Trecking around Iceland - 12, Visiting Greenland, most impressed of the trip.

Posted by yaoli chen on

US Arctic pole, causing Greenland
On the world map, there are two blocks of white areas, one is the South Pole, another is a piece of Greenland, Antarctica too far, then go to the far north of Greenland . 69 degrees north latitude, the Arctic Circle town of Ilulissat in Greenland (Ilulissat), United States Arctic pole.

 

Ilulissat

Day 07. Akureyri -> Ilulissat
Day 08. Ilulissat
Day 09. Ilulissat -> Reykjavík

Ilulissat to Reykjavík

Flying over the Arctic, from the moment the plane flew over the east coast of Greenland, fantasy world of ice, here we come. Vast white land, determination of black mountains, black and white outline of the most solemn nature sketches, bold lines and powerful,

Reykjavík

Only black and white, what about the dream? When the vast and perseverance in a puddle of soft enchanting dotted blue glacial lake, fantasy began.

Fantasy

-------Color Arctic town - Ilulissat-------------

Ilulissat (Ilulissat) regarded me with some fate, the name hidden lisa, ilulissat in Greenlandic language means "Icebergs", namely iceberg. Town located at latitude 69 degrees west coast of Greenland, 350 km north of the Arctic Circle, but the urban area of 11 square kilometers, population of less than five thousand people. This time, you know, "day dreamer" (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) as referred to Greenland population of only eight people it is a lie.

Although the town is located in the barren hills, but face covered with floating ice iceberg ocean, sun, colorful cottages, still gives the feeling of freshness and vitality. south of Ilulissat ice fjord is about 40 km (Ilulissat Icefjord), 2004 was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site (UNESCO World Heritage Site), therefore, let the world come to realize this color Arctic town.

IlulissatIlulissatIlulissat

Ilulissat on first impression can use "unexpected" words to describe. Surprisingly hot, really hot. Iceland in June, the average daytime temperature of about 10 degrees; and the position further north Ilulissat, apparent temperature at noon in direct sunlight can actually reach nearly 30 degrees, can wear short sleeves sit outside, sipping ice Coke, watching ice floes floating in front of feels like daydreaming. Soon the dream woke up, dropped back to reality we started frantically to fight mosquitoes, no less than three days and killed thirty Arctic mosquitoes in more unexpected, really a lot. This is the Arctic, unexpected.

Ilulissat

In addition to mosquitoes, dogs and more, a small town of about 3500 sled dogs, almost to catch up with the number of people, and they are a long summer holiday, most of the sled dogs are lying around their nest basking in the sun and fell asleep Lanjue, recharge your batteries for future busy season, occasionally a few stray dogs in the back streets swinging. Wait until winter, dog sledding is almost the only local transport, to think that scene is also very joyful.

-----------Midnight Sunshine------------

Although there is no summer dog sledding, but because of the extremely favorable conditions for day, winter or rich compared to a lot of activities, such as midnight cruises (Midnight Sailing). June 69 degrees north latitude, the sun does not really, the minimum angle of the sun at midnight, the warm sun shines on the white tip of the soft light of the most beautiful, the election at this time walking through the huge ice floes iceberg, then suitable enough.

Midnight Sunshine

Ten p.m., boarded retro feel quite red wooden fishing boats, especially conspicuous among white iceberg, with a pirate avatar is not realistic embark on the long journey. Sea wore on, the iceberg gradually, the current maximum of about icebergs in this sea of between 20-30 meters, is said to have even more than 200 meters above the iceberg. We see the exposed tip of the sea may however two meters, but who knows how deep below the surface part of it, the so-called tip of the iceberg, in fact perilous walk through the iceberg, only the most experienced crew to be competent.

Midnight SunshineMidnight Sunshine

In this side of the world, in addition to our sky occasionally flying birds became only the tip of this eternal beings, lonely, but free.

Midnight SunshineMidnight Sunshine

Midnight temperatures plunged, we live surrounded by the deep iceberg. Cold, biting cold, I am here to remind the North Pole. This time, short-sleeved ice cola seems to really become a dream, all wearing warm clothes, gloves hat scarf wrapped into a bear-like, plus warm baby hot tea, and asked the crew borrowed blankets, but still cold.

At this time, the only supported power, is in front of dreamy glow iceberg views to the distant horizon that faint pink, endure freezing point is worth.

Midnight SunshineMidnight SunshineMidnight SunshineMidnight Sunshine

--------------Eqi Glacier--------------

In pack ice and icebergs sailing feel too strange, it is better to sail a longer distance, all the way north, the destination is 70 km outside the town of Ilulissat glacier distant (Eqi Glacier or Eqip Sermia), a sustained break in the glacier.

Seventy kilometers, even aboard a speedboat, one-way transit times have nearly two hours, but this way is not lonely, in addition to different patterns of ice floes accompanied by experienced skipper will find along the trail whale, became windfall this trip. She was a little shy and do not want to let us see the delicacy of her tail fin, are just a few small exposed America back, then turning into the sea, not a trace.

Eqi GlacierEqi Glacier

Particularly cold last winter, the sea ice near the accumulation of a lot of ice, but the ice floes yacht broke again surrounded by ice, hinder our move, unable to close the foot of the glacier, at arm's length distance, slightly regret.

 Eqi GlacierEqi Glacier

Although inaccessible glaciers, ice floes but is unusually spectacular, sunlight dreamy blue ice, ice hidden under the sea, beautiful. Gains and losses, finally worthwhile.

Eqi GlacierEqi GlacierEqi Glacier

When return, we lunch, camp facilities are simple Ataa a camp in the middle, there was an Inuit settlement, but is now obsolete, but good scenery, crystal clear waters, are like isolated. Somewhat ironically, lunch entree whale meat, only recently ran into shy whale, bear under the mouth is a little, to be honest, whale meat is not so good.

Eqi GlacierEqi Glacier

-------------Yellow Hiking Trail-----------

To navigate the ice fjord (Ilulissat Icefjord), the boat is not the only way, you can also walk, from another angle, with a measured pace of views overlooking the very spectacular ice fjord, we chose from the moderate and mainly along the coastline traveled yellow hiking trails. The so-called yellow hiking route (Yellow Hiking Trail), except at the beginning of a period is a good boardwalk repairs, the rest are in between Stone Mountain climbing, but do not worry about getting lost on the road at some distance there will be a yellow dot logo, so, this road will become "anti-vice" action, eyes to see who can find the next yellow dot. (You can find in the following figure yellow dots do?

Yellow Hiking Trail

The initial section of the trail was flat landscape, until the top of the hill climb, we are totally shocked by the scenery in front of a huge iceberg in the waters piled at the foot of the mountain, and some even higher than seen when midnight the night before the cruise, the United States is difficult to confidence, from time to time came the collapse of the iceberg loud, exciting. Every minute, icebergs are in change, if time can be stalled, I just want to sit quietly that one hill.

Yellow Hiking TrailYellow Hiking TrailYellow Hiking TrailYellow Hiking Trail

----------------Igloos------------------------------

When you see her at first sight, I decided to live here. hotel arctic (Arctic Hotel) has five lovely dome Igloos, away from the town's other buildings, located in the Ilulissat ice fjord coast, nice view here. This follows the traditional five small house Eskimo igloo design, but replaced with aluminum blocks of snow or ice, so the room is completely modern decor, comfortable living environment, but has a polar-like living experience.
IgloosIgloos

Igloos are too special, so the occasional passing tourists cherish their extreme curiosity, from time to time in a window probe head trying to open a door, which is living here only a small annoyance. Because very day, sunny, very warm little house, and even some over-warm, and we basically sleep with the window open, in order to prevent hordes of mosquitoes, screens must be installed.

 Igloos.

---------------Guide to Ilulissat-----------------------
Some beautiful places, will go a second time;
Some places are beautiful, but she will always remain in my memory.
Ilulissat, is the latter, I will not go, you heart it?

Guide to Ilulissat

I'm not good at writing the Raiders, the Raiders do not like to write, because I think the Raiders are a highly time-sensitive things, but sometimes better to check their own information more effectively. But for this very arctic beautiful, yet very few Chinese Ilulissat, worth writing a comprehensive Raiders.
-----About Visa-------
Greenland was once the Kingdom of Denmark's overseas dominions, in the 2008 referendum decided to gradually move toward independence uses, and formal restructuring in 2009, became an independent internal affairs, but foreign affairs, defense and finance related matters are still hosted by the Danish Committee of transition government. - The above information is taken from Wikipedia

Range Schengen visa does not include Greenland, Greenland To enter, you must at the same time the Danish visa Schengen visa application centers, and need to enter the remarks made in Greenland, it will otherwise stated sentence Schengen visa approved: VALID FOR GREENLAND (effective enter Greenland).
Guide to Ilulissat
------------About Tickets----------
Overseas Direct flights only to Ilulissat Air Iceland, from Reykjavik, Iceland (Reykjavík) to Greenland Ilulissat (Ilulissat). On the summer tourist season from June to July, the June tickets are relatively tight, not every flight, from July 1 to enter the season every day, every day all flights. Fly model is Bombardier Dash 8 Q200, can carry about 30 passengers around the small plane, so that even have daily flights in July, you can go direct to Ilulissat places is limited. In addition, Air Greenland (Air Greenland) Greenland has other domestic cities to Ilulissat route.

On ticket prices, even book in advance a discount, the discount rate is not large. Now look at 2016 June-ticket, one-way price is about EUR 500-800 (approximately RMB 3,500 - 5,600), ticket prices really are not cheap, and some dates have been sold out or very small amount of remaining seats. We were also limited by the ticket, but had to go halfway around the island choose Iceland Greenland, so itinerary front half use the car to go places Reykjavik (Reykjavík) -> Akureyri (Akureyri), Akureyri Reykjavik fly by Greenland in turn, take the second half of the west coast and from Reykjavik.

In addition to buying airline tickets at the official website, there are also some travel agencies offer "machine + wine" package, I thought that there will be some tickets reserved for travel agents, it was also tried to contact Iceland Travel. Actually a result, if no response is displayed airline tickets, travel is the same, but also did not travel above the price advantage.

Need to be reminded that the above mentioned airline is Air Iceland, not Iceland Air! Icelandair is really not creative a name so similar name is easy to mistake Okay. Iceland Air is Iceland's largest airline, the main routes including the United States, Canada and Europe, in the capital's airport is Reykjavik International Airport (Keflavík International Airport, KEF), physically located in Keflavík, according to Reykjavik area about 50 km. Air Iceland is a regional airline, including flights within Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, in the capital Reykjavik Domestic Airport airport (Reykjavík Domestic Airport, RKV), located in downtown Reykjavik. This feeling of a little more tongue twister, repeatedly stressed only for the purpose to remind you not to mistake airline, do not run the wrong airport.
Guide to Ilulissat
-------------About accommodation-------------
Mentioned above , we live in Ilulissat hotel arctic (Arctic hotel), the world's northernmost four-star hotel. In addition we live Igloo, the hotel also has a common room or the more advanced suites. The hotel's main building is far from the coast, with access via a boardwalk Igloos coast. Arctic Hotel only disadvantage is far away from the town center, within walking distance  of about 1.5km ,  the hotel offers free shuttle to and from the main period of the town center. Apart Hotel  Arctic Ilulissat,  there are some smaller hotels or bed and breakfasts to choose from.

Igloos or standard room price: DKK 2,215 (approximately RMB 2,100)
Arctic Hotel's official website: http: //hotelarctic.com/
Guide to Ilulissat
----------About Traffic---------------------
Ilulissat is very small, basically walk enough. Not far from the airport, accommodation will generally provide free pick-up service. Live at the North Pole hotel can make use of free bus travel, but if you miss the free bus time or do not want to walk too tired, you can also take a taxi, a small town with a small amount of Taxi, one-way price is generally DKK 50 (about RMB 47).
Guide to Ilulissat
---------------About consumption---------------
Greenland's currency is the Danish Krone (DKK), but there is no need for foreign currency exchange. You absolutely can not think, Ilulissat large rural consumption level is not high standard of living may seem quite high, and credit card penetration reached almost 100%. Food shopping a taxi, the basic can use credit cards, and only once we have encountered circumstances beyond a taxi card, but you can brush directly to the credit card at the hotel reception Exchange Danish Krone.

As for how high the level of consumption, I reported a price, you experience it yourself. In Ilulissat supermarkets, 500ml bottle of Coke's price is DKK 14 (about RMB 13). Note that, the supermarket, I did not say in the hotel to buy a bottle of it to be DKK 40.
Guide to Ilulissat
-----------Book on the activities-----------------
Ilulissat There are two major local travel company, the larger is the World of Greenland, followed by Ilulissat Tourist Nature. Summer activities include:

1. Midnight Cruise (Midnight Cruise): This is bound to participate in the project, midnight walking through a huge iceberg under the sun. The two companies project the price difference is not large, we chose World of Greenland.
Price: DKK 600 (about RMB 570)
Guide to Ilulissat
2. Eqi Glacier Tour: Go one-way distance traveled Eqi Glacier about 70 kilometers, the Clippers two hours one-way, one-way slow boat for 5 hours. When booking, Ilulissat Tourist Nature is clearly informed the Clippers, but the answer is World of Greenland to know scheduling is based on the daily slow boat or the Clippers. Considering the Arctic Circle where time is money, we chose Ilulissat Tourist Nature, experience down service is also very good. World of Greenland in Eqi Glacier has a lodge with two-day tour for selection.
Price (day trip): DKK 2,250 (approximately RMB 2,140)
Guide to Ilulissat
3. Other items: In addition to the above two projects we are involved, as well as whale watching, hiking and other items are basically half-day or day, specific reference travel website.
World of Greenland:
http://www.worldofgreenland.com/en/
Ilulissat Tourist Nature:
http://www.touristnature.com/index.html
----------About Hiking---------------
Hiking, travel company can participate in the project wizard, you can also find their own path. Ilulissat has three major trekking routes, namely red (1km), the yellow line (2.7km) and the blue line (5.5km), the following are the most clearly marked hiking trails map I could find on the Internet . We take the yellow line, if the distance from the center and from the town to count the words, the whole of about 5 km.
Guide to Ilulissat



This trip is devided in to 16parts, go to the nex part for excited journey.

Trecking arround Iceland -1, Overview, ang Reading Guide, 15days through Iceland and Greenland, jest incredible

Trecking around Iceland - 2, The Seljalansfoss

Trecking arround Iceland - 3, hiking on Skógafoss

Trecking around Iceland - 4, Secretive Wrecked DC-3 Plane on Sólheimasandur

Trecking around Iceland- 5, Reynisfjara the Black Beach

Trecking around Iceland - 6, vík with red

Trecking around Iceland - 7, Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon

Trecking around Iceland - 8, Jökulsárlón & Fjallsárlón

Trecking around Iceland - 9, Conquer Vatnajökull with Cramponsand

Trecking arround Iceland - 10. Surprisely met Djúpivogur town, and impressed by Geothermal Field

Trecking arround Iceland - 11, Met Double Rainbow in Dettifoss

Trecking around Iceland - 12, Visiting Greenland, most impressed of the trip.

trecking around Iceland - 13, photoes on Kirkjufell, the church mountain, the view is different every munite

trecking around Iceland -14, Snæfellsjökull, which I call it Lava Coast 

trecking around Iceland - 15, Towards Grundarfjörður, to the Giant Stone in the sea

trecking around Iceland - 16

 

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