Qaqortoq

Another of those names that we keep trying to get right with only minimal success. Qaqortoq is the largest town in South Greenland and we were anchored quite close by in the harbour so tenders were required once again.

First impressions were good. There was a brightly coloured assortment of houses up there on the hill and fewer of those large blocks of apartments we’d seen elsewhere. The harbour was quite bustling too.

In fact, as we arrived on the first tender this morning - our meeting time was at 8am - there was quite a flurry of activity.

The yacht’s skipper was trying to get his boat out at the same time as our tender was faffing about before returning to the ship and another couple of small boats appeared to be trying to reach the jetty too. i’m sure words were spoken, not least by our guide, Etta, who was in animated discussion with the men overseeing the movement of traffic. They seemed to be saying that we should catch our tour boat at the other side of the harbour but she was having none of that. Oh no, she said, her guests would get on their small boats right here on the jetty with everyone else. And that was that - no-one was going to argue with her!

Because it turned out that the two boats trying to reach the jetty were none other than the two boats which were going to take us to the Viking church ruins at Hvalsey. Once they’d manoeuvred their way into the melee that was in front of us, we were called forward: four in one boat, six in the other. As part of the group of four, we were transported by Anguteeraq Høegh-Olsen, sitting comfortably on seal furs in his little boat.

What fun! We sped across the water of the harbour and really enjoyed the ride.

It would take us half an hour or so to reach our destination and along the way we passed quite a few large icebergs.

Once again, I found myself captivated by these huge blocks of ice; the colour and the shapes are simply incredible. Soon however, we turned the corner into another small inlet and saw…

another cruise ship!

The irony is not lost on me when I find myself thinking “oh not a cruise ship!” but we’d listened to a presentation about the Viking ruins here, had seen photos of the location and in every case this was a remote spot. There were not supposed to be hundreds of people here!

They were arriving by the dozen on small Zodiac boats directly from the ship, which is equipped for expeditions rather than the more gentle cruising that Splendor offers. Thankfully, the spirit of cooperation extended to a couple of strong arms to help up negotiate the steep climb from the jetty.

However, the main issue for us wasn’t the number of people, it was what they were wearing…

Red anoraks were everywhere from the jetty to the very top of the rocky outcrop and over all the fields and hillsides around. Hmm.

Thankfully I am blessed with patience for such situations and I knew that if I waited long enough, they would move on. Etta also recognised this and suggested she offer us the information here before going on further into the ruins. So, she stood and told us the story of Erik the Red and his descendants who had arrived here and settled. Looking to see how far the red anoraks had progressed, she went on to tell us other myths and stories about the people who had lived - and died - here.

Eventually, she looked over and suggested we go and look around before more people arrived. Once again, asserting herself as a local guide using local transport.

The Hvalsey church ruins are a World Heritage site and clearly of huge importance to the story of the Vikings in this part of the world.

The ruins are in great shape too, though their age is not as remarkable as the ruins at Skara Brae, Orkney for example, or those on Shetland. But there has been little or no maintenance here and the climate is rather more extreme here too.

The structure is still standing securely though and the stone walls are incredibly beautiful with a huge variety of lichens and mosses.

The arched window is great, built to the same methods as we are familiar with - no cement or mortar here.

I took many photographs of the patterns in the stone placements and the varied colours of the stone, which all came from this immediate area.

I also took quite a few of the lichens!

Just as I had remarked to one of the other ship’s guides how pleased I was that no one had left their name in felt pen anywhere, I spotted a carving on a nearby stone. Was it new or old?

Who knows? (But this one on the door lintel looks older, don’t you think?)

A little further along is another structure, part of the farm that was constructed around the same time.

After a look around there, I decided I didn’t need to go any further and returned to talk to Etta who by now had taken off her coat to reveal her Viking dress.

Looking fine in her linen dress and woolen cowl (woven traditionally in a twill weave and fastened with a Norse symbol brooch) she was happy to chat about the stories she’d told and to answer our questions, including one or two about icebergs. She explained that each winter, they form to the east of here and gently move in a westerly direction once Spring arrives when they end up in and around Qaqortoq, where they gradually melt. So sadly, the waters here are an iceberg graveyard!

Returning past the church ruins I could help but take more photographs.

From here we could see our small boats coming out to take us home as well.

Our “captain” Anguteeraq set off and took us home by a slightly different route, past some of the larger icebergs.

I was snapping photographs all over the place, finally opening the door at the back and going outside onto the small deck whilst holding my camera tightly in one hand and the other holding even more tightly to the rail by the door!

It was then that he said “go outside” and stopped the boat to rummage in one of the lockers and fish out a box of glasses and a bottle of whisky. I’d seen that there was an icebox out there on the deck by my feet and he opened this to show some ice he’d collected from an iceberg earlier. Would we like to have a shot of whisky and some ice alongside this huge iceberg? Well, sadly, there were no takers - not a whisky drinker amongst us and feeling sorry for declining his generosity, everything was stashed away again and we all just stood there open jawed at the magnificent iceberg by our side. At one point, we were very close indeed and it was only as we drove away that I could fit the whole thing in my camera lens. What an amazing sight.

We were still buzzing from the experience when we climbed off the boat in Qaqortoq harbour a few minutes later, offering our thanks and rewarding his short lesson in Greenlandish with “takuss” - goodbye.

We had an hour and a half before our next tour and since it was going to meet on the pier, we didn’t really need to return to the ship. We decided to take a look around and to see the things of note here, the first of which was this fountain, the oldest in Greenland, I think?

There was also a small museum and a sculpture - one of several in the town. We looked at our watches though and wondered about our afternoon tour as a large group walked past us. Spotting a couple of friends, we discovered they were on their way to “a taste of Greenland” - the same tour as we were scheduled to do this afternoon. Hmmm. We looked at one another and wondered how many flavours of fermented fish and blubber we might be presented with and made an almost instant decision - we would prefer a “taste of Chartreuse” because the French restaurant on the ship was open this lunchtime!

Which is how we returned a little earlier than expected and enjoyed a fine lunch with a glass of Sancerre! Well, we are on holiday after all ;-)