Quick trivia question: What city contains THREE “Qs” and is the fourth-largest in its country?? If you read today’s heading, you already know that it is – Qaqortoq. And even though it is the fourth-largest in Greenland, Qaqortoq only has 3,500 residents. That gives you an idea of how few people live in any given city in general.
The city was founded in 1774, but evidence of human civilization goes back 4,300 years. In the 10th and 12th centuries, Norse and Inuit settlers inhabited the area. The city has evolved into a seaport and trading hub for fish and shrimp processing, tanning, fur production, and ship maintenance and repair.
Walking around, we found it delightful and so much bigger than the first port we visited in Greenland. That was a tiny residential village, whereas this felt more like a city. It is built on a hill, so there were lots of things to climb to. And there were shops, cafes, restaurants, TWO churches, grocery stores, and a hotel. So it was quite a walk of discovery. The oldest fountain in Greenland is found here in the middle of the Old Town, and even has a name – Mindebronden. We went into a grocery store, as we like to do, since they often reveal clues about the culture. But we found it to be pretty normal, and it had substantially more fresh fruit and vegetables than Tahiti did, earlier this year, although Greenland really can’t grow anything with its rocky soil and cold temperatures most of the year. Since Qaqortoq is more southerly than our first town, Paamiut, it was 5-6 degrees warmer, about 48 degrees. In the sun, wearing a jacket was a little uncomfortably warm, even. Back to the grocery store – we had heard a local delicacy was reindeer stew, but all the meat sold seemed to be beef, lamb, and chicken. And proving how civilized it is, the store carried Spicy Nacho Doritos, Lay’s Potato Chips, and Snickers bars!
The whole city was filled with wildflowers. Houses were largely built to take advantage of views of the harbor. Once again, there were no sidewalks – pedestrians shared the road with vehicles. There were several dirt paths up the hill, made through frequent use of them. We spied one incredibly long staircase with people trudging up. It is a great city to keep your heart healthy, with all the aerobic walking required. We noticed that many of the older residents used mobility scooters to get around the streets. Very understandable!
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