Ammassalik, Greenland - one fjord, three hamlets, ice wonders

Ammassalik Fjord is a 41 km long fjord in southeastern Greenland.

Coordinates: 65°43'N, 37°42' W

The fjord area has become one of the top attractions in Greenland, due to the fabulous sceneries of iced mountains and waters, and the colourful houses cascading downhill to the fjord's waters. Also kayaking and dog sledding excursions have a growing demand.

There are three settlements in the vicinity of the fjord: Tasiilaq, Kulusuk and Kuummiut:

The Ammassalik fjord area

Ammassalik island

The main settlement of the archipelago, Tasiilaq, is located in Ammassalik island, just south of the mouth of the Fjord, approximately 106 km south of the Arctic Circle, on the shore of a natural harbour. Tasiilaq is surrounded by the high Ammassalik mountains, away from the open sea...

Late afternoon, with view over the Kong Oscar Havn and the mountains

With almost 2000 inhabitants, it is the most populous community on the eastern coast, and the seventh-largest town in Greenland. It slopes like a cascade of coloured houses down to the fjord's waters packed with icebergs.

House with a view on Ammassalik mountain and the fjord

Tasiilaq has a museum of inuit arts and History, a hotel and other facilities, and it has a strategic harbour - Kong Oscar Havn - where goods are brought by special supply cargos from Royal Arctic Line.

The old church, now a Museum

Bench decoration inside the church

Ivory decorated box

Tasiilaq receives supply ships only between June and September, because for the rest of the year the pack ice is too thick for ships to reach the port. The supply ship from Arctic Line unloads at Kong Oskars Havn. Supplies are vital to the inhabitants, so the arrival of the year's first cargo ship has been waited for long.

Further to the southeast of the mouth, the village of Kulusuk

Kulusuk family and their sledge

The typical many-coloured houses, imported from Denmark

Kulusuk ( pop. 300 ) is situated on the East coast, at 65º N. A truly remarkable place, because of its hostile nature and the fact that it has been cut off from the rest of the world for centuries.

But now the settlement is more visited for its airport, the most important of the East coast, and for being the departing point for several excursions by kayak, dog sled or helicopter.

The airport terminal and the local "taxi"

The airport also provides supplies, and brings danish teachers and medical staff who give basic assistance to the mostly inuit inhabitants.

The local hotel has conquered some reputation among ice-adventure tourists. As the other settlements in Ammassalik, Kulusuk remains relatively immune to Western influence despite the regular influx of tourists.

Hotel Kulusuk, an ideal location for ice adventure

The village of Kuummiut lays on the shores of Ammassalik fjord, located on the eastern coast of its central part, perched on the tip of a partially glaciated mainland peninsula, like a perfect jewel in the fjord.

Here is the link to a blog with wondeful photos by Carl Skou, a danish teacher who's working there since 2000:

http://www.kuummiut.com/

Kuummiut in January's sun, by Carl Skou

Sometime ago, I also published this small post related to this subject.

Reflections on the fjord's waters, Kuummiut

Irene over New York

Oh Irene ! What a woman - she left New Yorkers' heads spinning round!

Well, almost nothing then. But what a beauty she was, all that whiteness swirling as seen from the sky above...

Photo NASA

Cambridge Bay, Victoria IslandHere lies the wreck of Amundsen's Maud

Cambridge Bay, on the southern edge of Victoria Island (arctic archipelago of Canada) is a colourful Inuit settlement in the arctic semi-desert tundra.

Location: 69°07′ N, 105°03′ W

The anglican church

The sea-bay front and the antenna.

The arctic visitor centre

Remains of an old stone church

With a land area of more than 200,000 square kilometres, Victoria Island is the ninth-largest island in the world. The region belongs to the territory of Nunavut in extreme north-eastern Canada.

The population of Cambridge Bay is around 1500 people. The native name of the settlement, Iqaluktuttiaq, means "a good place with many fish".

Inuit drum player

Dry arctic char, the local speciality.

The name of Cambridge Bay traces back to the year 1839, when the district was mapped by the Hudson's Bay Company, the skin trade emporium, with a small outpost there:

Hudson's Bay Company cabin

In the 1940s a lighthouse was built in Cambridge Bay, followed during the Cold War in the 1950s by a large radar system which is no longer in operation.

These new conditions led to an increase in population, who had to live in an inhospitable region where average temperatures never rise above 10 °C in summer and the thermometer falls to average levels of below –30 °C in winter.

School bus stop

To enable so many people to live permanently in isolation, the hamlet has numerous facilities in its centre including schools, a health center, a swimming pool...

The shipwreck of the Maud

You are made for ice
You shall spend your best years in the ice And you shall do your work in the ice

In 1918, Roald Amundsen had launched an expedition through the North-East Passage. He had the ship Maud built for this purpose.

The Maud

The expedition failed, and in August 1925 the Maud was taken over by the Hudson's Bay Company and used as a supply ship for Cambridge Bay, where she sank in 1930. Today, parts of the hull offer a reminder of this chapter in the opening up of the Arctic.

The ship now lies just off the shore in the bay, across the frozen ice from Cambridge Bay's former Hudson's Bay Company store.

Tundra vegetation surrounds the hamlet area:

Musk oxen are common in Victoria island:

Cambridge Bay in Nunavut's Arctic Archipelago:

Glendalough, St Kelvin's monastic city

When you see such an old, ususual, humble human work, with a primitive and ascetic grandeur, you can´t but stand in amazement in presence of the kind of universal work of mankind that makes History.

The location of the monastic city of Glendalough is in itself another wonder - a valley (Glen) through which run small water lines fed by two lakes (da-lough), all hidden and encircled by the green Wicklow Mounts.

In the latter part of the sixth century, Saint Kelvin (~498 - 618 ), Dublin´s patron saint, crossed the mountains from Hollywood (Ireland) to Glendalough. The path he took later became known as St. Kevin's Way. This track facilitated the development of Glendalough, so that within 100 years it had developed from a remote hermitage site into one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland: with its seven churches, it became the chief pilgrimage destination and a veritable city in the desert.

St. Kevin

Situated in a remote valley and in an upland area, the site kept hidden for sometime from Vikking coastal attacks; but once discovered it was an easy target, and many times between 775 and 1095 it was under atack by both local tribes and Norse invaders. Usually the churches and houses were burned, but each time the monastery was rebuilt.

As its fame spread, the monastery flourished and its success continued after St. Kevin died in 617 AD.

Monasteries in pre-Norman Ireland were a considerable economic force, and were sufficiently well organised as to be capable of withstanding periodic crises and famines. The population there may have been around 500 - 1 000 people. Many would have been employed by the monastery - tending flocks, tilling, sowing and harvesting. In addition to stores of treasure, most monasteries maintained substantial stocks of food.

The Round Tower

Perhaps the most noticeable monument, the Round Tower is about 30 metres high. The narrow entrance is about 3.5 metres from the base ! That's why it resisted to so many invaders.

Round towers were multi-functional. They served as landmarks for visitors, bell-towers, store-houses, and as places of refuge in times of attack.

St. Kevin's "kitchen"

This church is most noticeable for its steep roof formed of overlapping stone, supported internally by a semi-circular vault. The belfry has a stone cap and four windows facing north, south, east and west, and is reminiscent of a round tower.

With the arrival of the Anglo-Normans a dramatic change occured within the political landscape of Ireland. Both ecclesiastical and political activity centred around Dublin. Subsequently, Glendalough was annexed to the diocese of Dublin and its importance declined.

Despite this, the place has retained a spiritual significance.

Nowadays, we can only see the ruins among a very beautiful graveyard, with plenty of celtic crosses, among green meadows and hillsides, suggesting meditation and contemplation.

Location map: