Month: May 2018

Greenland is basically the land of ice and snow, but still you can find there interesting animals, and probably more animals than one can expect (e.g., whales, seals, walruses, musk oxen, reindeer, polar bears, etc.).

Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) is the official language in Greenland; it’s also spoken in Alaska and Canada.
Greenlandic is considered as a very difficult language for foreigners to learn, but don’t worry basically all Greenlanders speak also Danish (if it helps 😉 ) and very often know basics of English.

My first impression, after visiting Iceland, was “it’s so green here, the country should be called “Greenland”; but there is already Greenland; why Greenland is not called Iceland and Iceland is not Greenland”. 😀
Of course, there is also “ice” on Iceland, but not as much as on Greenland.

About 75% of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet!

Greenland is located in a very unique area.
It stretches from ~59°N up to ~83°N (so close to the North Pole!).
The majority of the island, is above the Arctic Circle.

Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark; and Danish Krone is its official currency. In some shops, other major currencies (e.g., Euro, US or Canadian Dollar) can be also accepted; but not everywhere in Greenland.

Yesterday, I wrote that almost everything has to imported to Greenland; so no wonder that prices are very high. I guess, in Europe, Norway and Switzerland are considered as the most expensive countries.
Greenland is even more expensive…

I’ve seen a sentence on “Visit Greenland”, that “Greenland is self-sufficient with regard to fish, certain meat products and ice cubes. Everything else has to be imported.”
“Ice cubes” made me laugh. But indeed, Greenland is a huge, kind of remote, island covered with ice; and that’s the beauty of Greenland, as well as its limitations.

Greenland belongs to Denmark, but it’s located quite far away from Denmark.
Iceland, is its closest neighbor; then Canada and Norway (Svalbard) are also located relatively nearby.

Greenland is an autonomous country and under special conditions it belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark.

Greenland is the largest island; to be precise, one should say that Greenland is the largest non-continental island. Australia is also an island, but based on the accepted definitions, Australia is a continent.

Welcome to Greenland!
Let’s spend warm month of June in cold Greenland; how do you like the idea? 😉

Lots of information I’ll present you this month, were taken from “Visit Greenland”, check the website, especially if you’re planning to visit Greenland!