Greenland: June 2025: Day 5: Nuuk

Greenland

June 2025: Day 5: Nuuk

Old Camp, aka the hostel right next to the airport in Kangerlussuaq.

Fun direction pole at the airport.

USAF C-130H upgraded with Hamilton Sundstrand NP2000 8-bladed propellors.

Air Greenland DHC-8-200, OY-GRG "Suloraq."

SFJ-JAV pretty empty?

Enjoying more sea ice.

Arrival in Ilulissat.

Time for a loaded hot dog. Was it reindeer?

Air Greenland AS350 helicopter.

Ilulissat's new runway under construction.

Nearing Nuuk.

Air Greenland's sole Airbus A330-800neo, OY-GKN "Tuukaq."

OY-GRG "Suloraq" and OY-GRO "Qasapi."

A330neo dwarfs the little De Havilland Canada DHC-8-200's.

Hotel Nordbo apartment.

A few days a week, Sarfalik offers a Greenlandic buffet.

Caribou (top right), musk box (top center), ammassat (bottom left).

View from the top of the Hotel Hands Egede.

From top/left-to-right, ammassat, musk ox, caribou, lamb, reindeer (?), scallop, porpoise, narhwal.

Close-up of narwhal (pinker flesh) and porpoise (thinner grey skin, face-down).

Ammassat (dried capelin), atop musk ox (left) and caribou.

Walking northwest.

Into the sunset. Except the sun never sets this time of year.

Walking north/northwest.

Mother of the Sea sculpture.

Reverse angle, looking south.

Myggedalen Panoramic View, aka the most famous view in Nuuk.

Different angle, down by the water.

Zoomed in.

Nuuk Boardwalk.

Reverse angle, back north.

Many very old apartment buildings.

Old apartment building and the boardwalk.

Definitely not how Greenlandic people used to live.

Got more of a taste of Greenland's weather delays on the morning return to Nuuk. Scott chose the cheaper option, Kangerlussuaq to Ilulissat to Nuuk, which to be fair actually worked out as weather was worse in the morning and got better as the day progressed-- so while we were stuck in Ilulissat (JAV) for a good while, we probably would have gotten stuck even on the morning non-stop from Kangerlussuaq (SFJ) to Nuuk (GOH). I can say that Ilulissat Airport absolutely fills up when flights are delayed, and that the little food stand there serves an edible hot dog.

Arrival in Nuuk meant the much more spacious Hotel Nordbo, which actual rents out entire apartments, complete with washer and dryers in the building (!).

Caught up with some other passengers from the inaugural flight for dinner at Restaurant Sarfalik, at the top of the Hotel Hans Egede. There's a buffet a few nights a week where you can get the full spread of local delicacies: porpoise, narwhal, caribou, reindeer, musk ox, and ammassat (capelin). In the interest of the full experience, that's what everyone got. The first two are pretty chewy and nearly inedible, apparently they are good sources of Vitamin C, which is crucial and historically unavailable through other means. Ammassat is dried and pretty edible, but maybe not a favorite? Between the meats, plus lamb, it was clear why some were prepeared very thin sliced (musk ox) and pretty thin sliced (caribou) as they'd be quite tough.

The views at Sarfalik are top-notch tho, as befits one of the nicest restaurants in Nuuk, and the evening exploration of Nuuk was well worth the trouble. Myggedalen Panoramic View is the definitive photo of Nuuk, and the boardwalk in Nuuk, while nothing special, is a nice bit of wooden stairs and walkways on the coast, in front of some of Nuuk's oldest and most ugly apartment buildings.