Nuuk, the capital | Aberle Photo

The almost-final destination of our Greenland expedition: Nuuk, the capital. A modern-looking town with respectable transport and services, plus Godthåb Bryghus in the centre. We subjected the brewery to a thorough inspection and distributed promotional material for our Czech home town of Trutnov around Nuuk. Thanks to us, Trutnov now has an ideal opportunity to become its twin city; Nuuk did not yet have a partnership with any Czech town, presumably because nobody had previously laid the necessary stickers.

With around 17,500 residents, Nuuk was roughly the size of the Czech town of Otrokovice. It had a brewery, public internet in the library, restaurants, a museum, shops, taps and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Nearly indistinguishable from Otrokovice.

We reached the harbour at about seven in the morning and walked into the centre in search of breakfast and a basic reconnaissance of the territory. At the time, downtown Nuuk contained banks, a Deloitte office, a respectable heap of restaurants and several blocks of flats. Since 2012 these had sadly no longer included Blok P, formerly Greenland’s largest building. According to Wikipedia, one per cent of the country’s entire population once lived inside it.

Our Airbnb stood some distance from the centre in the residential district of Qernertunnguit. A shortcut through a nearby rocky pass made it a solid half-hour walk to a beer downtown. The compensation was a fine view from the hill above the city, with the summit of Nuuk’s distinctive saddle mountain rising beyond the rooftops.

Red wooden Annaassisitta Oqaluffia cathedral in Nuuk — Nuuk Cathedral

Statue of missionary Hans Egede on a hill above Nuuk — Hans Egede

Seven-storey apartment blocks in Nuuk — Greenlandic tower blocks

Apartment blocks in Qernertunnguit, the neighbourhood where we stayed — Our Nuuk home

Hiking around Nuuk

Despite the greater concentration of civilisation, Nuuk has plenty of countryside immediately around it. A roughly fifteen-kilometre trail became the principal activity of our second day. It follows the domestic airport—where an aircraft occasionally interrupts the silence—then continues among streams and moss to the hills above town and Lake Qallussuaq.

During the entire walk we met only two other groups with a similar plan, leaving us almost alone for most of the day. Possibly thanks to all the water along the way, squadrons of mosquitoes accompanied the expedition. There were not merely several mosquitoes. There were clouds of organised mosquito labour.

We descended from the hills back into civilisation and waited at a stop for the town’s only bus route. It carried us to a shopping centre, where we purchased the traditional reward in the form of bottled beer.

Mount Sermitsiaq rising beyond Nuuk's rocky landscape — The summit of Sermitsiaq

Rocky hiking route in the hills above Nuuk — Rocks. Rocks everywhere.

Panoramic view of Nuuk from the surrounding hills — Looking down on Nuuk

Central Nuuk beneath low overcast skies — Central Nuuk

Gate of Nuuk cemetery overlooking Davis Strait — Cemetery gate

Two brothers beside a stream in the hills above Nuuk — AbeBros

Glacial lakes in the mountain landscape above Nuuk — Glacial lakes

Qallussuaq Lake in the hills above Nuuk's Qinngorput district — Qallussuaq Lake

Pottering around town

We devoted one day to cultural and educational activity, principally a visit to the local museum of Greenlandic culture, history and all the other things museums traditionally keep in cupboards. Having become culturally and historically enlightened, we stepped outside and found a competition among local kayakers. The town championship appeared to involve performing the greatest number of “Eskimo rolls” against the clock.

The event attracted a healthy share of Nuuk’s population. It even inspired my brother to sample the local water in the manner of the competitors. He implemented this plan later in the afternoon by going for a “swim” in water no warmer than five degrees Celsius.

Colourful wooden houses in a Nuuk neighbourhood — Nuuk houses

Sports hall and football pitch in Nuuk — Municipal sporting facilities

Hunting rifles displayed for sale in a Nuuk shop — This week's middle-aisle special

Underwear in Greenland's national colours displayed in a souvenir shop — National underpants

Sewer service truck parked on a street in Nuuk — The poo hoover

Modern black public sculpture in central Nuuk — Modern sculpture

Small green wooden clubhouse in Nuuk — Some sort of local club, probably

Roundabout and snowmobile warning signs in Nuuk — Roundabouts: snowmobiles only

A museum interlude

I do not belong to the group of people capable of standing in deep contemplation before old objects. I generally move through museums briskly and read only the large letters. This museum received the same efficient treatment.

Traditional craft workshop in the Greenland National Museum exhibition — Museum interlude · 1

Illustrated historical display about Inuit life in Greenland's national museum — Museum interlude · 2

Mannequins wearing traditional Greenlandic clothing in the national museum — Museum interlude · 3

Traditional Inuit kayak displayed in the Greenland National Museum — Museum interlude · 4

Reconstruction of a traditional Greenlandic home in the national museum — Museum interlude · 5

Colourful Greenlandic national costumes displayed in the Nuuk museum — Museum interlude · 6

Czech diplomacy

Our cultural and educational mission continued by spreading awareness of the foothill metropolis of Trutnov. We did so by discreetly placing promotional materials in publicly visible locations. The strategic goal was to lay the foundation and cultivate fertile diplomatic soil for future negotiations between Trutnov and Nuuk as new twin cities.

Mission accomplished—at least our part. Trutnov may now take the baton.

Two men at a beer table during an unofficial Trutnov diplomatic mission in Nuuk — Operation: Pub

Promotional material for the Czech town of Trutnov placed outside a Nuuk building — Operation: Jehovah's Witnesses

Trutnov promotional material planted in a Greenland museum display — Operation: Museum

Traveller holding Trutnov promotional material in Nuuk's library — Operation: Library

The weather was friendly throughout most of our stay in Nuuk, except for one day when clouds arrived for half an afternoon and there was bugger-all to do. Fortunately, we possessed a crate of empty beer bottles requiring return. Ignoring the rain, we set off for the centre. Besides monetising previously liquefied coins, the expedition produced a themed video shot entirely on a phone and preserved in quality lovingly processed by Facebook. Weakness therefore exists on every technical axis.

A visit to the brewery

Before our evening flight back to Kangerlussuaq, we went into the centre for one final lunch. Nobody could have predicted what would occur during the few hours before our required departure.

While waiting for food, I muttered something about the local wheat beer, Dirty Banana. A man noticed and came over to ask whether everything was all right and whether we were waiting for lunch. We were almost the only people in the restaurant. A short discussion about brewing under Greenlandic conditions revealed that he was the brewer whose work I had been grumbling about only moments earlier. Excellent diplomacy once again.

Once he realised that our interest in beer was considerably larger than normal, he offered a look behind the scenes after lunch. Naturally we accepted. We inhaled the meal and went upstairs into the brewery. This was when events began to improve rapidly.

Muskox steak lunch served in a Nuuk restaurant — A slab of muskox

Brewer Jörg explaining beer production at Godthåb Bryghus — An expert lecture on production

Tanks and pipework inside Godthåb Bryghus — Behind the scenes at the brewery

Traveller drawing a beer sample straight from a tank at Godthåb Bryghus — Master of my own brewery tap

Freshly tapped beer held in the doorway of Godthåb Bryghus — Carrying the torch

Row of fermentation tanks inside Godthåb Bryghus — The beer hatchery

First shared beer tasting among the tanks at Godthåb Bryghus — The first tasting

Two Czech brothers with brewer Jörg during their tour of Godthåb Bryghus — The brewery tour

The brewer, Jörg, originally from Germany, seemed genuinely pleased that somebody was interested in his work and kept asking him questions about ingredients and the quality of Greenlandic water. As the tour and explanation gathered momentum, his enthusiasm reached the point where we were issued a glass and invited to walk among the fermentation tanks tasting the individual works in progress.

Sampling and talking—not only about beer—continued for almost an hour, with Jörg joining an occasional tasting himself. Throughout this, the brewery doors in the middle of town stood wide open. A reminder: our flight from Nuuk was due in a few hours. The apartment was a mess, nothing had been packed, and we were standing in a brewery with a bottomless glass and a row of tanks at our disposal.

Everything remained entirely under control until Jörg decided to demonstrate a feature he had installed to improve the working day: a sound system. Through the open brewery doors he launched AC/DC into central Nuuk and went to fetch another beer.

Who knows how the afternoon might have ended if we had not been forced to continue our journey. It was a superb and completely unexpected encounter. Many thanks to Jörg for making it happen.

The slow return to the EU

From the brewery: quickly home. Arrange a later airport pickup with the taxi driver on the way. Pack everything. Remove the worst of the chaos. Thank you and goodbye.

Near Nuuk Airport we made one final short stop for a geocache, then “hurrah” back to Kangerlussuaq. Before departure I managed to message Vojta from Ilulissat, because he was supposed to be somewhere in the area. And what should happen—on the day the Pope came to Prague, as the Czech saying goes—but Vojta was not merely near Kangerlussuaq; he was loafing around the airport waiting for us.

Still full of energy from the brewery, we agreed that the programme for our three-hour wait before the Europe flight was obvious: find a bar and continue preparing for departure. Happily, a nearby establishment offered a happy hour of three bottles for DKK 100, roughly CZK 350. This achieved considerable success with our delegation.

As in Nuuk, one last Greenlandic geocache preceded departure from Kangerlussuaq. Then came goodbye to Vojta and the wait for the final flight to Copenhagen.

View from a taxi on the way to Nuuk Airport — Nuuk rush hour

Modest main entrance to Nuuk Airport terminal — The airport's grand entrance

Empty road and rocky landscape near Kangerlussuaq Airport — Kangerlussuaq

Restaurant building near Kangerlussuaq Airport — Our restaurant refuge

Final evening light above the houses and mountains of Kangerlussuaq — The final photograph from Greenland

Except!

Before an aircraft can leave the runway, every passenger must sit in the chair assigned to them. And who else could occupy the seat immediately in front of us—specifically, in front of me—than the Russian?

From a restaurant beyond the Arctic Circle to the ferry, and from the ferry to our aircraft, this heroic Russian accompanied us all the way to Copenhagen. Only there did our paths finally separate.

And that is the end

Saying goodbye to the Russian also brings the Greenland Expedition series to its end. If you have made it this far, thank you for your attention. I hope at least something in this substantial pile of words proves useful, that the story remained digestible, and that you enjoyed travelling with us.

Perhaps it has planted the idea of visiting Greenland yourself. It is a genuinely beautiful piece of the world, open to several very different kinds of journey and not yet visibly trampled flat by tourism.