Zuiderdam Viking Adventure, Nuuk, Greenland... Part 1 of 2

 What terrible weather, wind and blowing rain…nasty, nasty, nasty! The weather did not deter us from taking a six-hour boat tour up the Nuuk, Fjord and the Qornup Fjord, the second-largest fjord system in the world. Ann, Cathy, our friend Chantel and I braved the rain and met our boat at the Tidal Wave Steps. We were met by Captain John and his grandson Sikki as we boarded the boat. Once all were boarded, we left the inner harbor following the Nuuk Fjord until we cut off to the Qoornoq Fjord. The deeper we went into the fjord the nicer the weather became, and icebergs started to appear until as far as the eye we were surrounded by stunning ice sculptures. The rugged wilderness of this area offers some of the most spectacular and unspoiled scenery on Earth. Our first view of Qoornoq was a string of brightly colored houses spread out over a peninsula. Abandoned in the 1960s as part of a Danish government’s program, the small settlement of Qoornoq has found a new lease on life as a summer getaway for the families of its former residents. After leaving the fjord we headed south along the Nuuk Fjord. On the return journey to Nuuk, Captain John took us quite close to mountains and waterfalls that towered above us and dropped more than 1000m straight into the Fjord. We were so blessed with the weather on our excursion however, the closer we got to Nuuk, the weather regressed…again rain and fog. Once back at the port, we took the shuttle to the center of town and walked to Colonial Harbor the oldest part of Nuuk…this area has many picturesque and historic houses as well as the oldest house in Nuuk built its founder, Hans Egede. We climbed up to the statue in honor of Egede overlooking his former home and the Nuuk Fjord. It was not the best weather for exploring but we walked around Nuuk and took the shuttle back to the port. This was a substitute Greenland port on our itinerary, a new port for me and we liked it very much. We really had a fantastic day in Nuuk and on our boat tour…Of course, I took way too many photos (over 1000) of this immense and rugged wilderness surrounding Greenland’s capital city. Just a perfect day exploring Greenland!