Today’s post is just photos from the boat trip I went on from Nuuk to Kapisillit, a small settlement at the end of the fjord system. On a small fast boat called a tarqa it still took over 3 hours to get there (83km). A bouncy journey with some iceberg/ iceflows to dodge on the way. Scenery was jaw dropping and photos cannot show the majesty of the cliffs and mountains and the clarity of the light.

It was a really wonderful experience!

We got along very well with the group of Greenlanders who were also stranded in Reykjavik.

Lisbeth invited us over to her home last night for a meal along with another local couple. We had a lovely time chatting about life in Greenland, their experiences having grown up there and the influence Denmark has on the culture and life in modern Greenland.

We were treated to a range of local foods and some were a completely new experience!

We started with a selection of smoked wild salmon, whale blubber, white whale skin and meat, dried shrimp and air-dried cod. Each was eaten in a different way. I found it all quite tasty but was less sure of the whale skin and meat (chewy) and the blubber (oily and odd tasting).

Reindeer from the market where we had seen the hunters selling freshly butchered meat the day before. Most people also hunt and Lisbeth and her husband would have some in the freezer. It is fantastic, like venison but meatier. We had it with turnips from south Greenland. There was a good chat about hunting and how and what people hunt. Patricia’s husband shared some photos of a recent musk ox hunt he had been on. Lots of meat!

We finished with a crow berry dessert. Like blaeberries but juicier and not so tart.

It was a very pleasant evening of good food and excellent company.

Lisbeth’s husband works for the hydro company and explained a lot about how the energy needs of a growing town like Nuuk at still being met by th old hydro electric system but how they may reach capacity in the near future. It will be a challenge in the next few years if tourism increases and mor people move to live and work in Nuuk.

We also saw a wonderful aurora borealis …a broad streak of pale green swirling and twisting above us. Beautiful and mesmerising.

I dropped in to the school just down the road from where we are staying and was very pleased that they were able to give me a look around the school and to spend time with me explaining how the education system operates.

Kangillinnguit Atuarfiat is a school of about 200 pupils beginning at age 6 and leaving after grade 10 at about 15/16. It has mainly Greenlandic pupils and teaches in the Greenlandic language with just some classes in Danish. There are approx 40 staff including a dentist, social worker, school counsellor and other support staff. The school has a welcoming feel and I loved that shoes came off at the door…one way of cutting down on cleaning.

Grethe is a support for learning teacher who also teaches English. She spent time with me explaining some of the challenges facing teachers and education in Greenland. It is difficult to train and recruit teachers who speak Greenlandic as a native language and there is a concern that Danish is becoming the language of communication for young people. We also shared some strategies for working with pupils with dyslexia and I will send her some resources on my return.

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The grade 10 pupils were out doing work experience and it was explained to me that one of the challenges is encouraging parents to take more of a role in their children’s’ education. People have moved to Nuuk from outlying areas and villages and it is difficult keeping the balance between the traditional way of life and the needs of the modern life in Nuuk. Many families still hunt and travel back to other areas in the summer

Good to see the science rooms too and displays of success criteria and differentiated pupil plans.

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And staffrooms are the same the world over!!

It is cold and there is snow on the ground …just what you think Greenland might look like. This is just the start of the winter and we have been told that this snow will probably go and then there will be rain before the snow stays. And cold is minus 3-10 during the day. Fortunately it was a calm day and the sun shone so it didn’t feel to chilly.

Nuuk is a town of about 16500 inhabitants and is split into 3 districts connected by bus routes. There is a lot of new housing and building is still going on. There is an old town with more traditional buildings and also a commercial centre. It is the capital of Greenland and so has the government, university and natural resources institute.

The walk from our airbnb in to town took about 40 minutes and we were struck by how many people were out and about on a Sunday morning. Walking, jogging, cycling, sledging and, of course, driving. It is possible to drive only 12km in a straight line here but there are lots of cars. The exhaust emissions were quite noticeable as we walked on paths by the road as the weather was cold and still.

The commercial centre of Nuuk has a small shopping mall, the government buildings and a cultural centre, the Katuaq. It is not extensive but was a pleasant walk and we also went to the old district with the cathedral and statue to Hans Edeges who founded Nuuk.

Sunday shopping seems to be a social activity like everywhere and the shops were busy. There are several supermarkets where we could see the influence of danish foods as well as the local meats of fish, whale, reindeer and musk ox. The supermarkets had a greater range of products than in Iceland and the prices are a little lower. There were also two buildings where we saw hunters selling meat. Freshly butchered and lying out for people to choose. The reindeer meat looked very lean and much like the venison we get at home.

The Cultural centre has a cinema showing major films and currently has a Japanese film festival.

The night was clear and so we saw some Northern Lights. Not too vibrant but , like at home, long trails of white light with a tinge of green.

Yesterday was spent in Reykjavik waiting to hear if the plane would fly to Nuuk. Happily we were off to the airport at 1pm and flew at 6. Much to the relief and delight of our fellow passengers.

It was a long 3 day wait for the flight, but having lived on the Isle of Mull for 16 years, travel delays and the resulting ” hingin’ aboot” were something I was used to. So we made the best of the time and walked around some more of Reykjavik.

Our fellow passengers were very interesting and friendly. Chatting to them has definitely been one of the best insights into Greenlandic life.

Anemarie, passionate about preserving the Greenlandic culture and language through her role as an actor, tour guide and teacher. She had only gone to Reykjavik for a short meeting! Lisbeth and her bookkeeping staff had gone for a celebratory shopping trip and were concerned that they were missing business and for one of them, the birth of her first grandchild. Students had been at the Arctic Circle meeting. Fishermen were returning from 5 weeks on a boat near the Faroes. An arctic politics professor had to abandon his plans as his meeting was on Friday in Nuuk and he had to be in Helsinki tomorrow. And others just wanted to get home after a trip.

They were all quite stoic about the situation as it is not unusual, and the younger ones took full advantage of the opportunity to have a Friday night out in Reykjavik!!!

Air Iceland still didn’t have enough planes so we were fortunate as they chartered a plane from Air Greenland. An excellent flight, smooth and with a very efficient flight attendant. We were fed and enjoyed the view as we flew towards the sunset. Coming in to Nuuk the light was still enough to see the fjords and the ice floating in the sea. The landscape was completely white and almost luminous.

As we landed, there was a lot of cheering to the bemusement of the Canadian mine workers also on the flight!

It was snowing quite heavily so we were glad to be given a lift to our very cosy and comfortable airbnb apartment.

In Greenland at last!

Morning in Nuuk. We woke up to the sunlight on the mountains opposite and the snow lying. Minus 10 so chilly! Good chance to wear our winter gear!

Air Iceland cancelled today’s flight to Greenland  because of weather and so we have had another day in Reykjavik in the company of the Greenlanders who are trying to get home .

Better weather so another day of walking around this interesting city. 

I had a very interesting conversation with Palmi Einarsson, a designer who manufactures flat pack wooden ornaments. He is also very enthusiastic about Iceland becoming more self-sufficient and in encouraging a sustainable approach to food production. He made some good points about approaches to improving salmon  stocks and in designs for greenhouses which could be used in sustainable agriculture practices. I look forward to reading his articles.

Sight seeing took us to the house where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met at  the end of the Cold War. Continue reading Not in Nuuk yet →

A much brighter day today so we will enjoy some more walking around Reykjavik before our flight to Greenland at 6 tonight.

We have had very interesting discussions with the Greenlandic passengers and I have probably learned as much as I would have if we had been in Nuuk! Sustainability is about more than the environment and I was able to ask about the cultural and societal aspects of life in a community which is independent and yet still part of Denmark. There are many similarities to the issues and questions which have been asked in Scotland in recent years. An exchange of views, experiences and opinions about these topics has been quite thought-provoking.

There are students heading back to Nuuk from an arctic circle conference. The keynote speech was given by Nicola Sturgeon in which she linked the Scottish experience and circumstances to those of the arctic nations. It will be interesting to read reviews about the impact this has.

So no flight to Greenland today. It seems to be more of a technical issue than weather.

Air Iceland is a smaller company than Air Greenland so maybe doesn’t have as many planes. And the next Air Greenland flight is next week!!

There are only 22 passengers for our flight so I hope they have room for us. The others are a mix of students,  a university professor going over for a meeting tomorrow then back, 4 women who have a bookkeeping business and a tourist officer.

We had a good chat with one of them about life in Nuuk. She says that it is actually a bit cheaper than Iceland but that almost everything is imported. They grow potatoes in the south so that will be interesting to hear about.

Hey ho. I will have to come back!!

There was an issue with snow in Nuuk last night so our flight was cancelled with 30 mins to go…:(

We were put up in a hotel in Reykjavik and are waiting to hear if we will fly this morning or tonight.

We only have until early Saturday in Nuuk so I am disappointed that I may not get to visit all the people I had planned to.

Update…the flight has just been cancelled for today so we may not get there at all…

It has been blowing a hooley all day and the rain has been coming down in buckets.

Not a day to sightsee in Reykjavik city centre so we have used our last day in the hire car to visit some of Reykjavik’s retail outlets in the suburbs! Just to look!

Had a very interesting chat with the sssistant in the Lego shop about his other interest of horticulture in Iceland. He had some insights in to how young people are viewing the tourist influx and the impact it is having on the country. He was interested in growing food locally and Andrew was able to pass on a couple of suggestions to look at online from our area.

A quick visit to the Reykjavik town hall found us in the middle of a Japan/ Iceland conference about peace and particularly removing nuclear weapons. It had obviously been a very powerful event and Yoko Ono had been involved with a light installation on one of the islands.

And now here we are in Reykjavik domestic airport waiting on the only flight which is flying from here today!! All the local Icelandic flights have been cancelled but going to Greenland seems to be ok…!

It’ll be fine I’m sure!!