Adventure #4 in 2025 took place in August. It began when Alasdair asked me if I wanted a trip to Greenland. He discovered some inexpensive tickets, that he could buy with points. I had not thought about this possibility before, but decided a long-weekend in Nuuk was irresistible.
The trip began on Tuesday, 2025-08-19, when I flew from TRD = Trondheim airport to OSL = Oslo airport, then took the train to Røyken station. Alasdair joined me at about the half way point, at Oslo Central Station. We then drove to Alasdair’s house where we spent the rest of the day, and Wednesday.
On the trip, Alasdair reminded me that this was not our first connection with Nuuk. One of our former neighbours, Olav Næss (1950 – ), had worked there as a machine operator during the construction in the early 1990s of a hydro-electric power plant that provides Nuuk with its electricity.
On Thursday evening, 2025-08-21, we returned to Røyken station, taking the same journey in the reverse direction, to overnight at OSL. There we met Simon Gulstad, the third adventurer, who had flown in from Bergen. Simon was originally from Inderøy, and his mother was Alasdair’s kindergarten teacher! We overnighted at the Radisson Red hotel.
Early the next day we flew from OSL to CPH = Copenhagen airport, then waited several hours, mainly in a lounge, before taking a flight to GOH = Nuuk Airport = Mittarfik Nuuk (Greenlandic), Nuuk Lufthavn (Danish). The reason for the IATA = International Air Transport Association, code is that Nuuk was formerly called Godthåb (Danish) = Good Hope (English).
Nuuk (Greenlandic) = cape (English). It is commonly found in Greenlandic place names. It is so named because of its position at the end of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord on the Labrador Sea’s eastern shore. Its latitude, at 64°11′ N, makes it the world’s northernmost capital, a few kilometres farther north than Reykjavík (64°08′ N). In Comparison Cliff Cottage is 63° 50′ 31.33″ N. This means that Cliff Cottage is about 37 km further south than Nuuk. Because the two places are at almost the same latitude, the distance between them has been calculated to be 2528 km. The flying distance is considerably more.
When home rule was established in 1979, the authorization of place names was transferred to Greenlandic authorities, who preferred Greenlandic names to Danish ones.
The airport was originally constructed for STOL = short take off and landing capable aircraft in 1979. In 2019-2024, the airport was comprehensively rebuilt and expanded, including a runway extension and a new terminal, which allows larger jet aircraft to serve more international destinations. The airport is located 3.7 km northeast of downtown Nuuk. On our arrival we walked into the town. The distance seemed much longer because of the many changes in elevation along the chosen route.
At this point I will interupt the story to mention our diet, which was largely meat based. From Friday to Monday in Nuuk we ate three beef burger dinners, along with one pizza dinner. Alasdair, at one point wrote on Signal to family members that store prices are through the roof. 150cl Pepsi costs DKK 45 = NOK 71 = USD 7.
Our accommodation in Nuuk is shown above. We occupied the left side of the building. A kitchen and living area, along with a bathroom, were on the main floor, while two bedrooms were located on the upper floor. Many buildings have two numbers on them. A black number on yellow indicates a street number, while a white number on black seems to be a town-wide serial number. Older houses have lower numbers.
Serenity Cruise
On Saturday, we took a 6 hour serenity cruise offered by Raw Arctic. Our first stop was at a waterfall at Sermitsiaq = the Saddle, then continued along the western channel where we met lots of small clumps of ice in the water. These would be too small to be considered icebergs.
We also observed a whale diving and feeding in the fjord. My suspicion is that this was a Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). We also watched a hunter, alone onboard a smaller vessel, powered by an outboard motor, attempt to kill a seal sitting on a clump of ice. He fired four shots, and missed. Below is a photo of a large clump of ice, complete with seagull on the top.
Our cruise continued, bending to the right so that we reached deeper into the fjord on the extreme right of the map. However, we did not reach the end of the fjord. After turning around, we passed by Qoornuup, located on the north end of the island Qeqertarsua. The inhabitants of the settlement were forcibly removed from the village in 1972. Qoornuup also once had a railway used for transporting fish. The railway was used in the 1950s, with a small diesel-hydraulic locomotive hauling flat wagons full of fish. The line closed shortly before the town’s last resident left.
We then continued our return journey, passing to the east of Qeqertarsua, before reaching Nuuk.
Eqaluk, the name of the boat, refers to Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). It is designed to carry a crew of two, along with up to six passengers, as long as two or more of those are children, or up to five adults. The boat was built by Targa in Nykarleby, Finland, north of Vaasa, and across the Gulf of Bothnia, from Umeå in Sweden. The boat is powered by Swedish Volvo-Penta diesel engines, made in Vara , Sweden, in a plant that opened in 1977. The Scandinavian in me says it is a good choice!
Among the equipment on board was a life raft for 8 people, a radar system, an electronic chart plotter, and a very high frequency (VHF) marine radio with Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder to broadcast the vessel’s identity, position, speed and course over VHF radio to other ships and shore-based systems, enhancing collision avoidance and maritime safety. It uses global positioning system (GPS) to determine location and transmits this data automatically to other AIS-equipped vessels within range. In the case of an emergency we were told to activate Digital Selective Calling (DSC) by pressing (and holding for 3 seconds) a single red distress button, sending a digital alert with the vessel’s GPS position, Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number, a unique nine-digit number that identifies a specific vessel, and other identification to nearby DSC-equipped vessels and shore stations. The system then automatically switches to VHF Channel 16 and waits for a verbal Mayday call to provide two-way communication for assistance.
Alasdair at one point measured the vessel’s speed = 40 km/h = 21.6 knots. Inside Nuuk’s harbour the speed limit is 3 knots = 5.5 km/h.
National Museum of Greenland
There is no admission charge to the National Museum of Greenland on the last Sunday of every month. Despite the last Sunday being 2025-08-31, there was no admission charge on 2025-08-24 either.
The museum was typically ethnographic, showing aspects of the culture that were non western. Below is a photo of one cabinet, filled mainly with masks, along with other artifacts.
There were also other objects on display, many showing artifacts that were part of a transition to a modern society. One cabinet showed a typewriter as well as musical instruments including an accordion and various brass instruments.
Greenland, has a number of prominent rock and rock-influenced bands including: Nanook: a popular and award-winning band that performs in Greenlandic and is known for its energetic shows and for touring internationally; Sussat!: a basic rock’n’roll band; Inuk: a pop-rock band; Pukuut: a metal band; Sound of the Damned: another metal band; Both metal bands blend traditional elements with aggressive sounds; Îva: a collaborative group that includes members from the hip-hop group Tarrak and the previously mentioned band Inuk.
It should be mentioned that there are a lot of places in Nuuk that sell alcohol. I imagine that its consumption is a social problem throughout Greenland.
Monday
Rash decisions. Yes, we had agreed to meet Line at her boat building yard (actually a rubber hall) at 9:00. Our flight was at 14:00. So we had to leave our accommodation at 8:30, visit her, then find something else to do before we walked to the airport. We walked to the yard, and saw a vessel, more stored in the form of raw materials (oak), than in formed parts or something ready to launch. The work had taken a year already. It would take another year to remake into something useful. It was a little less than 20 m in length, and had been originally made in 1938. That makes it 86-7 years old!
I don’t know the details, but the vessel had been damaged by ice breaking the hull.
I thought I would put a photo of Line’s truck here to show that much of Greenland relates to functionality than to superficial beauty.
After the visit we returned to the centre of Nuuk and visited a cafe. We then walked to the airport, including a walk through the only vehicular tunnel in Nuuk, possibly in Greenland.
At the airport, we ate our last Greenlandic hamburger, then proceeded to a seating area. Soon we were called for boarding, which was completed 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time.
Then came the announcement from the captain. He explained that the airport had run out of jet fuel. The delivery truck had to drive to Nuuk, fill up more fuel, wait half an hour for the fuel to settle, then take quality measurements which – if passed – would allow the fuel to be used in the aircraft. After that the truck would drive back to the airport, pass through security, and then fuel the aircraft.
We ended leaving Nuuk 90 minutes late. This resulted in many passengers missing connecting flights and having to overnight in Copenhagen. We had booked accommodation in advance, staying at the Comfort Hotel. While this is relatively inexpensive, Comfort is undoubtedly my least favourite hotel chain. I am surprised that they don’t rename it Cheap. For example, the bath towels are too small for large creatures. I had to use two of them to dry myself after showering. The coffee tasted python. Yes, that is a Norwegian expression to express food/ drink that is inedible, or tastes terrible.
After breakfast we then went to the airport terminal, where two people checked in luggage, then we all went through security. Once there we went to a lounge, where better tasting coffee – and more edible food – could be found.
We were taking three separate flights back to Norway: Simon to BGO = Bergen, Alasdair to OSL = Oslo, while I returned to TRD = Trondheim.
Impressions
Nuuk is not the place to go for a beach holiday, or gourmet meals. It is a place to do something! Hands on guided hunting and fishing trips are available, as is camping in the wilderness. While Greenland offers more remote locations, I suspect that most tourists will find a weekend visit to Nuuk is enough to satisfy their curiosity about Greenland.
Note: The video and many of the photos were provided by Alasdair.