Nuuk – David Kotz

Greenland – contemporary human settlements

Visits to small villages and bustling towns… but we missed out on the capital (Nuuk).

[part of a series of posts beginning here]

In addition the expedition staff, two Greenlanders joined us for the entire cruise: an Inuk cultural ambassador, and a businesswoman born in Iceland but descended from Greenlandic grandparents and whose career includes service as an elected council member in the capital city of Nuuk. From listening to their formal presentations and from informal conversations, we had an opportunity to learn more about the indigenous traditions as well as modern Greenlandic culture and politics. We also had the opportunity to visit contemporary communities – two tiny settlements and a large town. Read on for more!

Greenland – historic human settlements

We visited ruins and reconstructions of historic indigenous and Norse settlements dating back more than 1,000 years.

[part of a series of posts beginning here]

As we cruised the fjords on the southwest coast of Greenland, we had several opportunities to learn about the cultures of Greenland – historic and contemporary – and to visit archaeological sites, small villages, and busy towns. This post focuses on two historic settlements, each now recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. Read on for more…

Greenland

A ten-day cruise from Iceland to the southern coast of Greenland.

Recent trips to the Antarctic [South Georgia, 2023] and the Arctic [Finland, 2024] whet my appetite for exploring further in the polar regions, so I jumped at the chance to cruise southern Greenland in late summer. Indeed, because this cruise began and ended in Iceland, it gave me a chance to expand on my prior visit to Iceland [2024] to explore its southeast coast. Finally, this cruise was aboard the National Geographic Endurance, the same ship we’d sailed on our cruise of South Georgia and the Falklands in 2023, and which I found to be a terrific experience. Read on!

Photo of The Endurance, seen from the icy water near Thryms glacier; Skjoldungensund fjord, Greenland. — The Endurance, seen from the icy water near Thryms glacier; Skjoldungensund fjord, Greenland.