Retired Nomads - Part 3: Qaqortoq, Greenland

Aug 11 – Qaqortoq – City Walk & Tannery Visit

With 3.000 inhabitants, Qaqortoq is the largest settlement in South Greenland. In this charming town you can find lots of strikingly beautiful colonial buildings, dating from the establishment of the town in 1775. The area has a rich history, as it has been inhabited continuously since prehistoric times. You can still see traces of Thule and Norse cultures throughout the region. The people here were more European looking than in East Greenland.

Greg had been out on deck checking for new birds (specifically the Fish Eagle) but didn’t’ see one. Just as he came out of the shower, they announced that the ship saw a fish eagle as they passed the trash dump. Timing IS everything!

We had 2 tours today with our first one being the city walk to see the “Stone & Man” art by Aka Høegh and Buuti created in 1993/94 and she invited 18 Nordic artists to transform the hard granite into 24 pieces of art, which can be found all around the city of Qaqortoq. Aka Høegh is a very important artist raised in Qaqortoq. In the year 2,000, in connection with the city’s 225th birthday they launched even more art pieces and now a total of 31 pieces of art decorates the city. It was interesting to see the carvings and the cute town. Again, the people were friendly and spoke as we went by.

sailing into port

the ice from Prince Christian Sound

from the Zodiac - military ship

in town we had a few minutes before the tour started to wander

selling their carvings

inside the military ship - helicopter is folded up and stores

they were bringing out the helicopter for test flights

due to the helicopter operations, our Zodiac dock had to be moved to behind the meat market

shape of a whale carved into the rock

bicycles for the Aida ship also in port

the meat & fish market

the largest grocery store (like a mini Walmat)

sport and fashion store

inside the church

the smaller grocery store

RockHouse

Longest bar in Southgreenland

walking tour ended

we went back to the market without the tour group

trash behind the meat market

police boat

performing for tips

We went back to the ship for lunch and our second tour of the Tannery visit followed. The tannery of Qaqortoq is the only tannery in Greenland and was established in 1977. It is now subsidized by the government. They not only produce clothing for the locals or skins for local use, but they also sell their clothing worldwide. They use different kinds of skins for their clothing. We saw seal, muskox, sheep, reindeer and polar bear skins. Mostly seal skins.

Very interesting processes and photos weren’t allowed in most areas. They did have a beautiful show room, but citizens of the U.S. can’t import seal products so really nothing we could buy for a souvenir. Plus, living in Florida we don’t have any use for those beautiful warm coats.