Nanortalik
Travel Advice for Seniors: Nanortalik
One of the highlights of our two-week ocean cruise from New York City to Iceland was a stop in Greenland. We didn’t know what to expect in Greenland in September when we visited and were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t a total iceberg, but instead fairly barren and windblown landscape-wise and chilly, but not freezing, at least not for another month!
Nanortalik was our second stop in Greenland. Located by the mouth of the Tasermiut Fjord, it is home to about 1200 of Greenland’s full population of about 57,000. It was formally settled in 1770, though a small group of Vikings led by Erik the Red first arrived in the tenth century. The Inuit people predominantly live here and continue with their traditional activities of fishing and hunting.
An interesting aside, when Erik the Red first arrived, he named the country “Grœnland,” or Greenland, in hopes of attracting more settlers in the future to this windswept, mountainous and freezing land.
Here we visited the open-air Nanortalik Museum which featured artifacts from the old Inuit culture and Norse settlements of 982 AD including turf huts and fur boats. There is self-explanatory signage and most of the nine buildings have artifacts inside them explaining various aspects of life in the Norse settlement. The settlement is a bit of a walk, from the harbor, but it is not a difficult walk. It’s nice to look at the landscape and the water while you are walking.
In the old city center part of town by the harbor there are also some 19th century Dutch settlement buildings in the city including Nanortalik church, which is still operating.
Sometimes when you travel on ocean cruise ships you dock at great places and sometimes to good places. This was one of the good places, but then how often do you get to go to Greenland? Also, remember Greenland is a pretty sparsely populated place to begin with.
Also, in case you are wondering, there ARE polar bears in Greenland, but we didn’t see any though there was small chance we might see one when passing through the exquisite Prince Christian Sound. They are really only in very specific parts of Greenland and it is pretty rare to see them.
After leaving Nanortalik enroute to Iceland we next sailed through Prince Christian Sound, a narrow fjord that offers magnificent views of steep mountains and glaciers. In the smaller 950-person ship that we were on, we were able to get close to the glacier and icebergs (!). We didn’t see glaciers calving, but it was a sunny day and a once-in-a-lifetime viewing. We did however, get close to some icebergs which was rather unnerving.
All in all, while not big, glamourous cities, stopping in Greenland was a fabulous educational experience and worth it just simply to set foot on what is still a pristine island.
Where we stayed: On board our ocean cruise boat.
How we got there: Ship from Qaqortoq to Nanortalik. This was part of a two-week ocean cruise tour beginning in New York City and ending in Reykjavik, with stops in Canada, Greenland and Iceland.
General Accessibility Information: Greenland is not considered accessible. Call in advance to verify and make specialty arrangements. See our sections on specialty apps and accessible travel for more on accessibility assistance.
