Greenland had always been a fantasizing place for both Yesha and me. As a kid, I used to dream of being here one day, and so we were both looking up to this country. Country #35 for both of us. And don’t be mistaken by its name, Greenland is not Green but completely white!
We decided to fly in from Copenhagen since there are limited flights to Greenland, in fact you can only fly in from Iceland and Denmark. We flew into Kangerlussuaq via Air Greenland. Make sure you pay for baggage prior to flying as they are very strict about the weight restrictions.
Once at the airport, we just dragged the bags to our hotel as the whole place is small and was inhabited by just 40 people then. For our day plan, we could catch hold of a local cab driver, and asked him to drive us to Russel glacier. The drive took about an hour, and we spent good 2 hours at the glacier, amazed by what was in front of us. The sheer size of the glacier was scary and beautiful at the same time. Little did we know that bigger icebergs and glaciers were awaiting us. We headed back to hotel and went for a walk-in evening in the village. It was amazing in a sense that there is no-one you can see for miles, and it was full daylight even at 11 PM. The amazing phenomena of 24 hours daylight had just begun.
The next morning, we headed to Ilulissat, the second most populous town in Greenland. The first evening, we took a cruise amongst the biggest glaciers and icebergs in the world. It is not surprising that it is the iceberg from this very glacier that took down Titanic. The glacier moves the fastest here more than anywhere else on the planet.
And this night I had a small surprise for Yesha as she was turning 25. Speaking to the local guide, I could arrange for some pastries and it was then on our private boat we started her silver jubilee birthday celebration among the giant Icebergs. Gosh I still can’t forget her expression at the surprise.
The next morning we had planned a cruise to Eqi glacier to celebrate her birthday. We had a wonderful guide, and he told us about the geography and history behind the place and numerous villages with handful of people in Greenland. We finally got to the glacier and enjoyed our lunch watching some magnificent glacial calving.
I flew my drone and got some amazing shots, but almost lost my drone in the process. While getting to the glacier, we could literally hear our ship breaking the ice and going ahead and that sound was just incredible.
On our way back, the weather was turbulent, but we made it back on time as planned. We were also offered some fresh water from one of the natural sources along the ocean (yes, you read that right), and boy was it good!
Later around midnight, we decided to enjoy some sea kayaking and it was very nice to kayak amongst the big icebergs having some Baliey shots picking little ice cubes from the water in between. It was as exciting as it sounds. And after all it was Yesha’s birthday so we certainly wanted to do something.
The 3rd day in Ilulissat was all about exploring the little town and relaxing a bit ahead of our long trip to Iceland. We could get some good Veg Thai/ Chinese food in the Ice Fiord hotel- a restaurant which had a beautiful view of an iceberg very close to it.
We also walked through the town to see different houses, and were amazed to see some corporate offices including those from Deloitte. The long day ending with some good sound sleep in daylight. 🙂 It was indeed by far one of our best experiences & we would love to go back to Greenland some day.
Some fun facts about this trip that the blog doesn’t say. Stay tuned on our Instagram to know more!
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