Voyage 12 - Greenland Disko Bay

Day 2: Sisimiut
19 August 2019 – Our First Settlement
After a good and healthy breakfast in the morning, we
all met in the Viking Theatre to get briefed about our
day in Sisimiut.
Sisimiut, the capital of the Qeqqata Kommunia, has
5500 inhabitants and is the second largest city in
Greenland after Nuuk. The city was founded in 1764
but the area of Sisimiut has been inhabited by people
of the Saqqaq and Dorset culture as well as the Thule
people, whom the current population is descendants
from, for nearly 4500 years. First established as a
trading station Holsteinborg, which mainly traded
reindeer hide, the city is today one of Greenland’s
education towns with an Engineering school and a
foreign language school to name a few.
We had guided walks into the town to visit our very
first Greenlandic settlement. From the ship we headed
to the oldest part of Sisimiut which is a museum today.
There we were offered a variety of Greenlandic food
to taste. For example, seal blubber, reindeer soup, and
dried cod. Well fed, we continued towards the Blue
Church, which is one of the oldest churches in
Greenland.
© Renato Granieri Photography
From the Voyage Log
Page 8
© Renato Granieri Photography
After our guided walk through Sisimiut we had the
opportunity to visit the museum and the different
shopping possibilities before most of us headed back to
the ship for lunch.
In the afternoon, a guided hike was offered to a nearby
island from which we had a new point of view towards
the colorful painted houses. The sunny weather in
combination with the beautiful scenery made this hike
to something really special.
Back on board and departing from Sisimiut we all went
to the Viking Theatre to listen to a mandatory Zodiac
safety briefing to prepare ourselves for our landing on
the next day. Before dinner, we met again in the Viking
Theatre to listen to our plans for the following day in
detail and to be officially welcomed by our Hotel
Manager Oliver who introduced the services on board.
Then it was time for the Captains welcome cocktail
party and the introduction of the officers of our home
far from home for the next days.
The Blue Church was constructed in Denmark and then
shipped to Sisimiut after the citizens bought it from
the Danes for 60 barrels of whale oil. As the town
grew, there was not enough space in the church for all
citizens. Therefore in 1925, a new church was build,
the “Red Church”. We entered it and were amazed by
the beautiful wooden construction work inside.
While we continued our guided walk, we also saw a
couple of Greenlandic dogs. These dogs are working
dogs and not used to be pet. So, we admired them
from the distance while they enjoyed with us this
gorgeous sunny day.
© Renato Granieri Photography
18-23 August, 2019 Volume 1, Issue 12