1 000 !

Ultima Thule has just reached the 1000 visitors mark. I know it is nothing in the universe of blogs, but this is a young blog with an attitude, so I feel grateful to you all dear visitors, please keep coming and feel at ease to post comments...

Saint John´s night

In my town, Porto, this is the most festive night of the year. Many thousands come out to celebrate Summer in the streets, with bonfires and fireworks all around.
Some say it's a rare example of a peaceful mob gathering without violence to exchange regards, vows, wishes and teasers...St. John also protects young lovers, so many summer love promises are to be said tonight...

It may have been so in times passed, now we will just try to forget the crisis and the growing crime. Eat and drink to better times coming...

Eternity - is Those

As if the Sea should part

As if the Sea should part

And show a further Sea -

And that - a further - and the Three

But a presumption be -

Of Periods of Seas -

Unvisited of Shores -

Themselves the Verge of Seas to be -

Eternity - is Those -

Emily Dickinson

Ittoqqortoormiit, 70°29′ N 21°58′ W

Ittoqqortoormiit ! The name alone is already a promise of a distant quest. The Danes called it Scoresbysund, same as the magnificent fjord where the town is located. (I posted about that in Ultima Thule, here). The inuit name Ittoqqortoormiit means "Place with Big House".

One of the youngest and most remote towns in Greenland, it was founded in 1925 by some 70 Inuit settlers at the request of the arctic explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen.
With just 550 citizens, surrounded by glaciers and sea ice, it is only accesible by helicopter (once a week) or by boat a few months a year.
A truly Thule of the East, facing Iceland and the Jan Mayen island.
School

Hotel

Sports Hall

Inuit child with sled

Ittoqqortoormiit is the most northerly permanent settlement in East Greenland. The region is known for its wildlife which includes polar bears, muskoxen, arctic foxes, seals, walruses, narwhals, shrimp and halibut. That provides hunting and fishing , the main activity for the local community.

Polar bears at Point Barrow, Alaska

Point Barrow is the remote northernmost point of Alaska, a desert region (no rain, no land, no trees) facing the Arctic Ocean. Archaeological evidence dates human habitation by Inupiaq Eskimos in the area from about 500 AD. Its Inupiaq name is Ukpeagvik, meaning “Place Where Owls Are Hunted.”

Snow Owl

Local fauna also includes polar bears, which can be observed in large groups.

The following slide presentation from Slideshare is a collection of bear photos with some extra information about the area.

View more OpenOffice presentations from Mario Ricca.