Qaqortoq, Greenland: Don’t Forget to Pack Your Head Net!

While researching things to do in Qaqortoq, Greenland, I came across something that stopped me in my tracks. The town is notorious for having midges, those flying little insects that can either bite or merely be a pest. Insect repellent won’t deter them, but head nets will at least keep them away from faces and necks.

Although it seemed odd to me that a place as cold as Greenland would have such a problem, I took the warning to heart. We would be bundled up for the weather, but head nets we did not have. So off Herb and I went to our local REI store, which has become our travel shopping destination for finding things we didn’t know we needed.

Before leaving on our trip, we tried on the head nets, realizing we would need to wear brimmed hats to keep them in place and laughing at how absurd the whole thing seemed. We decided we wouldn’t wear them off the ship, but we’d throw them in our backpacks “just in case.”

Well… guess what???

From the moment we stepped off the ship’s tender, Qaqortoq was teeming with midges. I was extremely relieved that I’d listened to my research. From the comments we received, I think people would have traded just about anything for our nets! Others who were wise to the midges smiled at us through their nets, as if we were in some exclusive club. Everywhere we walked, people were swatting at the air around their faces. Even with the barrier of a head net, the midges were undeterred, as if they were hanging around trying to find a hole somewhere in the netting.

A Little Bit About Qaqortoq

The town with three Qs in its name is pronounced Kah-kor’tok. Founded by the Norwegians in 1775, Qaqortoq  means “white” in Greenlandic. It’s Southern Greenland’s largest town, with a population of about 3,100. And just as we’d seen in other far northern communities, colorfully painted homes and buildings dot the hillsides below Qaqortoq’s surrounding mountains.

Herb and I planned to spend the morning walking around town, getting a feel for what it must be like to live here. Except for tracking down an an art installation, we planned to simply wander and take it all in.

Stone & Man Project

In the 1990s, Qaqortoq transformed itself into an open air art gallery, with about 40 carvings and sculptures chiseled into rock faces and boulders. The cultural project was led by local artist Aka Hoegh, who commissioned 18 local and Scandinavian artists to create the pieces that would become permanent residents of the town. The carvings represent recreations of faces and ancient tribal markings of fish and whales, while the sculptures are fully-shaped and made from local boulders.

Herb and I weren’t quite sure where to look for the carvings, but they suddenly revealed themselves as we were walking near the Qaqortoq Museum. Apparently, there are other creations from the project scattered throughout the town, but the largest concentration is found here. And it’s a delightful find!

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The midges were still going strong as morning turned into afternoon when Herb and I headed back to the tender for the short ride to the ship. This was our final day in Greenland, and we’d be spending the next two days crossing the Atlantic to reach the eastern shores of Canada.

I packed away our orange Seabourn parks that we’d been holding onto since our Antarctica voyage in 2017. It’s funny to think that it has already been eight years since we were were walking among the penguins on the White Continent. Those memories are still so fresh and vivid and filled with wonder that it doesn’t seem that long ago.

That’s the most miraculous thing about travel, isn’t it? When it comes to where we’ve been, time doesn’t exist. And I imagine if I ever need that head net again, the memories will come pouring back as if I’m still walking through the streets of a town in Greenland with three Qs in its name, looking for rock carvings of ancient faces and fish.