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Venture: Iceland & Greenland
  • Lorna Spaas
  • Paul Spaas

Venture: Iceland & Greenland

A 29-day adventure by Lorna & Paul Read more
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  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Prince Christian Sund

    July 31 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    We have spent the day making our way through the fjord of Prince Christian Sund, diverting into a small fjord to see a glacier, and later on this afternoon, going into another arm off the main fjord to Kangikitsoq. At the end of it was a valley with huge boulders strewn across it.

    Paul and I were tired, so we didn't get off. Our cabin neighbours had their t.v. on loud until quite late last night - which I was not happy about.

    The weather wasn't particularly good either. Raining, or misty.

    As we sail through the rest of the fjord towards Qaqortoq, clouds are hanging low, and it might well be that there is fog tonight.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Qaqortoq

    August 1 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Paul was up during the night because of the fog, so he got to bed after 5 am, yawn.

    The Venture arrived just outside Qaqortoq's harbour, and Paul and I were able to go after Paul's meeting on the Bridge.

    We didn't have much time because the last zodiac to the boat was at 1.30 pm so that the ship could sail up the fijord to Hvalsey.

    We took a walk to visit the museum and church, then on to a supermarket where Paul picked up a packet of Rye bread flour and Rye bread snacks. I went for dried apple slices and fudge liquorice. Time was marching, and we didn't have time to walk around the harbour to another shop so we stopped on the harbour road and had liquorice ice cream at a small café selling coffee and artisan ice cream. Yum. We sat on a bench outside the café building, looking out of the harbour and towards the Venture.

    Back on board, we were in time for a late lunch.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Hvalsey

    August 1 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Paul had a nap after lunch and woke up in time for us to go ashore with one of the last groups. Fortunately, there weren't many mosquitoes to bug us - they forgot to bring their families and friends!

    Hvalsey is a Unesco World Heritage Site with the ruins of a church and farmstead. Go to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvalsey for more information.

    We had a walk to the ruins and then up a small viewpoint where we could see more ruins below. From there, we walked up to a ridge and down to more ruins - a stone enclosure, likely to hold sheep or livestock.

    It was a beautiful area and was well worth visiting.

    A young woman joined the ship in Qaqortoq to be our Unesco Heritage guide and will be taken back to Qaqortoq later this evening on our way to towards tomorrow's stop.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Brattahlid/Qassiarsuk

    August 2 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Brattahlid is a working farm with lots of history dating back to the 10th century. It is also a World Heritage Site. Many people come to visit the site or stay on the farm in 2 youth hostels and go hiking to the glacier or towards the ice cap.

    We were just there for a few hours this morning, just enough time to visit the place, but not quite enough time...

    We visited a partly reconstructed sod house, a reconstructed sod house which is a museum, and reconstructed tiny sod church. There were ruins of stables, halls, and other farm dwellings. We visited a wooden church and the former house of Otto Frederiksen, who started the farm.

    It was an interesting place and well worth the visit.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Nuuk

    August 3 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Paul was up soon after midnight due to fog and didn't get back until after 6 am.

    He slept much of the morning and was awake when I got back from the day's briefing for tomorrow.

    I noticed that there had been last-minute cancellations for 2 of free hiking tours that were offered to guests. (Some tours are free, other tours - guests pay for.) Paul was happy for me to see if we could get last minute tickets for the shorter, 2 hour hike, and we got put on it. Yay.

    Cirkus Lake Hike Experience - tour.

    After a short bus ride around the bay, we were dropped off at the side of the road and started our way, past blocks of flats, up a hill to the lake.

    The lake is called Qallussuaq tasia in the local language, or in Danish: Cirkusssøen' lake. It is a fresh water lake that provides drinking water to Nuuk, so fishing and swimming are not allowed, and dogs are not allowed in either.

    We did a nice circular route around it and walked back to the road via a slightly different path.

    The lake is quite pretty, surrounded by mountains, and at the top of one side of the mountains is a ski resort that runs in the winter.

    When we finished the walk, we could get dropped off in town or go back to the ship.

    Paul and I decided to visit the museum, and after that, we walked by Church of our Saviour, Hans Egede staue, and in the water of a small bay - a statue called Mother of the Sea. Hans Egede, according to Wikipedia, was "a Norwegian Lutheran priest and missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inuit and is credited with revitalizing Danish-Norwegian interest in the island after contact had been broken for about 300 years."

    We decided it was time to head back to the ship, but on our way, we stopped at a local supermarket and got some ice cream, which we ate on our walk back to the ship. Yum.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Kapisillit

    August 4 in Greenland ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Paul was up again during the night because of fog and ice and ended up getting to bed around 5.30 am.

    The ship's arrival off Kapisillit was a bit delayed because of ice coming off a glacier off one of the side arms of the fijord. The passage was slower than anticipated.

    Because there are no depth soundings, the ship couldn't sail closer to the landing site, so it was a 10 to 15 minute zodiac ride to the landing site.

    On landing, we could follow markers across the tundra, which was boggy at times. We wished that we had worn the Bogs boots!

    The walk was lovely and eventually got to the top of a hill overlooking another fjord where there was lots of ice. The panoramic view was well worth the hour's trek.

    When we got back to the zodiac landing site, I felt like going into the water for a dip. The sun was out, and we were in a beautiful place. The expedition team gave me the all-clear to go. There was a small bay on the other side of the huge rock that separated it and the landing zone, so I went in there so my swim wouldn't interfere with zodiacs coming and going. Paul thought I was mad! Fortunately, I was wearing my swimming costume underneath the layers, and I had packed a hand towel to dry off afterwards. The water was cold, so I didn't stay in long. I went to dry off, but then the water called me back in, so I went in again and stayed a bit longer. I felt invigorated afterwards!

    Once we were back on board the ship, we had some soup for lunch and then went and sat in one of the hot tubs for a while. The sun was nice and warm, so we were able to sit outside on our cabin's balcony afterwards.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland
    Pink/red is from algae

    Evighedsfjorden zodiac cruise

    August 5 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Paul was up with the fog last night from around midnight and didn’t get to bed until after 6 am this morning.

    He was awake in time for one of the last colour groups to go for a zodiac ride.

    We were first taken by zodiac towards the foot of the side of a glacier, and we breached onto a nice smooth rock in order for us to step on land and see a bit of the tidal glacier, as well as the rest of it on the mountainside above us.

    After a glass of champagne (a table was set up on the rocks), we walked/climbed up to a ridge and bit higher up so that we could see more of the base of the glacier.

    Unfortunately, low cloud cover hampered visibility higher up. The glacier above us was dirty, having gathered a lot of dirt as it scraped its way down the valleys high above us. (As one guest commented: "it looks like someone had forgotten to clean the glacier!") The part of the glacier to our left and that went down to the waterline was fairly clean.

    After 20 minutes/half an hour, we climbed back into a waiting zodiac and had a cruise to see the cleaner side of the glacier. While viewing it, quite a bit of calving took place, and one bigger calving caused waves, and we bobbed over the resulting micro tsunami motion.

    With the excitement over, we went along the coastline of the fjord to see cliffs full of birds, some nesting. Kittiwakes, Arctic petrels and Arctic terns. It was lovely.

    All too soon, we had to head back to the ship. This afternoon, the Venture will continue to go further up the fjord for more scenic cruising.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Sisimiut

    August 6 in Greenland ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

    We docked in the lovely town of Sisimiut (formerly known as Holstenborg). We were able to go ashore and visited, mainly, the older part of town with its various museum buildings - boat house, blacksmith, old chuch that has been restored, sod house reconstruction and a house that was the museum office and shop, and 2 houses that were museums. We also took a walk up the hill to a large church, but it wasn't open, unfortunately.

    We were a bit pressed for time because we were booked to go on an organised 3.5-hour hike at lunchtime, and we had to be back on time. It was raining so we decided not to go. waterproofs are not so waterproof! We managed to cancel our place on the hike . We noticed quite a few names were scratched out on the list - others had cancelled, too!

    After lunch, we sat in the hot tub for a while, a bit longer than we had anticipated. It didn't matter because we weren't going anywhere else.

    The Venture is now waiting for the last guests to board, and then we will sail towards Kangerlussuaq.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Kangerlussuaq - cruise end.

    August 7 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    This morning, the Venture stopped off the Kangerlussuaq coastline, and zodiacs took guests ashore. Most of them are leaving, their cruise is at an end. 60 guests are staying on for the next cruise.

    Busses were waiting near the small pier to take departing guests on a tour before they caught a charter flight out of Greenland.

    Paul and I waited on board until after lunch before heading ashore in a zodiac. Transport was organised to take us to the airport hotel.

    The road was not in the best state of repair, so we were in for a bumpy ride, about a 15 to 20 minute drive to Kangerlussuaq and its tiny airport.

    Kangerlussuaq is a former USA military base dating back to WWII.

    The airport hotel rooms are extremely basic and the cost of the room is very expensive for what it is (over €200). Having said that, the hotel is the best in town. The hotel also has 3 dormitories. In town, there are 3 or 4 hostels, all catering for hikers/backpackers or a few tourists, but from what we saw, many are serious long-distance hikers.

    Paul and I found some liquorice ice cream in a tiny café just outside the airport building and enjoyed eating it as we walked around the runway perimeter and into the rest of Kangerlussuaq and back again. The town seems to be split in half by the runway.

    We have decided to book a 5 hour tour tomorrow to use up some of the time between checking out of our room by 10am and our flight at 8pm.

    Tomorrow is another day.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland
    The aeroplane we will board once the passengers have disembarked
    Sunset above the clouds in GreenlandNearing CopenhagenWe have arrived

    Copenhagen Airport

    August 8 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    We finally left Kangerlussuaq. It was a sad farewell as we have become fond of Greenland and the places we have visited.

    We are now waiting for our next flight to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We are severely lacking sleep, having had probably 2 hours so far during the 4 hour flight, and bearing in mind we lost time because of the time difference between Greenland and Denmark

    We are tanking up on red bull to keep awake.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Kangerlussuaq Airport

    August 8 in Greenland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    After breakfast, Paul and I put our luggage in the hotel luggage storage room and headed out on a tour: Greenland Ice Sheet, Point 660.

    Unfortunately it left half an hour late because the bus had to be changed to another one. The original bus had engine problems.

    The drive to the ice sheets was about 37km along a gravel road built originally by Volkswagen to test their vehicles in extreme conditions.

    We saw reindeer and also the remains of a downed 1940's military aeroplane - it ran out of fuel due to poor landing conditions.

    We reached the end of the road and walked over glacier moraine to the glacier and walked a short distance to take in the surroundings. It was amazing despite the rain.

    When we arrived at the airport, we discovered some flights were cancelled and some were/are delayed, including ours. We hope to board/depart an hour later - if the notice board system is correct.

    So we are waiting for updates....    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Copenhagen Airport

    August 9 in Denmark ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We finally boarded our flight in Kangerlussuaq around 21:15/21:30 and got about 2 hours sleep during the 4 hour or so flight.

    The pilot did his best to make up some lost time - about half an hour. It was not too bad, but we weren't in a hurry for our next flight compared to other passengers.

    After picking up our luggage, we had to make our way to another terminal to check in our luggage and go through security.

    We are now waiting for our flight to Amsterdam and should be boarding in about an hour or so.    Read more

  • Venture: Iceland & Greenland

    Zoetermeer - journey's end

    August 9 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We boarded the flight in Copenhagen on time, but we sat on the runway for over half an hour because there was heavy fog in Amsterdam, causing delays in air traffic. I guess it was better to hold us up in Copenhagen than circling Schiphol Airport until the fog cleared.

    We finally arrived at Schiphol but had to wait over half an hour for our luggage. The screens said "unloading" and then "delayed" for ages. And then we were informed over the tannoy system that the carousel number had been changed - to the one next to it. But the screens didn't change. We wonder how long our luggage had been on the carousel already. We think someone messed up...

    We took a train to Zoetermeer, and the journey was uneventful compared to the journey we had when we last left Zoetermeer to get to the airport.

    Our journey is now at an end, and we can now get some much needed sleep 😴.    Read more

    Trip end
    August 9, 2025
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