Monday 17 June 2013

Sisimiut – The town next to the polar circle

During the night we sailed through the Kangerlussuaq Fjord, with 190 km the longest fjord at the west coast of Greenland. Around three o’clock we reached the open sea of the Davis Strait and then we felt the first time that we are on board a ship. But there was no strong wind and the soft movement of the vessel let us fall asleep again like a baby in a cradle.
Around 11 o’clock we reached Sisimiut, our first destination of our one week trip in Greenland. The weather was a little bit foggy and overcast but it was more than good enough that we have been able to do all our planned activities.


We explored the city by bus or by foot, we enjoyed a wonderful and tasty Greenlandic buffet to get a “Taste of Greenland”, 


we met our first sledge dogs, as we have been north of the arctic circle now, and we hiked “back in time” to the historical “Tele Ø”, where we got a lot of information about the old Eskimo Cultures and the previous whaling time. Our strongest hikers hiked through the fog on to the sunny top of the “Palasip Qaqqa” from where they got later on a good view over the amazing surroundings.
Many passengers went by a small boat to the former little settlement Assaqutat. The settlement was founded in the 1920th and is abundant since 1969. Some houses are still used as summer houses and school classes have their summer camps over there to learn something about their own culture.
Just before we left the harbor we got a kayak presentation by a Greenlandic young man. It is unbelievable in how many different ways they can roll their kayak.
In the evening after a good and relaxing dinner, Miki, our Greenlandic artist gave us a first impression of his talent. He was singing and playing the guitar in the Observation Lounge. We enjoyed the music and the wonderful view over the arctic landscape with a nice drink in our hands.