Qaqortoq, Greenland, August 28, 2017: Qaqortoq is three times the size of Nanortalik with half its charm. It’s the administrative center of Southern Greenland. It has bright painted houses, like Nanortalik but many of them are apartment buildings. You may know it by its Danish name, Julianehab. It does have its strong points like friendly people, public art, the first fountain in Greenland, educational institutions, lots of color, and more opportunity than Nanortalik. One of the nicest places is the old Lutheran church. The town petitioned for a church during the Napoleonic Wars but Denmark was too preoccupied, so the Lutheran Church in Denmark and Norway paid for this pre-fab church that was built in Norway and shipped. The ship wrecked but the church was mostly salvaged and reassembled. The church has memorials to ships that sank and a votive ship model made by sailors who survived wrecks.
On our ship, we had a woman who played the flute. At every stop, she got off and played for anyone who would listen, and some who may not listen. She played, for instance, for the artwork in the town, and for a raven who seemed fascinated. But her most appreciative audience was the kids, who loved the music and this flamboyant lady who played for them in her cape and long skirts.
I mentioned in another post that the town has a lot of public art in the form of carvings in stones (click here), but there is a lot more public art, some people have put murals on their homes, there are statues, the fountain I mentioned earlier, and a sculpture made of common implements used for work.
