We awaken around 5:30am and soon find ourselves looking at Nuuk, Greenland as our ship sails in for our scheduled 7:00am arrival. Already we are making observations that surprise us. In particular, we see dozens and dozens of apartment buildings, certainly something we didn’t expect in Greenland. This tells us already that today is going to be an education, a day when our preconceptions are challenged. That’s what travel is all about, and makes us even more eager to get to shore.
Our excursion begins at 8:15am on the pier, so we intend on having breakfast at Waves because it opens at 6:30. We arrive a few minutes before 7:00, but are quickly ushered into the neighboring Terrace Café because it’s too cold to sit (39 degrees, to be exact – with the high temp to reach 40!).
Okay, Terrace Café it is. Thankfully, it isn’t its usual mob scene, and we are able to seat ourselves and be given water and our customary cappuccinos. We wander through the buffet items, find what we want, and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Back to the room, gather our things and disembark with time to spare.
Cathy the organizer had studied the currency situation for each country we are to visit on this cruise, so we are prepared for Greenland, where US dollars are not accepted. Greenland being a ‘region’ of Denmark, Danish Krone are the local currency, and we have an adequate stash for our visit.
We board our bus. In a few minutes, it’s full, including our guide’s 5-year-old son Alex. Our guide’s name is Thomas. He is an Inuit and appears to be around 30-35, but with a fascinating personal history that we learn about as the tour progresses. There is also a very pleasant young man in his early twenties named Benjamin, who is an intern that is on his very first excursion, there to learn the ropes. … and much more about the city he will eventually guide tourists around.
By the time we reach our second stop, we learn this about Thomas: He is from Greenland, but had a tumultuous childhood. Unfortunately, both of his parents were alcoholics, and he ended up moving through various foster homes. Fortunately, he knew he needed discipline and direction, and ended up joining the Danish Army, where he served for five years.
He said that his service there was very unsatisfying. “I ended up spending five years in front of buildings, guarding buildings that didn’t need to be guarded,” he states, adding “I needed to find something meaningful to do with my life, and this sure wasn’t it.” So, he resigned. In a few months, he joined the US Army for marksmanship training. He didn’t go into detail about the ten years he spent, but much of it was spent in Fort Benning near Columbus, Ga.
In describing his life, he said that he would have stayed, but a former girlfriend convinced him to come back to Greenland. “The relationship didn’t last,” he tells us, “but I’m glad I came back.” We learn little else about his present circumstances, except that, obviously, he has a son.
The bus tour begins, and quickly we are climbing the hills we saw when we sailed in to port. Thomas points out two sizeable marinas, a testament to the country’s fishing heritage and love of the water and boats. He is asked what the large blue industrial building on the pier is: “It’s our brewery, and you should stop there. The beer is really good.”
Thomas keeps up an enthusiastic running commentary, jumping from subject to subject as we travel along. His extensive U.S. military experience comes through loud and clear in the way that he speaks, which is quickly and loaded with GI slang. He apologizes several times for almost swearing, and often uses the word frickinwhen his inclination is to use a much more common word beginning with f. But he is charming to a fault, and there isn’t a person on this tour who isn’t enjoying his every word.
We make a couple of very quick photo op stops, and he is asked about all the new apartments – dozens and dozens of very attractive multi-story buildings. His explanation is that the city is growing rapidly as young people migrate from the small towns for both employment and higher education. There has also been considerable immigration from Denmark recently.
He provides almost non-stop, humorous commentary. Here are some of his comments, in no certain order:
- The population is about to reach 20,000 people, and has grown from a population of 13,445 in 2000.
- The city was founded in 1728 by the Dano-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede.
- Electric power is completely supplied by a hydroelectric power plant.
- Fishing is, of course, the primary industry. The catch is cod, halibut and salmon.
- When he is asked about the major problems the town faces, he is quick to provide a surprising answer: alcohol and crime, with the former causing much of the latter.
- There is one mall with fifteen stores, opened in 2012.
- The schools are run by the government, and children attend from age 6 to age 16.
- The languages taught are Danish and English, but the native language is Greenlandic, an Inuit language spoken in much of the North American arctic regions. Thomas remarks about his son: “Alex watches so much YouTube that he uses American slang when he talks.”
- The government is building an international airport, and the hope is to eventually have direct flights to and from Canada and the United States.
- We pass a 9-hole golf course, of all things. Thomas remarks “I played it once. Lots of rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Your ball is bound to hit some, and then you never find it again.”
- There are polar bears in Greenland, of course, but not in the southern area. None in Nuuk for sure.
We make one more stop at a cemetery overlooking the water. Just simple white crosses in rows. We’re there for about 15-20 minutes. 5-year-old Alex keeps himself entertained running around on the rock-strewn terrain. He stays with the group and is very well behaved – as Cathy observes, this is not his first trip with Dad on the tour bus.
While we are at the cemetery, Thomas points to a mountain in the distance, noting that it has special even sacred meaning to the people of Greenland. Steve asks “What’s the name?” Thomas answers, in Greenlandic. Steve, not understanding even one letter, replies ” Uh, o-kay.” He looks up the name on Wikipedia later back on the ship.
As mentioned, this is only a 90-minute tour, so its back on the bus and a ride across town to the pier by the ship. Thomas has given us an entertaining tour and, although it’s not customary in this region, many of us give him a tip, thanking him for giving us a unique introduction to Greenland’s capital city.
Cathy and Steve go back on to the ship to refresh and grab a cappuccino. Then it’s back outside to pick up a shuttle bus to the center of Nuuk provided by Oceania. It’s a Sunday morning, so it’s very quiet. Our goal is to see the downtown area, get a better sense of the city, take some photographs, and, hopefully, find a local restaurant to eat lunch.
Steve does have one photo-taking goal: one of the Greenland Parliament building. As we passed by the building on our tour – so quickly that nobody could quite figure out which building he was talking about – Thomas told us that Greenland’s parliament, the Inatsisartut, has 31 members, and he is intrigued by that small number and wants to see the building. We ask a local couple walking with their family, and they point to a modern building and tell us it’s behind that building. We walk there and, still not sure of what we are looking at, take a photo of what we hope is the building they meant.
We continue walking around looking at the scenery and just people-watch. We can’t get over how much construction is going on, the blend of new and old buildings, and the peaceful ambience of this important town. Thomas has told us about “the mall,” but we can’t locate it.
We do drop in on a department store to look around. It’s small by our standards but stocked with an interesting assortment of goods for sale – more like an F. W. Woolworth’s in the 1950s than a Walmart of today. Right at the entrance to this store we see a couple of Inuit men with an enormous halibut, selling pieces of it to customers entering or leaving. Cathy shows curiosity, and a man very politely asks her – in Greenlandic – if she wants to buy some. She quietly demurs and we move on. It’s a beautiful sunny day. The days are long but the sun is low in the sky so it always seems like it is late afternoon. Cathy got a bit of sunburn on her neck! Have to be careful.
By now it’s around noon. We see no restaurants at all where one might eat, and we speculate that, because it’s Sunday, it would be closed even if we found one. We are finally ready to return to Sirena. We walk back to the place where we were dropped off by the shuttle bus, sit in the front seat and chat with the friendly driver. On our way to the ship, we see several sights that symbolize the modern and growing community of Nuuk.
We arrive at the dock and board the ship, ready for lunch. Back to the routine: lunch, naps, blogging and reading. Dinner and lights out around 8:30. The ship sails at 3:30pm. The hundreds of gulls on the pier see us off:
We have had an interesting day in Nuuk, and we now have a 319-mile journey back south to Qaqortoq, our second and final destination in this most interesting country, Greenland.
