted to get off. Not as early as we had hoped, but still not bad.
That's a long word!
The first two lines are in Greenlandic.
The second two lines are in Danish.
Greenland is "owned" by Denmark. And there are two official languages in Greenland... Greenlandic, which is the native language of the ethnic Inuit people who live there. And Danish. Very few people speak English.
The harbor.
Typical housing.
Nanortalik is situated in a very scenic area.
We had a hike planned, so we carried on through town to do the hike first, and then see the town later.
The police station.
Greenland license plate.
We are headed up there!
The town cemetery.
Me, on the trail. temperature was about 7C (45F).
But, due to the cool temperature, there were no bugs.
Looking back at the town.
This boulder looked ready to roll down the hill.
Looking back at the town site with the Emerald Princess.
Icebergs in the distance.
Wow!
You can see a tiny boat approaching the lower iceberg from the right.
The port tours are ridiculously expensive. For example, it was $160 USD ($220 CAD) to get into a boat for one hour tour to see the icebergs up close. There was a walking tour of the town that cost $110 USD ($151 CAD). Amazing.
We'll stick with the free hiking!
Fantastic!
There are a lot of icebergs.
These mountains reminded us of Tombstone Territorial Park in Yukon, Canada.
Ruth, enjoying the view.
We met one other hiker near the top.
Looking in another direction.
Budget cruising tip... bring some sealable containers with you and take some food from the breakfast buffet to have for lunch during port days. We bought these at Poundland in Falmouth.
Looking back at town.
Coming back down.
Houses in town.
A golden mushroom.
Iceberg very close to shore.
Looking across to part of the town.
We had been up there.
Residential street in town.
Polar bear skin drying!
The majority of the people in Nanortalik are native Inuit people. We saw very few Danish. Many still live off of hunting and fishing. Polar bears do come into the region, although Nanortalik is at the southern tip of the range. They usually arrive on sea ice in the spring, and there are several sightings annually. The last one to be seen in town was in 2015.
Just relaxing.
When we walked back to the port area, we couldn't help but notice the lineup to get back on the tenders and return to the ship.
Yikes. And it was only 12:30pm.
I couldn't figure out why people were heading back to the ship so early. I mean, how many times do you come to Greenland? But we overheard people saying "well, there's not much to see here". Okay. Sure makes you wonder why they came.
But, the lineups were concerning. I hate standing in line, and it's one of the reasons we haven't done a cruise before. The problem was that the docking area only had room for one tender at a time. And getting 100 people off the boat and 100 people back on it took a lot of time, especially with many people not healthy enough to do it in a reasonable amount of time.
So we carried on exploring, hoping the lineup would be shorter later. That was not to be.
We went in the local fishmonger.
Harbor porpoise, minke whale, and whale skin.
Then we went and checked out the main grocery store.
35.95 Danish Krone is $7.70 CAD or $5.60 USD for a head of lettuce.
Same price for a canteloupe.
Same price for 250 ml of real Canadian maple syrup!
The store was amazingly well stocked!
Mural in town.
We walked up to the town church.
Inside the church.
The church is really pretty.
Yikes. The lineup is even longer.
We spoke to people who were saying it was a two hour wait. We would go for another walk, come back and the lineup was even longer. Crap. Fortunately, we were in no rush to get back on the ship.
Funny picture of the ship on land.
One more walk past the hordes.
So, we decided to go to the local cafe and have a couple of hot drinks. I changed my mind when I saw the local Greenlandic beers on the counter. I mean seriously, how often would you have the chance to have a Greenlandic made beer while in Greenland??
What a great label for a Greenlandic beer!
The bill for a beer and a coffee was 70 krone ($15 CAD, $11 USD), but I don't remember the breakdown between the two. And yes, the beer was really nice!
I look like I've already had a few!
We resigned ourselves to the fact that we would have to wait in line, and went and did exactly that. Back on the ship by 6:00pm, which was an hour later than the last tender was supposed to leave. I don't blame the ship or the cruise line... it was simply due to the number of people who wanted to go ashore and the fact there was only room for one tender at a time. I bet many of those people would not have gone ashore if they knew there was going to be such a long wait to get back. Fortunately, our next stop at Qaqatorq was much better.
Wow!! Great pics, thank you for sharing. Most ports have private excursions that are much less expensive than the cruise ship. We have had good luck with Viator and Get Your Guide. Some are specifically set up for pick up at the cruise ship and have some guarantee of return to the ship on time which is the main worry with private excursions. Greenland is on our bucket list!
ReplyDeleteThank you, we are glad that you enjoyed the pictures.
DeleteThe price that Kevin posted was with a private excursion from shore, not one of Princesses shore excursions which started at about $225 USD up to about $280 USD. We talked to some people that did one of the private tours which are billed to be one hour long but in actual fact you are only out in the water for just over half an hour. With prices like that we are much happier doing our own thing like the hiking that we did. I think the shore excursions are better suited to people that have limited mobility.
I wasn’t sure you were aware of the private tours. You do have to do your research and read reviews to make sure you are getting what you want, it can be hit or miss. I agree with you that getting out and walking/hiking is often the best way to see a new place. You see so much more detail with feet on the ground.
DeleteYes, we were aware of them but many are still very expensive but thank you for mentioning it just in case we didn't know. We think you do see more with our feet on the ground but whatever way you do it, you are going to miss something unless you have lots of time and can actually stay there for a few days. This is one reason that we have avoided cruises because you just don't have the time there that we like to spend in any location that we visit.
DeleteThank You for introducing me to Greenland. Mike V, following since Day 1 when you left Ottawa
ReplyDeleteHi Mike, glad to hear that you are still following along with us. We hope you are doing well and we are glad that you enjoyed the post.
DeleteWow, it looks so gorgeous there, especially the views from your hike. Otherworldly! The icebergs are very beautiful. And I love the colorful houses. The town looks pretty small, though, so I guess for those who aren't hikers, there wouldn't be all that much to see. The church was lovely, though. Beer looked good too! I would hate those lines, but I guess worth it to see Greenland, such an interesting spot.
ReplyDeleteThe scenery really is beautiful but also quite barren with no trees around. We totally enjoyed our day there but there is no way we could ever live in an environment like that, especially in the winter.
DeleteThe icebergs were beautiful to see and we would see more over the next few days. The colourful houses were lovely to see and made for some nice photo opportunities. The town was small but there was a nice open air museum that people could visit along with some shops and an nice art gallery but if someone has any kind of mobility issues then it would certainly be harder to them to get around to see some of the interesting things in town. We are glad that we love hiking and are physically able to get out there and really explore the area.
The line up to get back on the tenders was horrible, definitely the worst part of the day but we took it in stride because there is nothing you could do about it and as Kevin said we don't blame the ship for it, it is just the way it was for that port, thankfully it was much better at the next port stop.
Wow, what fabulous views you were treated too.
ReplyDeleteWe certianly were and more amazing sights at our next port of call and the scenic ride through the fjords the day after that.
DeleteToo many people explore the world thinking it's all like Disney World. They fail to see the true beauty of the world in its natural environment. Those pictures show what the citizens endure in order to survive. Your pictures also show the natural beauty of that part of Greenland.
ReplyDeleteStay Safe and Enjoy your adventures.
It's about time.
We find that we are definitely not like most people and tend to do the opposite of most and we are more that happy to be different. We aren't sure what most people thought they were going to see when they got ashore but for quite a lot of them, there obviously wasn't enough for them to see or do there and I am sure some maybe wished that they hadn't got off the ship when they found out how long the wait was to get back on the tenders to get back to the ship. We are glad that we love hiking and really enjoyed the natural beauty of our stop and that we are physically able to get out there and enjoy it along with a few others.
DeleteMost people travel like tourists. I bet most were hoping for touristy shops etc. No thanks not for me. I much prefer your option.
DeleteAgreed, many people do travel like tourists but for many of them this is their vacation with us it is our lifestyle. We like to think of ourselves as travelers rather than tourists. We are more interested in the people, the culture and the nature rather than shopping and the tourist attractions.
DeleteWhat stupendous photos you got. We have never been there so we enjoyed every single photo and comment you posted. And by hiking, you saw views that nobody else on the cruise ship did. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteThank you, we are so glad that you enjoyed the pictures, the scenery and the views were truly beautiful to see.There were a few other adventurous souls out there that got to enjoy some of the beautiful views along with us but not many when you consider how many people are on the ship.
DeleteBeautiful pictures!!! everything looked pretty simple, spare, serviceable, yet very beautiful.
ReplyDelete(lifewithloree)
Thank you, we are glad that you enjoyed the pictures.
DeleteYes, everything there was very simple for sure and very serviceable. They had all the basics covered but you could tell that it wasn't a rich town and that the people there lived life more or less like past generations other than having a some of the modern conveniences. I am sure that it is a very isolated in the winter.
Really enjoying your trip. We will be boarding this same ship in Los Angeles in Nov for a 2 week trip to Hawaii. That ship must really get around. Would love doing the trip you’re on as well.
ReplyDeleteYes, it sounds like this ship does get around. It looks like in September that it will continue to be is this part of the world and then around mid October it will do some stops in Portugal, Spain and France ending up in Florida. From there it will do a Caribbean cruise, then another one through the Panama Canal where I imagine it will end up in Los Angeles in time for your trip to Hawaii.
DeleteUnfortunately, the trip we are on, will be Princesses second last trip to Greenland. She will return there again after we get off in Southampton and then that will be it. Greenland has shut down it's ports to the big cruise ships. If you can find some of the smaller ships then you might still manage to do a Greenland cruise.
We are sure that you will enjoy your cruise to Hawaii. We have enjoyed our cruise on the Emerald Princess.
Very nice! Thanks for the great report and good tip on bringing a few empty plastic containers to pack a lunch. Works for me!
ReplyDeleteWe actually saw a few people on the ship do this or something similar. It really makes a difference when you are out hiking and there are no shops or restaurants around, especially in an expensive country.
Delete