07-10-2026 We Land at Qaqortoq and Walk on Greenland

Several times we had been warned that weather or too much ice in the harbor might prevent us from going ashore at either scheduled port in Greenland. Other people we know who had taken similar cruises had sadly never set foot on Greenland at all. We knew it was a bit of a crapshoot.

Our first view of the Greenland coast

Imagine waking that morning, pulling back the curtains, and seeing the wild coast of Greenland. The first icebergs were especially exciting, even though they appeared only as ghostly shapes through the rain and fog.

But rain, fog, and icebergs were no match for Viking Neptune.

She sailed into the anchorage without difficulty as mountains gradually emerged all around us.

Approaching the anchorage near the Qaqortoq harbor

Qaqortoq (something like ka-KOR-tok) is the largest town in southern Greenland, although only about 3,000 people live there. Its name means "the white place." Eric the Red settled Greenland in the late 900s and named it to attract settlers. Norse communities formed along the southwest coast, and nearby are the ruins of Hvalsey Church, one of the best-preserved Norse sites. Today the town is known for its brightly painted houses, Inuit and Norse history, outdoor stone carvings, and the beautiful fjords surrounding it.

Learning to pronounce Qaqortoq was almost as much fun as learning to spell it.

We gathered in the theater to wait for our excursion, and surprisingly, the process wasn't difficult. Within minutes we were led downstairs to Deck A to leave the ship. I hadn't realized that, with my walker, I should have found the elevator instead of following everyone toward the stairs. That made for a few interesting moments.

Wonderful people immediately stepped in, picked up my walker, and carried it down for me. Cruise passengers help one another all the time, and this was just another example. I held tightly to both railings and made my way down to the tender platform.

Boarding the tender was surprisingly easy, and I was thrilled to learn that I could take my walker ashore. The crew parked it in the center of the tender, set the brake, and I sat down without feeling even the tiniest bit seasick.

In fact, it has been incredible that I haven't had any real motion sickness during this entire cruise. On the first day I became nervous and took a meclizine tablet. The medicine made me feel terrible, although I never actually became seasick. Once it wore off, I never took another one. For someone who has worried about motion sickness all her life, especially on tenders, that was a very big deal.

When we reached shore, the ramp was manageable with help from Mo and a few other people. Together we lifted the walker over the rough spots between the boards, and suddenly we were there, standing in Greenland.

Our first view of Quaqortoq from the pier

What struck us first, even through the clouds, fog, and steady rain, were the incredible colors of the houses. People talk about Greenland's colorful houses all the time, but seeing them in person was something else entirely. Reds, blues, yellows, and greens glowed against the gray rock and sky.

My daughter once suggested that perhaps Greenlanders painted their houses such bright colors because, surrounded by gray rock, snow, and fog, the easiest way to find your own home would be to remember its color. After seeing Qaqortoq, I think she may have been onto something.

Managing the walker on this rough road was a bit challenging

We walked as far as I could comfortably manage. Qaqortoq is not flat, and its partly paved streets climb steadily uphill. We could see a white church high above town, but I decided it wasn't worth trying to reach. Instead, we wandered the lower streets, photographing colorful houses across the harbor, the cemetery in the distance, and Viking Neptune quietly waiting at anchor.

Looks like an organic soil profile but it is actually just a stacked peat wall

Eventually we reached the Qaqortoq Museum. It was packed with visitors, so we didn't even try to go inside. For me, though, the outside was almost more interesting. Beside the museum stood a reconstruction of a traditional Greenlandic turf house, built with thick blocks of peat and sod.

Can you imagine living in this space in winter?

Traditional turf houses used stone and sod walls around a framework of wood or driftwood. Thick turf insulated against bitter winter winds, and much of the house was tucked partly into the ground to conserve precious warmth. They looked simple, but they were remarkably practical in a land where building materials were scarce.

trees and lots of buttercups

There were even a few small green trees, which surprised us. We hadn't expected trees at all. Blue lupines bloomed everywhere, reminding us that Iceland wasn't far away. Introduced lupines help stabilize bare soil but can also crowd out native plants.

Dark metamorphic rock was no match for the plants taking hold on this cliff

Qaqortoq itself was much greener than I had expected. Grass, moss, and leafy plants found a foothold in every crack among the ancient rocks.

Those rocks fascinated me. One especially dramatic outcrop reminded me immediately of the Laurentian Shield we had seen in Ontario. Later I learned the resemblance was no coincidence. Greenland and the Canadian Shield share some of the oldest rocks on Earth, once connected within the ancient core of North America.

A classic glacial feature, a roche moutonnée

The bedrock had been polished smooth by glaciers. One rounded outcrop was a classic roche moutonnée, shaped as moving ice ground across it and plucked rock from its downstream side. I may travel more slowly these days, but I'm apparently still incapable of walking past a beautifully glacially polished rock without taking its picture.

We eventually reached a small red church where drumming, singing, and dancing were supposed to be taking place. Unfortunately, the church was packed shoulder to shoulder, and there were stairs besides. We decided it wasn't worth fighting the crowd and simply continued enjoying our walk through town.

The local people sometimes watched the cruise passengers with understandable curiosity, and perhaps a little wariness. We smiled. They smiled back. Everyone seemed quietly friendly. We were specifically asked prior to landing to refrain from taking photos of the residents.  They didn't really appreciate the intrusion of so many tourist in their town.

Viking Neptune anchored offshore with an approaching tender

After an hour and a half or so, we wandered back toward the tender dock just as our boat approached. We had done it. We had walked in Greenland. The Greenlandic people have learned to live among ancient rock, ocean, ice, and long winters. I am so grateful we were able to experience it.

Greenland is not technically a continent. It is the world's largest island and geographically part of North America, although politically it is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Continent or island, standing there felt momentous.

Looking back, what surprised me most was what we didn't see. There were no sled dogs wandering through town, very few birds, and almost no wildlife at all. Then again, life in this environment can't be easy for anything, including humans.

 A portion of the Sone and Man art project

One thing we did miss was the outdoor art project called Stone & Man, more than forty carvings created directly in the rock by Nordic artists beginning in the 1990s. Apparently we walked right past some of them without realizing it. I even have a photograph of one, although I still have no idea where it was in town.

Before leaving home, Viking had sent us a list of books and movies that might help us appreciate the places we would visit. One of them was The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. We watched it before the trip and thoroughly enjoyed it, so when the Viking Daily announced Movie Under the Stars featuring Walter Mitty, we knew exactly where we'd be after dinner.

Back to The Restaurant for what we hoped was a great dinner of fresh halibut.

Before the movie, dinner in the dining room had featured a rather forgettable halibut. We actually left in search of French fries, convinced they had to exist somewhere on the ship. They didn't.  So we headed to the pool deck for the movie.

Learning to use the earphones took a bit of concentration

That decision, however, required surviving what may be the least comfortable lounge chairs ever designed. They looked sleek and Scandinavian, but apparently no one involved had actually tried sitting in one for the length of a movie. The backs were too upright, the seats too short, and they were hard!  After a while every muscle in my body was negotiating with the furniture. Viking thoughtfully supplied warm blankets. I found myself wishing they'd supplied comfortable chairs instead.

Making the best of an extremely uncomfortable lounge chair

However it was fascinating watching the crew prepare the pool deck for the evening under the stars.  All the pool loungers were repositioned facing the movie screen, ear phones were added by each chair and lovely wool woven blankets were draped over the back of each. We watched a single crew member walking behind each chair with a two sided comb and brush. He was carefully brushing and combing each fringe lining every single strand perfectly. Blankets were lying ruler straight on each chair. Viking attention to the tiniest details.  The final touch was paper bags of fresh hot popcorn were placed on each table adjacent to a lounger.

Eventually we surrendered, wrapped ourselves in Viking blankets, balanced popcorn on our laps, and watched Walter Mitty anyway. And you know what? It was worth it. By the time the movie ended, the air had turned chilly and I was getting stiff, so we escaped to our favorite place on the ship, the Explorer's Lounge.

the guitarist Jobe was superb

The difference was immediate. Warm, comfortable chairs. A guitarist entertaining a room full of smiling passengers. A few people dancing. Others clapping along. Those wonderful constellation lights sparkled across the ceiling while the sea slipped silently past outside the windows. We settled in with cappuccinos and simply enjoyed the moment. It was the perfect ending to a very good day.

The best part of the day, though, had happened earlier. For the second day in a row I soaked in the hot tub and then swam gentle laps in the pool for about twenty minutes. As I swam, one thought kept returning. I love that my arms still work. I can swim and I can paddle my kayak. IBM has taken strength from my legs, but in the water I can still move freely. For twenty minutes I wasn't thinking about weakness or balance. I was simply swimming.

Sometimes the best travel days aren't the ones with the biggest excursions. Sometimes they're the ones where you finally reach Greenland, laugh about impossible lounge chairs, search unsuccessfully for French fries, listen to music with strangers, sip a late-night cappuccino, and realize that, despite everything, your body can still surprise you in wonderful ways. 

walking on Greenland on a very chilly wet day