We sailed into Greenland, the world’s largest island, and we were welcomed by some large and beautiful icebergs that were floating in the waters.  It reminded us of our trip to Antarctica. We had breakfast and then we tendered over to our port of call, the municipality of Qaqortoq, to do a walking tour on our own.  

It was raining slightly and damp when we disembarked the tender, but then the sun came out and we were ready to start taking off our outer layers. Thank goodness we didn’t, since while we were waiting for the tender to return us to the ship, it was once again damp, cloudy and chilly. 

We meandered all through the small town, and we enjoyed seeing the brightly colored homes of red, yellow, green, orange, purple, and blue tucked into the hillside, which made for some picture perfect shots. I can’t wait to get home and try painting them in watercolor.

Qaqortoq is a seaport best known for fish processing, tourism, tanning, fur production, and ship maintenance and repair. The Great Greenland Furhouse is the only tannery in Greenland and the primary sealskin purchaser on the island; it remains one of the major employers in the town.

We were curious as to how the houses were heated and a local guide told us that the larger buildings are heated by steam generated at a central plant and the smaller buildings and homes are heated by oil. 

We walked to the little church where a choir usually performs during the day, but unfortunately, they were not performing today. We walked up the hill to see the cemetery and then went down to the waters edge to look at the boats.  On the way, two Greenlanders were sitting on a bench and I asked if I could take their picture. They nodded yes and after I snapped the pic, I showed it to them, much to their delight.

We enjoyed dinner at the World Cafe, played some games, and then it was off to the Star Theater to hear the Stage Door singers perform the songs from some much loved musicals – Oliver, Rent, Singing in the Rain, Cabaret, to mention a few. And they ended the show with songs from Les Mis. It was a stellar performance.

Since we have an early morning tour, we arranged to have breakfast delivered to our room, as we sail into Nanortalik, Greenland.