Maniitsoq , ex- Sukkertoppen, the Venice of Greenland

Maniitsoq (formerly Sukkertoppen ) is a town in western Greenland, the sixth-largest town in te country.

Maniitsoq is located between the two larger towns of Nuuk and Sisimiut.

Coordinates:  65°25′ N, 52°54′ W
[some 120 Km south of the Arctic Circle]

Population:  ~ 2 800 (6th largest town in Greenland)

The town is idyllically placed in the middle of an archipelago, surrounded by fjords and mountains.

Many-coloured houses are scattered up the slope from the sea.

Maniitsoq is one of the most spectacular towns in Greenland, mainly because of its framing by an astonishing scenary.

The local people like to see Maniitsoq as the Venice of the Arctic, as it's built on several islands connected by a few little bridges over the water inlets.

Water is always present.

But in winter this is a snow-white kind of Venice.

Another typical feature is the long staircases climbing uptown from the waterfront area. There are level streets leading along downtown, but to go up the steep slope you must take the staircases.

View at the top :

229 steps to climb...

The old stone church, from 1874, is iconic and one of the best buildings in town.

The Museum consists of four buildings, dating from 19th century colonial era.

These buildings originally stood in the center of town, but in the early 1970s they were moved to the north side of town to leave space for the new fish factory.

At right, B-6,known as 'gingerbread house', and which today houses the museum's art collection.The permanent exhibition consists mainly of art and crafts from local artists.

The Museum offers a good insight into the former settlements and colonial period, and also contains an exhibition of costumes, art and history.

http://www.maniitsoqmuseum.info/345060000

The town was founded as Sukkertoppen , in 1782, by Danish colonists, meaning Sugarloaf, as the nearby mountain suggests. Until 1940, Sukkertoppen was the largest town in Greenland !

The fish farm and factoryare the main economic activity, but tourism has dramatically increased in recent years: the proximity to the Arctic Circle is one of the town's attractions.

Hotel 'Toppen Garni', Maniitsoq

Ideal for kayaking around the islands and into the fjords !

The crater

In July 2012, the existence of a 100 km wide crater centered about 55 km south-east of Maniitsoq was proposed by scientists. The crater structure is believed to be around three billion years old. If confirmed as an impact crater, this crater would be the oldest and largest on earth.

"A 100 km-scale, circular region centered at 65° 15′ N, 51° 50′ W (...) comprises a set of highly unusual geological features that were created during a single event involving intense crushing and heating and are incompatible with crustal orogenic processes."

The deformed granite, spread throughout an area measuring 35 by 50 kilometres, is centred on the supposed impact site. Such large-scale deformation of granite could not have happened over such a large area through any known terrestrial geologic process.

Finnefjeld mountain, 1050 m high, is believed to be the crushed core of the asteroid.

The most compelling evidence is the presence of granite-like rocks that are crushed, melted and pulverised in a way that can only be explained by a sudden, massive impact.

Huge, tremendous, catastrophic event...


---------------------------

Quiet nights in Maniitsoq.

The gorgeous Sable (Sobol), or Zibelin, from around Baikal, Siberia

A Barguzin sable

The Sable (Martes zibellina) is a species which inhabits dense taïga forest areas, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia.

Sables build burrows disguised among the roots of cedar, larch, pine, spruce or birch trees, and in lowlands they build the burrows by the riverbanks. They birth in tree hollows, where they build nests using moss, leaves, and dried grass.

Fallen hollow logs, empty tree stumps, brushwood piles and exposed tree roots are sable's favorite dwelling.

The name sable appears to be of Slavic origin and to have entered most Western European languages via the early medieval fur trade. Thus the Russian соболь (sobol) became Mediaeval Latin zibellina and French zibeline.

Dark brown fur, except for the ears and an orange patch under the chin.

Sables are fast and agile, they jump nimbly between trees and avoid direct sunlight. They are primarily crepuscular, hunting during the hours of twilight.

Their winter fur is thicker and longer.

Sables have been historically hunted for their highly valued silky fur. At least since the 9th century, swedish Vikings traded skins around Lake Ladoga with siberian hunters. 

Sable furs first arrived in western Europe through the norse old town of Birka, on the trading route from the East through the Baltic sea.

Their habitat extends northward to the treeline (limit of trees), and southward to 55–60° latitude in western Siberia, and 42° in the mountainous areas of eastern Asia.

Their western distribution encompasses the Ural mountains, where they share pine forest territory with European martens.


The Barguzin Reserve

The most beautiful and famous of all, the queen sable, is the darker brown/grey sable from Barguzin, the pine forested area around Barguzin river and its mouth at the east shore of Lake Baikal. The 'Barguzin reserve' was the first National Park in Russia.

----------------
Note: 'Sable painting brushes' are really not from sable, but from a close cousin, the siberian Kolonok.

Link:
http://www.lexpress.fr/informations/fourrure-le-coup-de-froid-russe_611962.html#B0YE0o1KJSzISrzX.99

Dunedin, New Zeeland - a historic town with a scottish touch.

No other place in the world is so closely connected to Scotland as the town of Dunedin in New Zealand.

Founded by Scottish immigrants in 1848, Dunedin was born a humble settlement until it started prospering with the discovery, in 1861, of a gold mine in the vicinity. The gold rush made Dunedin's fortune.

Since then the town became the country's leader as an economic, commercial and industrial centre: there were born many of the largest companies in the areas of manufacturing, transportation and  trade in New Zealand. The University is the most prestigious in the country, and being an University city is one of the strongest values of Dunedin.

Dunedin is located in the south-east of the main island.

Coordinates: 45.9° S, 170.5° E
Population:   ~ 125 000

Dunedin became a cosmopolitan and sophisticated vitality that you would hardly expect in such a place, away from the rest of the world. And probably it's also the most elegant in the country, with many buildings of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

The Octagon, central square and lively meeting place.

The Scottish founders wanted to make of Dunedin the 'Edinburgh of the South'. Its name, in fact, was inspired by the castle of Edinburgh (in Gaelic 'Dun Eideann', Mount Odin). Moreover, there is an annual Dunedin Fringe Festival !
(http://www.dunedinfringe.org.nz/)

Stuart Street, the main street of the city centre, with the buildings of the Court and the station.

The traditions of the colony's founders homeland and the pride of parenting with Scotland remain so alive that the main statue in the central square is the locally venerated poet Robert Burns.

The world's southernmost statue of Robbie Burns, in front of St. Paul's Cathedral (from 1919).

One of the most interesting things in Dunedin is the  architectural unity. Many buildings - especially institutional ones - are constructed in local basalt (volcanic breccia) and white limestone, plus lush decoration and wrought-iron work.

The famous Railway Station:

A 1907 masterpiece, built without budget (" just build the best ! "). The Scottish architect George Troup sent Italian mosaic and granite columns from Europe by boat. The Flemish Renaissance-style façade alternates dark basalt and limestone, creating an wedding-cake like effect, common to other buildings in town.

Gold fever has its demands; the station was needed to connect the nearby port with the rest of the country and guarantee an effective transport of cargo and personnel. But new money goes with luxury, the station was to be special.

Now the building is an icon of the city.
I can't help but wonder how the British exported to the other end of the world the best they had learned in terms of railroad building architecture.

The 'Taieri Gorge Railway' is one of the scenic train journeys departing from Dunedin's Railway Station (see below).

Some other examples:

The Cathedral of St. Joseph, a Catholic, completed in 1886.

The Fortune Theater  occupyies presently a deactivated church built in victorian revivalist gothic style, in bluish basalt and limestone. One of the most active and frequented cultural venues, with a resident company.

Site: http://www.fortunetheatre.co.nz/

OBHS, Otago Boys High School, gothic revival of 1855.

The entrance to the Otago University.

The Law Courts, from 1899.

Perhaps the most accomplished of the Gothic Revival buildings in the city.

Larnach Castle, New Zealand's only one, erected between 1871 and 1887 for the Minister of Mines (gold, of course), who had an unfortunate end of life.

Larnach Castle, a Scottish baronial style mansion, open to the public.

One of the most prestigious institutions is the huge Cadbury factory:

In the shopping streets, George Street and Princes Street, there are colourful façades, with cast or wrought-iron work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princes_Street,_Dunedin

Cafés, Europe's mark, are also present.

Good Earth Café, Cumberland St.

http://ojb.co.nz/goodearth/

An originality that no visitor misses is the steepest street in the world (Guinness Book), Baldwin Street, with an inclination of 1 to 2.8, i.e. 36% :

Levelled house, sloping street...

...levelled street, sloping house.


Some images inside the Station :

Italian mosaic floors.

Art Nouveau stain-glass window.

The Railway Station is the departing point for the most amazing scenic journey around Dunedin:

The Taieri Gorge Railway

Departing from Dunedin’s unique railway station, the Taieri Gorge Railway travels through the Taieri Plains and then climbs into the Taieri Gorge, a narrow and deep gorge carved out over aeons by the ancient Taieri River.

The railroad connects Dunedin to Middlemarch, a distance of some 60 kilometres.

The train negotiates the gorge with ease as it travels through ten tunnels and over countless bridges and viaducts.
The natural wonders combined with the challenge of man made engineering are truly amazing.

Some spectacular scenery along the banks of the Taieri River.

Crossing the Deep Stream viaduct.

Most of the carriages are fully restored heritage carriages of the 1920s.

The gorge as seen from the train.

The trip is worth in any season.

Even in winter !

Dunedin is situated in a coastal area of great beauty; therefore another railway line - the 'Seasider' - from the central station runs south through magnificent shoreline landscape.