This was the best trip! We have been to Iceland many times, but this was our first to Greenland. Warning, it is long:)
Friday August 15 we drove to our daughters to drop our dogs. Took an Uber to SEA. The lounges were mobbed, so we opted for a regular restaurant near our gate. We saw the aurora from the plane at about 3am!
Landed at KEF on Saturday August 16th and had just over an hour layover until the Greenland flight, so we shared a famous Icelandic hot dog.
Flight to Greenland was uneventful until we arrived. My husband's bag did not make it. While he went to the Icelandair desk to inquire, I found Claus, the owner of the apartment we were staying at and he was there to pick us up. When he heard about the bag, he went over to help. The airline said it would arrive the next day.
The apartment was well appointed and had a separate kitchen/dining area, which was nice so one of us could continue to sleep while the other ws up making coffee etc. Claus showed us everything in the apartment and told us of a few places to go as well as a shortcut down the steep hill to the grocery store.
We walked down the hill and bought groceries and tried to buy a shirt and a pair of underwear to get my hsusband through.
Next to the grocery stores was the Hangout Bistro, where we got a late lunch/early dinner. My hsuband had the cheeseburger and I had the steak. Both were fine, nothing really to write home about. We dropped the groceries at the apartment and headed over towards the water and hiked the yellow trail which is about 4 miles. Stunning! The massive iceberg's were right in your face!
We were tired so went to bed at 5pm, but woke up at 10pm and walked over to the Icefjord Center which was about 10 minutes from the apartment. We walked along the boardwalk until it ended and then continued on the trail. Gorgeous sunset there looking out over the glaciers. On the way up to the Icefjord Center, you pass quite a few dog sled facilities, so there were many, many dogs. The younger ones are not on chains so run free and will approach you, but you are not to interact with them at all.
We walked back to the apartment and again saw the beautiful sunset over water with the icebergs. We dropped inot bedd around 12:30am.
Sunday August 17
Walked down to the harbor to meet our guide, Jan, who was taking us to Eqi Glacier. Weather was not good and there was much ice, so we had to skirt the shore for most of the way. This was the choppiest boat ride I had ever been on. We saw a number of whales and many huge icebergs. Once we neared the glacier the weather turned and it was sunny and beautiful. The glacier was stunning with the sunlight. It calved around 8 or 9 times, nothing all that big, but enough to be exciting. The guide provided lunch, which was bagel sandwiches filled with chicken salad that had peas and corn in it. Sounds odd, but was not terrible. On the way back to Ilulissat the weather was better so we were able to sail through the main fjord and see more of the big icebergs. When we arrived back in the harbor we headed back to our apartment, but stopped at Inuit Cafe for dinner. We had the reindeer and the musk ox and shared. Both were very good! We called the airline and were told they do not fly to Ilulissat on Sundays, so we needed to buy more basics for my hsuband. Most stores were closed on Sunday though, so it was grocery store underwear, socks, long johns and a shirt. That was all we could scrounge up. We packed up this evening as we were heading to Disko Island in the morning.