Retired Nomads - Part 3: Sisimiut, Greenland - City Walk & National Museum

Aug 14 – Sisimiut – City Walk & National Museum

Sisimiut has a turbulent history, especially during the 18th century when the first Danish colony was destroyed by Dutch whalers who wanted to establish their own settlement. The Danes fought back and eventually recaptured Sisimiut after several fierce battles in the 1730s. Heavy fighting between Dutch whalers and various European nations took place over the years. Because of its flourishing shrimp industry, Sisimiut is one of Greenland’s most prosperous cities today.

At 9:00 we attended a Lecture by Dietmar entitled Through the Darkness and Ice – historical polar expeditions.

Lunch was early today since our port time was noon to 4:30. So, we went at 11:00 so we could get off asap. It was another “open town” and we didn’t book an excursion today. The collection of buildings that housed the museums were open to explore.

fisherman in the fog

leaving the ship

not so great view with the fog

it was almost a white-out

walking past the marina

there are jet skis on top of the sign

carvings in the granite

a small boat museum

Bethel Church - 1775 - now a museum

the museum inside the church

the next museum

old photos of the town

the fog still hangs around

the New Church up on the hill

turf house

inside a turf house (for winters)

seal fur tents for summer

entry to the tent

entry to smaller tent

Cathy, here's something for your sewing room for those heavy duty seal skins

Greg in the photo to show the size of this sewing machine

They also had Greenlandic food tasting. The smell of nasty fish assaulted me, and I couldn’t bring myself to try the raw seal meat, etc. The shrimp were good but wasn’t up to messing with removing the shells. I did try the Musk Ox soup and it was delicious.

There was a nice gift shop there and I got another non-rubber magnet and a miniature reindeer antler carving of an Inuit. (OK to import back to the States)

inside the food tent

fermented shark

raw seal meat

Atlantic cod - dried

shrimp

Minke Whale - dried meat

Greg's sampler plate

Greg coming out with Musk Ox soup

the New Church up on the hill in the fog

We wandered up to the church and then back down for more soup where we ran into the bar staff also having some soup. I realized I had lost my fleece scarf, and we retraced our steps around the museum, and someone had picked it up and hung it on a post. Phew! It was so warm that I had it stuffed in my pocket and I didn't notice when it fell out.

The New Church

views down the hill of the museums

tasting tent and the Gift shop where I got my magnet and carved Inuit

Lapland Longspur

Musk Ox fur outside of a sporting goods store

while we ate more Musk Ox soup, we watched people below picking what probably was dandelion greens

We then walked to the other hill and checked that out. We ended at the bottom of the hill where there was a truck at the gas station that was loading reindeer carcasses into his truck. Great photo op!

we hiked up a hill and saw this stroller sitting on top of another hill

looks like just a doll stroller

Snow Bunting

apartments

Snow Bunting

back down past the carvings on the rocks

better view of the marina without the fog

then we walked in the other direction and came across this at the gas station & mini mart

as the locals walked past, they were impressed

the guy was bringing them out one at a time and putting them in his trailer, I think they were being brought up from a boat in the marina behind the gas station