Wednesday 9 July 2014

Day 10 with Hurtigruten in Greenland


Well I have to admit I was worried there. The ship was moving so slowly through the ice pushing and crushing it aside until we made it into Ilulissat. If we'd tried to get in yesterday we wouldn't have made it as the ice was too strong. All credit to the Captain and crew for a great piece of sailing. 

Ilulissat is  large settlement for Greenland and  Hurtigruten laid on a free shuttle bus if you didn't want to walk into town. It took about twenty minutes and I got there early before the shops had opened so I could walk around. It has a fabulous church painted black, very unusual here, dominating the shoreline.

The town is tourist hub mostly because of the glacier which is the largest outside Antarctica and produces incredible icebergs like the one above. These are trapped at the end of the fiord and only break off when the billions of tons of ice pressing down on them wins the battle and pushes them out into the ocean. 

I took the excursion to the Ice Fiord and what an experience it was I can't recommend it highly enough. Others went on a hike or a fabulous helicopter trip over the glacier and fiord. You could spot them afterwards as they were sitting in the bar with a glazed look of wonderment still on their faces.  www.hurtigruten.co.uk

See you tomorrow!


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