The two sea days since leaving Iceland have been spent with a combination of eating, quizzes and enjoying the variety of entertainment on board. On Monday night we had a lovely meal in the speciality fish restaurant, Steamers.We both had a fried fish platter for our main course and neither of us could finish it.
The quizzes on-board have been very enjoyable but have a very American feel to them. I’m not using that as an excuse but so far we have failed to win any of them. Disappointingly we have not been able to play table tennis all trip as the tables are always busy.
Last night several large icebergs were spotted on the starboard side of the ship but as luck would have it we were on the port side when that happened. However we more than made up for it today but more of that later.
Today’s port of call, Qaqortaq, is the largest settlement in Southern Greenland but only has a population of around 3000 (about the same as this ship). Ironically its name in the local Greenlandic language means “White” despite the fact that this is the greenest part of the whole of GREENland.
After a short ten-minute tender ride from the ship we were in the small harbour in the centre of the town. Qaqortaq is not really a touristy town although many took trips out to see the icebergs up close. Sylvia and I decided just to have a stroll around the town taking in the local sights.
One of the highlights were the 30 or so stone carvings dotted around the town referred to as the open-air “Stone and Man” exhibition. Here are a couple of examples…
The town is scattered around the hillside with the prettily coloured houses creating great photographs.
In the centre of the town is a small church typically sparsely decorated in the Lutheran style.
Further down the road is the oldest fountain in Greenland, which was completed in 1932. It features whales blowing water through their blow-holes.
The weather which so far had been fine but a little overcast, now changed and started raining fairly heavily. After visiting a couple of shops we returned to the ship to have lunch.
Because we had got off the ship fairly early many of our fellow passengers were still ashore at this time, so we wandered upstairs to see if the table-tennis was free. And it was!!
Having taken inspiration of watching the Olympics I managed to narrowly defeat Sylvia in a couple of games.
This evening we sailed out through the narrow fjord passing numerous icebergs on the way. I therefore make no apologies for all the photos that follow.
Tomorrow we are in the last port of call, Nanortalik.