Traveling Rockhopper

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!

Today, I’m showing you the last picture from Libya, how I’ve seen this country in 2004.
How did you like it?

These days, Libya is obviously quite a different place. I’d like to visit it one day again, but I’m afraid it’s not going to happen in a near future…

Tomorrow, we’re moving to a very different place… 🙂
Stay tuned!

Currently, the flag of Libya consists on 3 horizontal bands, red, black and green.
Before the War, during the Gaddafi’s leadership, the Libyan flag was just green; one-coloured flag.

Muammar Gaddafi wrote “The Green Book” in which he presented his political philosophy.
The book was inspired by The Little Red Book of Mao Tse-tung.

I was in Libya in 2004, and that time, you could buy Green Book everywhere; moreover, it was very likely to find the book translated into your own language! People were buying it as souvenir.

At the end of this month, I want to share with you a few historical facts from the recent history of Libya.

Muammar Gaddafi (Moammar Gadhafi) was a leader of Libya from the Libyan Cultural Revolution in 1973 until 2011, when he was killed in the War. Gaddafi changed Libya a lot, transformed Libya into a socialist state; a “green” country where green flags and portraits of Gaddafi were everywhere in Libya.

Gaddafi was seen as a dictator who violated human rights.

You can read more about Muammar Gaddafi on BBC.

After being the kingdom, the name of Libya changed to the Libyan Arab Republic (1969), then Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and later Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
Currently, the official name of the country is the State of Libya.

Libya used to be a kingdom.
In 1951, Libya became independent as a kingdom.
The country was called as the United Libyan Kingdom, and later changed into the Kingdom of Libya.

Libya has many natural resources (i.e., oil or gas), however, they’re not going to last forever…

Traveling by train in Libya? No, not yet; apparently there plans to build a train network in Libia.
Maybe in some years?

Ghadamis (Ghadames) is another interesting place in Libya.
It’s an oasis town. It’s old part is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

p.s. This picture was taken in Tripoli.