Day 29 26 August Iceland to Nanortalik (Greenland)

We awoke to fog today. Hopefully when we go through Prince Christian Sound, the fog will have lifted. Apparently, this is the first cruise for Viking which has been able to get through the Sound this season. The Sound is 100 km long and is sometimes only 500 metres wide. Here is the first maritime glacier that we saw today.

 

Here the MS Fram is near the end of the glacier. You can see a couple of zodiacs that would take people close up. It gives you a sense of scale.

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The fjord system is surrounded by steep mountains, in general reaching over 1,200 metres, one of them 2,220 metres high. Many glaciers go straight into its waters where they calve icebergs. The sunlight made it a picture-perfect day - it was just stunning!!!!!!

There is only one settlement Appilattoq which is home to less than 20 people. It is tucked away behind rock with a narrow inlet for them.

                                                    Winnie the Pooh face down?

Nanortalik has about 1,200 inhabitants. Its name means "Place of Polar Bears" or "Place Where the Polar Bears Go". They are very rarely seen here. Perhaps the Inuit were banking on tourism in the future. This area was one of the first parts of Greenland settled by the Norse and one of the last settled by the Inuit.

The town was founded in 1770 as Nennortalik. There is no large-scale fishing as sea ice prevents fishing for several months a year. While Greenland is almost completely without trees, 40 km from Nanortalik is the only forest in Greenland with trees up to several metres. Most other places, trees grow to about half a metre.

There was an open-air museum that was low tech but quite well done and there was lots to see.

The church in which were organised locals to sing for us. Hordes of cruise tourists!

The flag of Greenland.

Three were three young girls who had been singing for a couple of hours hoping for a tip. They were probably 5-7 years old, so we gave them some money for their efforts.

It was spectacular weather.

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