Arctic Journey: Brattahlíð and Qassiarsuk

The morning of July 25th found us anchored off the small settlement of Qassiarsuk, where our main interest was Brattahlíð, or Brattahlid, the estate of Erik the Red. We disembarked using an experimental device fabricated aboard the Explorer called the dry lander, so called because it allowed guests to land without getting their feet wet. It's not suitable for all beaches, but it worked for this one.

Once we're on the beach we can doff the lifejackets, placing them in large sacks.

In Quassiarsuk there are both the ruins of Brattahlid and modern reconstructions of the church and longhouse. Because of the diminutive nature of both buildings, we were split into 6 groups and rotated through them over a three-hour period. The reconstructions are in the upper left of this map.

The story of the coming of Christianity to Greenland is told in this plaque (click to enlarge).

A guide met us at the reconstructions.

In this photo, taken when guests weren't tramping around, the longhouse is on the left and the church, named Þjóðhildarkirkja (Thjoldhild's church) on the right.

The interior is quite small; indeed, it's really a chapel and not a church.

Thjodhild, Erik the Red's wife, converted to Christianity and, the story goes, was forced to employ the strategy of Lysistrata before Erik would agree to build her a church, which nonetheless was placed some distance from the home, as shown in the earlier map. Turf helps to insulate the structure.

Then it was time for us to file into the longhouse.

This corner was near the entrance.

Our guide described life in and the features of the longhouse. At the far end is a Norse loom, and to the right of the guide is a bedchamber.

Upon leaving the longhouse the group split up for exploration, and soon I noticed a jet landing at an airstrip across the fjord, at Narsarsuaq (population about 150).

Narsarsuaq is the principal airfield for southwestern Greenland, with seasonal international flights. The jet on the runway has "JT" on the tail, which stands for Jet Time, a Danish charter airline.

The airfield was constructed in 1941 by the United States, code-named Bluie West One, and became part of the North Atlantic ferry route for World War II. This route enabled single-engine aircraft to fly from the US to the UK with no segment longer than 850 miles (Maine to Labrador to Greenland to Iceland to Scotland). My father was a navigator who ferried many B-17s across the North Atlantic during the war, but those four-engine bombers were able, unloaded, to fly directly from Newfoundland to Scotland. Many Greenland airfields had their origins in WWII, including the international airport at Kangerlussuaq.

Not far from the reconstructions is a low bluff, with sculpture at its base.

From the top of the bluff there's a good view down the fjord and along the settlement. In the foreground the remains of the original Norse buildings are visible.

On the right-hand edge of the above panorama you can glimpse the current-day church. Here's a closer view.

I also captured a good image of the reconstructed chapel juxtaposed with the ever-present ice.

Joan and I took the upper route to a statue of Leif Ericson. We passed through a sheep gate (close the gate behind you!) and visited the cemetery along the way, lower left in this view from Google Maps.

This picture was taken while inside the cemetery fence.

The statue of Leif is accessible by a short path from the spot where the road makes a 90º bend, lower right in the above map.

Leif, son of Eric the Red and Thjodhild, was probably born in Iceland but grew up in this settlement. While in Norway he converted to Christianity and was charged by King Olaf Tryggvason to bring Christianity to Greenland -- doubtless his mother was one of his first converts. He is also known for exploring the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland (Vinland).

We took the short path down to the main road.

The first thing we encountered at the bottom was the hostel.

Just next was this tribute to Leif. We thought it looked a great deal like expedition staff member Tom Ritchie.

A little later on, there were Greenland ponies, admired by everybody who came by.

Especially the pale-eyed one.

Adjacent was a plaque honoring Otto Frederiksen, who first started sheep breeding in Greenland in 1924, here in Qassiarsuk.

We walked by the church again and were able to visit the interior. I approve of their color choices.

Joan and I felt it was mandatory to pay our respects to the actual site of Thjoldhild's church.

But of course the Norse were not the first inhabitants of Greenland. There are dwelling remains and middens from earlier Arctic peoples here as well.

After returning to the Explorer Joan and I watched the staff bring the dry lander back to the ship, pushed by the zodiac.

It looked ungainly, but hoisting the dry lander up to the deck went smoothly.

The weather turned drizzly as we sailed down the fjord. There was nobody standing at the bow.

The afternoon offered some down time and also two talks as the Explorer sailed towards Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The National Geographic photographers Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson presented The Viking Story, and Ragnar Hauksson talked about The Norse In Greenland. My most prominent memory of this afternoon is learning how many different proposals exist for what went wrong for the Norse in Greenland: not only climate change, but also soil erosion and degradation, European pirate/whaler raids, the rise of the Hanseatic League and, most interesting to me, the collapse of their export business to Europe when Europe was gripped by the Black Death, which wiped out at least one-third of the population in the mid-14th Century. The Norse had traded live falcons, polar bear skins, narwhal tusks, and walrus tusks and hides for those many items unavailable or in short supply in Greenland. I suspect the truth will not lie in a single cause, and that not all Norse left for the same reason.

I'll finish this entry with a scene of a guest in repose and reading in the lounge.

Arctic Journey: Qaqortok

The Explorer approached Qaqortoq as we finished lunch. Qaqortoq is the fourth-largest town in Greenland, with about 3200 inhabitants. Just like Nanortalik, it sprawls around a harbor.

Here in Greenland "taking your truck into town" has a whole new meaning.

In 1993-4 the artist Aka Hoegh presided over the Stone & Man project, aimed at transforming Qaqortoq into an open air art gallery. It attracted numerous artists and there are now 40 works in the town. Several of these were just opposite our dock.

There was also a stand of Greenland's national flower, the Niviarsiaq -- commonly known in North America as broad-leafed fireweed.

Joan and I joined one of the groups taking a guided tour. One early stop, after the Stone & Man works, was a museum. Here is a room showing typical early 20th Century living for the Greenlanders; the resident Danes usually lived more comfortably.

The top floor is dedicated to Charles Lindbergh, who stayed here during part of his 1933 visit to Greenland, scouting possible routes for transAtlantic flight on behalf of Pan Am. The plane he flew acquired its nickname of Tingmissartoq in Greenland.

Elsewhere there was this display of Inuit costume.

And a display of various styles of that Inuit invention, the kayak.

Then our group moved on to the town fountain, the oldest in Greenland, built in 1927. I apologize to our guide for taking this picture when she was busy answering a question; there will be a better one towards the end.

This is the sign at the nearby fish market.

A vendor is selling seal meat.

The next stop was the older of two Lutheran churches in Qaqortoq, established in 1832.

We were able to go inside.

Directly adjacent to the church is a small mortuary chapel. This stores coffins (occupied) which can't be buried in winter because of the frozen ground, but must wait until spring. The municipality digs spare graves each summer based on an actuarial estimate, but there are years with extra demand.

Here our group disbanded to allow individual exploration. Joan and I used the provided map to investigate two viewpoints. On the way, we saw this piece of yard art.

The first viewpoint was uninteresting, but the next one provided a great view down to the harbor. The lupine in the foreground is commonly planted here and in Iceland to combat erosion.

Along the way we passed apartment blocks with unusual porch/stairways, and children playing on or with whatever was handy.

Then Joan and I scrambled down the hill to the Hotel Qaqortoq, visible from our viewpoint. At 4:30 there was a Greenlandic Food Tasting, buffet style, at the hotel, and we didn't want to be late. The items on offer included dried cod, whale blubber, lumpfish roe, dried seal meat, smoked Arctic trout, reindeer paté, and more, all of which I failed to photograph. I skipped the blubber and roe, but tasted most of the rest.

After dinner aboard ship we were treated to a performance of traditional Inuit drum dancing, whose origins are at least 4500 years old. These dances can reflect personal expression, be a source of entertainment, and a method of dueling to settle serious disputes. Here our guide from the afternoon stands beside the performer.

I recorded this shorter, one-minute dance. Note that the drummer strikes the edge of the drum, not the stretched skin.

After our guests departed we set sail again, with another worthwhile sunset at hand.

Tomorrow we will visit Brattahlíð, or Brattahlid, Erik the Red's estate and probably the site of the first church in the New World.