“Velkommen til Groenland,” said the smiling Inuk as he unloaded our bags from the little plane. I was so startled I forgot to kiss the ground–as I’d vowed I would if I actually ever got to Greenland.
Greenland wouldn’t seem so hard to reach. Its west coast is only two hours by air from Canada’s Baffin Island and so close to Ellesmere Island that Greenlanders can travel by dogsled over frozen Baffin Bay in the winter to visit friends and relatives.
But there are no regularly scheduled flights from North America; unless they’re coming on a cruise, travelers must fly here from Denmark (to which Greenland belongs) or Iceland, or on a charter.
A Danish playground
I had tried for years to get here from Denmark, but American tourists were not encouraged due to language difficulties. When it comes to tourism, Greenland is strictly a playground for the Danes, whose tax dollars support it, and they carefully guard their island from outside influence (no McDonald’s here!) and development to ensure the purity of the Greenlandic culture. Short trips from Iceland were available, but only to the east coast and southern tip, and I wanted to go north, up the west coast.
Then Canada got into the act, and two years in a row I was booked on a cruise package with a Toronto-based company that first cancelled and then went bankrupt (a good reason to always use your credit card). Finally when the Great Canadian Travel Co. in Winnipeg came up with an eight-night package out of Ottawa that included a charter flight to the west coast of Greenland, the coastal steamer going north and all hotels, I grabbed it.
Few Americans visit
But our arrival in Sisimiut, after a two-hour, 5 a.m. flight from Baffin Island during which the pilot turned over the controls of his nine-seat Beechcraft King Air plane to his young copilot so he could serve us coffee from his thermos, caught me off-balance. I knew this island was a part of Denmark, but I never expected the Inuit would be speaking fluent Danish. Greenlandic, similar to Inuktitut in Canada, is taught in the schools at first and is followed by Danish; very few bother to learn the English offered after that because they don’t have any use for it. (Several Greenlanders would tell me they had never seen an American before.)
There are very few full-blooded Inuit left in Greenland; ever since Danish missionary Hans Egede arrived in 1721, they have been mixing with the Danes. All citizens of this, the world’s largest island, known as Kalaallit Nunaat in the local language, are now called Greenlanders.
An awesome presence
Now, after my husband and I landed on this rainy morning last July in Sisimiut, Greenland’s second largest city of 5,000, I could see it was the most rugged place I’d ever been. Jagged mountains rose straight up from the sea, leaving only a tiny strip of land for towns. The gigantic ice cap–up to 1,600 miles long and 620 miles wide in places, and covering 85 percent of the 840,000-square-mile island–dominates the Greenlanders’ world.
Wherever you are on the island you feel its awesome, overpowering presence. “We were born with the ice,” say the Greenlanders. “We live with the ice every day; it’s always there, it’s our way of life. Treat the ice with respect.” And no, Greenland is not green. That was a ploy by Viking Erik the Red to persuade other Norseman to join him when he arrived on this big island 1,000 years ago trying to escape a murder charge in Iceland.
After overnighting at the Hotel Sisimiut, we boarded the Arctic Umiaq Line coastal steamer (umiaq is Greenlandic for boat), heading north for our round-trip voyage. The weather, which had been almost mild when the sun came out, abruptly dropped to below freezing in the strong wind, and nobody stayed out on deck for long. It was definitely long-underwear time, and we piled on all the clothes we had.
The Greenlanders, we would observe, always have their long underwear at the ready. In all the communities we would see, clotheslines filled with long underwear are part of the scenery even in summer, as are the sleds and dog teams tied up in front of every brightly painted Danish-style house. Even in the warm sun it was always clear we were in the Arctic.
The boat, as well as the hotels in Greenland, was owned by Danes and offered the utmost in European hospitality and exquisite food combined with Inuit friendliness. Our cabin was simple but comfortable with a big window, two beds and a small bath; the cafeteria featured the famous Danish smoerebrod (open-faced sandwich) piled high with fresh Greenlandic shrimp.
Even though this is a coastal steamer, running only in the summer, the population of Greenland (55,000) supports few communities, and there was only one stop during the night on the way to our destination, Ilulissat.
Overpowering scene
Everybody was out on deck by 4 a.m. in the frigid wind as we entered Disko Bay, famed for its large concentration of spectacular icebergs. The excitement of being surrounded by these enormous mountains of ice under the midnight sun was almost too much to bear, and many of us were moved to tears. But there was more to come.
Arriving in Ilulissat (which means icebergs) at 6 a.m., we immediately boarded another boat, a tiny but powerful icebreaker, for a four-hour, optional trip down the Ice Fjord to the inland ice cap itself. As the boat ground slowly through ice chunks and cautiously wound its way between the gigantic icebergs, we and the other four passengers may have been nervous, but the expert Inuit boat driver, dressed in Dansko shoes and an elegant faux suede outfit, was savvy and confident, and got us within touching distance of the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere, the Eqi Glacier. Four hundred feet high, it produces 20 million tons of icebergs per day, but our driver managed to neatly avoid the chunks of falling ice as they calved.
We were mesmerized, awestruck. Finally the driver said, “Lunch?” (the extent of his English), pointing to a tiny cabin for hikers at the top of a steep rocky cliff next to the ice cap. Feeling a bit weak in the knees, I passed, but my husband made the climb, pronounced it the best part of the trip–and brought me down some lunch.
Room with an iceberg view
We returned to Ilulissat cold, wet and exhausted, and checked into our hotel for one night. High on a cliff above the Ice Fjord, the Hotel Arctic (of course) was one of the most beautiful hotels we’d ever seen. Our enormous room was furnished in contemporary Danish with a wall of glass overlooking icebergs 2 miles long. The hotel’s superb restaurant had the same view. Tied up right outside the window was a reminder of where we were: a dog team.
The next morning, we had a full day hiking and wandering before our return overnight trip to Sisimiut aboard the coastal steamer.
Back at the Hotel Sisimiut for three more nights, we had the chance to sample the local color of the Greenlanders’ day-to-day life. The smooth mixture of two cultures has produced a breed of extraordinarily fit and handsome people who are sophisticated, intelligent and educated, but are also experts in all the outdoor arts of sailing, kayaking, hiking, climbing, hunting, fishing and dogsledding. The constant mournful howling of the dogs reminds you the Greenlanders’ ties to the land go back 4,500 years.
On a harbor boat trip (included in the package) we were dazzled by the humpback whale display. A boy on the boat dropped in a line and in a few minutes caught eight huge cod.
Fish and game are abundant; we frequently heard the pop of hunters’ guns nearby. The huge open-air market in the center of town that sells fresh caribou, musk ox, seal and whale, as well as many kinds of fish stands right next to a sleek, modern supermarket and across from a Danish pastry shop to die for.
The fresh fish and game are served everywhere, and at the hotel’s superb dining room it becomes a gourmet’s delight. Just watch out for those little pink balls that look like melon. (I found out the hard way: They’re raw seal blubber.)
We returned to Ottawa–no overnight layover in Iqaluit required–with the realization that, much as we loved it, Greenland is not for the faint of heart.
For the joy of seeing spectacular scenery, breathing the purest air and witnessing a unique culture, be prepared to carry your own baggage up and down steep steps and hills (nothing is flat in Greenland), navigate boulders and streams on hiking trails even in town, face strong winds and rain showers coming out of nowhere, and claw your way up and down rocky cliffs in and out of boats, especially when the tide is out.
The disorienting midnight sun, which makes 11 p.m. look like 11 a.m., gives you jetlag for the duration of your visit. The language barrier can make you feel isolated (my husband knows some Danish and I know some Inuktitut, but still there were problems). There are no facilities for the handicapped. And in spite of small clinics in every community, the closest convenient hospital is in Copenhagen, four hours away by air (weather permitting).
All that said, Greenland to me still was a gorgeous fairy tale come true, a surreal world of majestic, magical scenery combined with the complete peace we all crave.
Now when we fly home from Europe and the captain announces, “Raise your shade and look to the right of the plane,” I can say, “Yes, I know, it’s the Greenland ice cap in all it sparkling splendor. And I’ve been there!”
IF YOU GO
THE PACKAGE
We paid $2,370 U.S. each last summer for an eight-night Great Canadian Travel Co. First-Class package from Ottawa–which was well worth it since the “standard” package meant sharing a room with others.
The package included: scheduled airline flight between Ottawa and Iqaluit, Nunavut, on Baffin Island; overnight outbound in Iqaluit (choice of accommodations: we picked By the Sea, a gorgeous Scandinavian-style bed-and-breakfast with a breathtaking view of Koojessie Inlet); charter flights between Iqaluit and Sisimiut, Greenland; one night in Sisimiut; round-trip overnight coastal steamers from Sisimiut to Ilulissat; one night in Ilulissat; and three more nights in Sisimiut.
Food was extra–and expensive–but unfailingly good. The boat trip to the Eqi Glacier was $200 extra per person. Medical evacuation and trip insurance is mandatory here and will add to your costs; the frequent fog and Arctic storms can ground you for days.
Trips for 2003 may have somewhat different itineraries (the charter flights, for instance, go into Aasiaat, rather than Sisimiut), and prices are slightly higher. Other Greenland trips/options are available, or Great Canadian can customize your trip.
OTTAWA
Since the package begins with an early morning flight from Ottawa, we flew from Chicago the day before ($247 roundtrip on Air Canada) and overnighted at the Southway Inn, 5 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from downtown and the Parliament buildings. Doubles from $86 (U.S.); 877-688-4929.
WHAT TO TAKE
A Danish-English dictionary; sunglasses for the ice glare; insect repellent for the mosquitoes that hover around the ice cap; and Danish kroners for any purchases outside your hotels in Greenland. American money is not accepted in Greenland, and changing money there is not easy (you can change at O’Hare). As for credit cards, the only places we encountered that took them were the two hotels where we stayed.
WHAT TO WEAR
Hiking boots with thickly treaded soles; warm socks, gloves, cap and jacket; and good rain gear.
INFORMATION
The Great Canadian Travel Co.: 800-661-3830; www.greatcanadiantravel.com.
— D.F.
