Approaching Greenland

Dreaming of icebergs

I have wanted to visit Greenland literally since I was a child. I grew up in a household in which we loved watching animal documentaries; ice bound environments and related wildlife made me stare at the TV more than a windowshop of an ice cream parlor. Visiting such places looked like one of those dreams which are incredibly dumb to even think and dream about; coming to Greenland to me was as distant as reaching the Moon. I don’t know if you can relate to this, my parents were not nature oriented, and being born in a small province town in continental Croatia meant that this would probably be the place you will stay at for the rest of your life. The possibility of traveling to such places and exploring them on my exact terms really means a lot to me.

Covid restrictions and ending up in Svalbard

Three years ago I decided to visit Greenland and started making action plans. I was at the end of my maternity leave, came back to work and started making plans for a vacation just for myself. Even 7 days would suffice, I thought. Unfortunately, during the end of the winter 2020 covid came banging with a large hammer and put everyone on a very short leash. Due to the fact that Greenland is a community with a small population and limited resources, each time the number of infected rose the borders would close entirely. This means that I was very reluctant about paying for a plane ticket and other expenses just to see them going down the drain because the borders closed suddenly. Being locked in Norway I decided to visit Svalbard, the next best thing, and had a tremendous amount of fun.

This is why I waited until a year ago, when I bought a ticket to Ilulissat, a city on the west coast. A month ago, I went there, to explore and enjoy this arctic pearl.

First icebergs

I cannot remember when was the last time I was so eager and excited like on the plane which departed from Reykjavik and began to approach the shores of the world’s largest island – Greenland.

This meant that all my plans and dreams were coming to fruition. I stared through the window, waiting for the first icebergs to appear in the Denmark strait.

And then, after some time, ice chunks formed into a timid line began to shine on the dark sea.

As we were approaching, the size of icebergs began to grow into large plates, often hidden under a foggy veil.

The icebergs along the coast turned into a mountain chain, a series of beautiful snowcovered peaks shining under the arctic sun.

The last icebergs I saw were the ones just before landing at Ilulissat airport.

I came to the airbnb tired from the flight but extremely happy and motivated to nail this trip, starting as early as possible the day after. There was a long to-do list which needed to be cleaned, shotgun style. <3