Qaqortoq, Greenland

[ozzicruiser]

I have searched through 10 pages looking for things to do in Qaqortoq but haven't found anything. Too tiresome to keep looking. Could it be there is nothing to do!!!

 

I would like some recommendations.

 

Thanks in advance.

[The Viking]

Try this website.

 

http://www.greenland.com/en/explore-greenland/sydgroenland/qaqortoq.aspx

 

Have not been to Quaqortoq but love Greenland and if you are a nature lover I think you will also enjoy it.

 

It seems as either people love Greenland or they hate it. The latetr seems to hate it because of the lack of Walmart etc.

[Keith1010]

I've been to Nuuk.

 

Keith

[cruisechaos]

There is "nothing to do" there in the sense that there are no tours available. But it is a great place to get out and explore. It is a college town and classes are cancelled when ships are in port so the students can give tours and provide information to passengers. We spent the day exploring and ended up absolutely loving that port.

 

Here is our journal entry for our day in Qaqortoq:

 

Unfortunately, there was a slight delay in heading out to the tenders this morning… The local authorities had not yet cleared the ship to disembark passengers, so this required just a bit more time, but we were on the water and headed to shore by 8:00am (no one was concerned about this as the town is so small, there is no way to actually fill 9 hours onshore… We tried really hard and could only manage about 6 hours before we called it a day…)

 

As we were in the harbor working our way to shore a cargo ship arrived and they got first priority over the tenders coming to the harbor. These ships provide all of the supplies and things that the townspeople need to survive, from food at the markets, to auto parts, and other critical items, since by ship is the only way to get these things. There is a heliport in town for service by AirGreenland (seriously – it is the national airline), which services the town about 3-4 times a day in larger helicopters that seat between 12 and 18 passengers each. This is the only method of transportation in the Winter as the channel and the harbor freeze over completely. The ship got into place and began unloading its cargo of containers onto the docks, and our tender dumped the first of many tender boats full of people on the shore at Qaqortoq.

 

We immediately separated ourselves from the herd and took off up the hilly streets of town to see the brightly painted homes and buildings and to take in beautiful views of the town, the ship, and the surrounding area. We worked our way around to the east and got to see the Seal fur works and shop. The shop was open at this early hour and we get to see seal wallets, seal coats, seal slippers, pretty much anything that could be made with seal fur and colored dye. The pieces were quite beautiful and the prices reflected as such. We looked, but decided that since it was seal, that there would be no purchasing of any items today in the Seal fur department. (Personal preference, not a political or PETA statement – disclaimer done…)

 

From here, we made our way to the first of several markets in town. They are all owned by the same conglomerate and each has a different focus (one for groceries only, one for baked goods, one was a drugstore, one was a mini-walmart with some clothing and homewares, one was an appliance shop, one was a home furnishings store, etc.) and the prices were exactly the same from one to the next to the next… Expensive… The basic essentials were just barely reasonable for the locals, and with any “luxuries” (and this is defined very narrowly), the price hits the stratosphere. Some quick examples: A staple loaf of bread could be had for around $1.80. A luxury PINT of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream could be stolen for $10.20. An itsy-bitsy staple apple could be purchased for about 40 cents, where a luxury set of 4 Venus Razor cartridges would set you back $24. Decisions for the average Greenlander get make quickly and efficiently. A can of Coke was $1.80, a bar of Chocolate was $3.25, and two bottles of Greenlandic beer was a cool $12. Though the prices were obviously high because everything needs to be imported, they were clean, well staffed, well stocked (with the exception of the produce area which was very sad and lonely by our agricultural superiority of California standards), and gave a neat glimpse into the lives of the local Qaqortoq people as they went through the markets shopping and completing their weekly errands.

 

From here, we made out way to the local post office, in the hopes of getting a postcard or two sent and maybe a stamp for our passports, but since it was Saturday, they unfortunately were closed for the day. From here, we arrived at the “Superstore” market and generally surmised that a “Rich” Greenlander had a Clothes Washer, a “Richer” Greenlander has an Electric Clothes Dryer, and the “Richest” had a Flat Screen TV and Satellite to actually watch something on it. A simple, gentle, warm, and very welcoming people, it was clear that you didn’t need much to be happy, and it reflected in all of the people that we met today.

 

As we left the “Superstore” we arrived at the “New Church” which was built in the 1970s as a replacement for the “Old Church” that couldn’t support the population due to its smaller size and lack of heat and electricity. As strange as this sounds, the “New” church was the only building in the entire town that was White in color. Every other building was a shade of a bright primary color, be it red, blue, yellow, green, red, etc. and it make for a colorful palette against the copper and brown colored hillside that the Greenlandic town was built up against.

 

We saw that a performance by the choir would be taking place later in the day, so we would return later to watch that, so we continued to head west towards the lake. A glacier fed lake is in the Northwest corner of the town and it is deep blue, completely clean, and ice cold. We walked to the edge of the lake and took a few minutes at the “Sports Stadium” which honestly nothing more than a dusty dirt soccer field and a small set of wood bleachers that were handmade. It was wonderful. Experiencing and seeing the world from a different culture’s perspective is exactly why were we here, and I can only imagine the “big games” that took place here with the local kids and university students against a majestic backdrop of the sapphire blue lake and the mountains shooting up on the edges of the pitch.

 

From here, we made our way to the “Old” Church, a beautiful red building that could seat no more than 80 in hard wooden pews, heated by pipes that brought heat in from the outside, and was lit only by candles. In addition to seeing the church and taking a number of pictures, we also got to see a Greenlandic Hymnal, which is an exercise in very long words that seem extremely difficult to pronounce. At each location, there was a local guide in a red jacket to answer any questions that we had and here the nice woman was kind enough to pronounce the name of the town for a set of tourists that had enquired as to the right pronunciation. After 4 tries, no one had been able to successfully repeat it. There is something unique and special about the pronunciation and sounds, and it is not something that comes easily to the amateur visiting for the first time. The closest we got was something to the effect of “Quark-a-tawk”, but this is still only “pretty close” – these were the words the guide kindly used to critique the tries of the tourists at the church.

 

From here, we headed back to the “New Church” and saw the performance by the Church choir, which was quite beautiful and was able to get some video of their singing. Some of the choir members were missing for the performance, because the men were off hunting to get the main meat source for the townspeople as winter is just around the corner and the opportunity to hunt in the warmer months was starting to diminish.

 

From here, we saw a 74 year old Drum dancer who performs to “teach the younger generation” the culture and the history of a people that is nearly disappeared in the Greenlandic culture. With the population now at nearly 50,000 for the entire country, and many Danes living there, the native Greenlandic peoples continue to diminish. He did two dance performances, one about a native story of a raven, and another as a special dedication to his daughter who turned 47 that day. He, as all of the people we had met, was kind, funny, and paused to take a picture for us with his warm smiling communicating his pleasure in sharing his day with ”the visitors”.

 

From here, the tender line has grown to epic proportions as scores of passengers wanted to eat lunch “on the ship” vs. onshore (I couldn’t exactly blame them as one of the only 2-3 local restaurants in town was offering a special $40/person lunch buffet). Natalie and I instead grabbed a snack at the market, and headed out to a small area of picnic tables in the town center, where we saw the only fountain in Greenland, and enjoyed the music and singing of a local band who came out and did their best English song samplers, from “Proud Mary” to country music. The main singer was actually quite good and and local people were out with their kids and it was great to see local life.

 

We saw the local fire department which paraded around the town waving to everyone, showing their equipment and answering questions about the town and its people. It certainly was an event being in town for everyone, from the townspeople who shared their heritage and culture, to students practicing their English, to the ship’s passengers who hopefully gained an appreciation for a beautiful and warm-spirited country that spends most of its lifetime as a cold glacier, covering 90% of its surface with ice, and leaving the communities that can survive against the harsh cold winters to carry on the best they can.

 

Hope this helps.

[ozzicruiser]

Thank you sooooo much for sharing your day in Qaqortoq. At least I know we won't have to rush to catch the first of the tenders.

[cdngrl]

wow, what a wonderful day you had! i am looking forward to being there this summer. thank you so much for your comments, you write beautifully.

[amazonlady]

cruisechaos I am just researching Greenland ports, thank you so much for yours it was wonderful.