The word of the day: "The last"

It was really hard to leave Ilulissat, the town of the icebergs. Many guests used their last opportunity to see the large icebergs, passing by in the midnight sun. The reflections in the sea were marvellous as we had no wind. Nobody knows how many pictures were shot during our last night in the ice. We were heading south during the night and when we woke up in the morning we recognized that we left the sunny weather behind. But especially during the morning we were so busy that it was not so important for us. Perhaps it was even good that we had some dark clouds, they made it for us a bit easier to be prepared to say good bye to Greenland.

In the morning we had our last lectures, last bridge visits and last informations about our flights home. As we had a last landing in the afternoon many passengers started packing to be ready for Itilleq, our last destination of our cruise.

Itilleq is a very small fishing community app. 50km south of Sisimiut. The settlement was founded as a trade station in the 18th century. Today there are living app. 100 inhabitants in small and colourful houses. 

We were greeted by the children at the pier and we got the possibility for a nice Kaffemik (coffee klatsch) in private houses during our stay. What a wonderful personal experience! 

Some of our guests used the last opportunity for a kayak trip or a fishing adventure with our officers. Look at the pictures and you will see how successful they were. Most of the caught fish was cod, Fjord cod and the Atlantic cod.

But our last highlight of our Greenland experience was perhaps the soccer match between MS FRAM and Itilleq. Everybody felt young again and even though we lost (like nearly always), it was an unforgettable sport event.

Back on board we were invited by our captain for a Farewell cocktail. Later on we had a special auction for the "Association for Greenlandic Children". Next to the Hurtigruten flag and the chart we got the possibility to vote for a special log book done by our captain. All his morning announcements, ice charts, weather forecasts and so on have been collected with all his personal notes. We say "thank you" in the name of all Greenlandic kids who will profit of your donations. 

Around 08:00pm we sailed into the Kangerlussuaq fjord. Here we could see our last glaciers. It was nice to sit a last time in the bar for a last drink and a last small talk with other guests before we went to bed for our last night on board our lovely lady MV FRAM.    

A message from Malena

June 21 is not only the longest day but also Greenland’s national day. We woke up to a beautiful early morning with icebergs and sun where the excursions started for the first Ice cruising. It was a magnificent morning to start visiting Ilulissat and celebrate the National day.

 There were kayak demonstration by the Zion’s church, choir singing and Greenlandic dance show with national costumes, which can be very emotional because they put all the emotions into words remembering the loved ones too in the choir singing and in the polka dance they show all the dance moves and happiness!

 During the hike to Sermermiut (UNESCO world Heritage site 2004) we saw the local cooking outside with friends and family, which is very common to do in Greenland with very tasty food, and the smoke from the firewood smelled nice and it looked so cozy.  

Story telling about old Greenlandic fables, drum dancing and mask dancing was a perfect way to end the day onboard to express the Greenlandic traditions to everyone.

I had so many experiences in so little time here onboard as a trainee. The Expedition team members are amazing and so helpful to every single one onboard.  This trip or summer could not be better with HURTIGRUTEN FRAM!

I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did.

/ Malena Martens

The Fram becomes an icebreaker today!

At about 04:00h this morning we reached the ice edge on our way to Uummannaq, a small island south of where we were yesterday. Ice charts that we had studied showed a large amount of sea ice in the area and we were quite unsure if we would be able to penetrate it and make Uummannaq. As it turned out the ice was single-year ice from last winter and it was "rotten". "Rotten" ice is water-logged and on its way to becoming water. This softer ice allowed us to break 10 nautical miles of the stuff, even though the Fram is not an ice breaker!

Conditions continued to be calm today. We arrived at Uummannaq at around 0700h to a beautiful morning, and spent the next hour using Fram's bow thrusters to spin the ship around and break up the ice off the harbour. This made enough open water to allow our Polarcirkel boats to make the trip from the boat to shore. At 09:00h we landed and had most of the day to explore the very interesting town of Uummannaq.

Almost everywhere you looked the giant mountain behind the town, itself called Uummannaq dominated the scene. In the morning we explored the museum, colonial buildings, and turf houses in the centre of town. After lunch, some of us went for a hike along the Uummannaq mountain in the direction of Santa's hut. Santa's hut was built for a children's TV show in Denmark and is known by all kids over there. For us the hut was only the aim. The walk itself was more important for us. The view over the sea with all the icebergs and the just flowering vegetation will be unforgettable for us.

Others made an ice cruise in one of our new, large Polarcirkel boats. During that trip we came close to Qilakitsoq, where in 1972, two Greenlandic hunters discovered several mummified bodies "buried" in a small cave. We felt sorry, but the frozen little bay in front of Qilakitsok did not give us the chance for a landing. But we got a very good view over the area where Inuits were living since the Saqqaq culture. Dating of the mummies showed that they were placed in the cave in the early 1400s! The mummies were beautifully preserved and have been much studied. The grown-up women had tattooed faces (as shown by infra-red photography) and their clothing gave a very accurate view of Inuit people wore back then. The mummies have been conserved by museum specialists and can be found in the fabulous National Museum in the capital Nuuk.

Finally, from the night before here are a few images from our famous ice and fruit carving show. There's a lot of pride in those faces!

A snapshot of life in Greenland

Our last evening ended with a very special art exhibition done by nature as wonderful icebergs in different shapes and in pastel colours - created by the midnight sun - were passing by our windows in a sea that looked nearly like a mirror as we had no wind. A very special evening that we will never forget in our life.

In the early morning we reached our northernmost point on our journey: Upernavik. The sun was shining from a clear blue sky when we anchored and resonated with the meaning of the name of today's destination. 'Upernaaq' means spring and "Upernavik" means the place to be in spring. The fog is as much a part of spring in Greenland as is the sun and later in the morning the fog came down from the mountains surrounding Upernavik and finally reached the water just as we were departing in the afternoon.

Not only the weather but also the inhabitants of Upernavik welcomed us today as a cultural event including the local choir singing a number of Greenlandic songs and dancing Kalattuut, a Greenlandic folk dance tradition inspired by European folk dance (Polka etc.)  

Today is election day in Greenland, but neither for the municipal councils nor for the Greenland Parliament (Inatsisartut). The votes that are cast in Greenland today are for the two Greenlandic seats in the Danish Parliament (Folketing). The change of the Danish constitution in 1953 implied among other things that both Greenland and the Faeroe Islands became part of the Danish Kingdom with the right to be represented in the Danish Parliament by two members each. The two Greenlandic members of the Danish Parliament will be elected by the, roughly, 42,000 voters in Greenland among 14 candidates from the five Greenlandic parties.

Many passengers went into a little house where two Greenlanders had their handicraft workshop. We felt so sorry that we could not choose everything to bring with us home as many works of art were produced out of Walrus Ivory and we are not allowed to bring this to Europe or to North America. 

Tupilak: Today art, in the past used to carry a message to another person

In the museum in the old colonial part of Upernavik we received lots of information about the historical time in this northern part of Greenland. We have to say, we did not expect such a good museum in a small city so far away from everything.

On our stroll through the city we got a very good impression about the life in North Greenland. Everything looked different when we compare it with the towns we visited in the Disko Bay before. Here we could see that hunting is still a very important part of their economy. Have a look at our snapshots we have made during our stay in Upernavik and you will hopefully understand what we mean.

The National Costume hanging in the fresh air. 

Tomatoes are expensive in the super market; here they grow perfect behind the window.

After a successful day of seal hunting 

The Polar bear, the "King of the Arctic" hunted by a Greenlandic hunter

Hurrah: The last school day before the long summer holidays

Qasigiannguit

Today we remained in the Disko Island area. Overnight we circumnavigated half the island and ended up this morning in the town of Qasigiannguit. As with most towns and settlements in Greenland there is a long pre-history of use of the area by ancient native cultures. In "modern" times, the present settlement was founded as a trading post in the 1700s. Economically important activities today are fishing and growing tourism.

Although the skies were cloudy and some fog hung around, our spirits were not dampened as we ventured forth into the town- and what a fascinating place! Along the roadside, some Greenlandic dogs were lazing around. One female had a litter of pups, about 14 days old. They were totally adorable and seemed to be at home in the cool, outdoor conditions. From the very beginning of life, Greenland dogs have to get used to the cold!

Farther down the road we came to several old colonial buildings that formed the museum complex. The various stages of immigrations of Inuit peoples from Siberia through Alaska and Canada to Greenland were very nicely presented, as well as traditional clothing, local birds and many other topics.

On the way we saw many Snow Buntings, Lapland Buntings and Common Redpolls, like this male below.

In the afternoon, we had two taste-treats. On deck 7 the local Royal Greenland fish plant presented a tasting of the totally toothsome Greenland Halibut. It was amazing to taste the fresh fish prepared in different dishes. We got even a very nice and informative talk done by one of the managers of the fish factory. He was open for all our questions and now we feel like fish specialists. In town, a Kaffemik of coffee and traditional cakes was hosted by the Kindergarten Kulunnguaq in celebration of its 35th anniversary.

In the evening we cruised by the iceberg field off Ilulissat. The light was golden, the air was calm and there was a perfume in the air made by the plants of the sea. The massive icebergs stuck along an undersea ridge towered above the water. Some very blue ones floated by.

Some lucky guests were able to take a Polarcirkel boat cruise in amongst the ice!