Hvalsey & Qaqortoq

 Today we visited Hvalsey, the remains of a Viking settlement that was active beginning in the late 10th century.  We were led around by a guide from UNESCO.

Borrowing heavily from Wikipedia:

According to the Icelandic Book of Settlements (Landnámabók), the farmstead was established by Erik the Red's uncle.

The site, which has the ruins of two stone great halls, had an additional 14 houses close to a church-house. The old hall, which is 46 ft long and between 9.8 and 13 ft wide, is in the middle of the ruins. The well-preserved newer hall measures 26 ft by16 ft.

The church-house, which was first erected in the early 12th century, might have been built by Scots-Norse stonemasons, as similar structures are found in Norway and Orkney. The church-house was exceptionally well built from carefully chosen stones that in some cases weigh in excess of five tons. Its walls, which are up to 5 ft. thick, measure 52 ft by 26 ft on the outside. The building was plastered with ground mussel shells and would have been white when in use and was roofed with timber and turf.

A 1408 wedding at the site's church is the last documented event to occur during the Norse settlement of Greenland. Archaeological evidence shows that over the next hundred years the last Norse settlements in Greenland slowly died out. It was not until 1721 that a joint merchant-clerical expedition led by a Danish-Norwegian missionary discovered that the Norse colonies in Southern Greenland had disappeared.

















Lars' knee does not especially enjoy getting in and out of Zodiacs, and the walk around Hvalsey was on very irregular ground (and we didn't bring our hiking sticks), so he opted to stay on the ship for the afternoon. Sheila took advantage of the chance to visit the first town we've come to in Greenland, Qaqortoq. Hopefully, this is a correct pronunciation--the ship wifi doesn't allow for streaming!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dITdDNbxAQs&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD

Towns in Greenland are quite colorful!

Qaqortoq is the 4th largest town in Greenland, with about 4,000 inhabitants.



We got to sample several local dishes! Clockwise from top left:
Lamb, potatoes, and gravy
Dried cod and smoked Arctic char
Cabbage salad
Pickled turnip (small white cubes)
Pickled something, I forget
Pickled angelica (the rings)
Pickled seaweed in the middle
The only thing I didn't care for was the dried cod. The pickles were all sweet.


Then we had a walking tour around town. 
The church dates to 1832



Our lovely local guide, Katarina!
She knit the sweater she's wearing!

There were many granite sculptures around town.
The artist Aka Hoegh challenged 40 local artists to create art in stone.

This artist heard voices talking to her one night, and she carved them into this cliff.


Suddenly, some Arctic Gentians!




This one's a bit hard to see--it's a blue whale.



Narwhals!



Comments

  1. KitkatpoppinsJuly 31, 2025 at 6:19 PM

    Very cool & beautiful carvings. Love that she did it and so well executed.

    ReplyDelete

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