Day 8 - The Greenlandic town of Qaqortoq

Given our experience with the tender lineups from yesterday, we planned things a little differently. This time, we were up at 6:00am, went and had breakfast at the buffet, and we were down to get tender departure tickets.

We were a bit surprised that many other people had the same idea, however this time we ended up with departure group 11, instead of group 18 like we had the day before. So, slightly better.

But like the day before, we went and stood near the departure area. They had called for groups 1-5 but many of them weren't showing up. Sure enough, one of the security people saw us standing there and asked if we were ready to go, and they put us on with group 3!

Scenery near Qaqortoq.

There was an odd looking rainbow in the sky.

Qaqortoq is a bigger town and actually has a tourist info center.

Nanortalik, (where we had been in the first day) was just over 1,000 people, but Qaqortoq is just over 3,000 people. 

The harbor at Qaqortoq.

We were on shore at 7:15am!

Again, we had a hike planned. There was a mountain and lookoff over the town, and there was a 12 km (7 mile) hike around a lake. We wanted to do both of them, so decided to get the mountain hike done first.

As we were walking through town, it was pretty early and people were heading off to work. They even have a bus service here and some people were waiting for the bus, while others were walking. Everybody said hello to us, and one woman even opened the window of her apartment to wave at us and say hello. 

Definitely a different vibe in this town compared to Nanortalik. Overall better looked after, and with many newer constructed homes. And the people were friendlier. Definitely more Danish people than in Nanortalik which was mostly native Inuit.

Looking back at the Emerald |Princess.

We learned that this is the last season that larger cruise ships are allowed to visit Greenland. The Greenland government has decided that it simply doesn't have the infrastructure to handle the larger ships and the influx of tourists that invade the small towns. Having experienced it, we totally agree with this decision.

Of course the people of Greenland have mixed feelings. Some don't want the tourists at all, while others have taken advantage of the economic benefit. Apparently some of the elders remember the hard times, and it is better to have the tourism.

It was a pretty good climb up!

Another part of town.

New housing being built.

The larger lake in the distance is the one we would hike around later.

The suburbs!

Starting to get pretty high up now.

Mountains off in the distance.

Climbing higher.

Looking back at the Emerald Princess.

Scenery near the top.

There is a Greenland flag at the top.

We made it to the top at 8:15am... exactly one hour.

We did not see any other hikers on this trip up the mountain and back, but it was still pretty early. We did meet a few while doing the walk around the lake. Not many though!

Scenery from the top.

Ussie at the top.

Me, enjoying the views.

Zoomed in on the ship and the tender boats going back and forth.

Don't forget, you can click on any photo to make it full screen, and click again to zoom in.

Pretty wildflowers.

The skies are starting to clear!

Lupin wildflowers.

Looking back at part of the town from the lake.

We are doing the walk counterclockwise, 12 kms (7 miles) around the lake.

The right side of the lake is very flat and not that interesting. But the left side is better.

This stuff is called white cotton grass.

It's not really that cold, but there are a lot of annoying little flies. 

We had read that there are a lot of mosquitos, but we didn't see any.

 It was under 10C, so likely too cold for mosquitos.

Looking back towards town from the far end of the lake.

There is a small waterfall at the end of the lake.

The path around this side of the lake rises and offers some better views and a more interesting trail.

Again, the weather was quite nice but I kept my hood up because of the flies.

Scenery along the way.

The end of the trail coming back into town was through a dumpy industrial area.

We've seen this in other remote communities such as in Yukon and Northwest Territories. They don't have any way to recycle anything and it's too expensive to ship it back. So junk just tends to pile up because they have a lot of empty space.

No idea what's in all of these old shipping containers.

The church in Qaqortoq.

These two are ready to go!

There are a lot of boat owners in Qaqortoq!

Remember, that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Park fountain in town.

There are some interesting rock carvings.

Still a lineup for the tenders to return to the ship, but it went much faster.

Maybe a ten minute wait.

Two tenders were able to dock at the same time.

Much more efficient.

We were back on the ship by 1:00pm, pretty much exhausted! We had done about 16 kms in total with a lot of hills!

Evening entertainment was pretty good, an acrobat guy from Australia who has performed with cirque de soleil. 

There were four audience members holding the ropes.

Can't wait to show you the next blog post. The amazing scenery through Prince Christian Sound. Even the Captain said it was one of his best cruise ship experiences in recent memory and he's been doing this for 16 years. Stay tuned!

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