Greenland is the next big thing in cruises, but the country is struggling to develop infrastructure for all the ships that want to dock there--cities to visit, restaurants, places to see, guides. On August 16, 2025, we docked at Paamiut, a town of 1000 people in Southern Greenland. Our guide was 17 years old and was still in high school. She described the town bridge to us by saying, "I used to play under it." We spent ten minutes, each, at two souvenir stores and the town grocery store, but we didn't stop at the grass-covered house museum which showed how the Inuit lived in the "old days." Actually, our guide was very charming, and it was fun to see Paamiut as a teenager who lived there saw it!
All of the towns we visited in Greenland had bright-colored houses. Many years ago, each color identified a different type of building--store, house, government building, church--so that boats at sea could easily identify a town's facilities. Now, residents can use any of the colors.
The highlight of our walking tour was visiting the town church. Greenlanders who live in cities are mostly Lutheran, like the Danes who colonized Greenland. The towns we visited had Danish names during the early days of colonization, such as Fredrikshavn. Greenland now has a certain degree of self-rule, although it is still a Danish protectorate. Greenland's towns now all have Inuit names.
An elderly man and woman were, apparently, the church caretakers.
As remote as Greenland seems, even this elderly woman had her cell phone!
A Westerner on our tour sang "Amazing Grace" in English, as we visited the church, and this Inuit woman responded by singing "Amazing Grace" in an Inuit language.
In Paamiut, as in Nuuk, there was a government-sponsored workshop where local artists fashion sculptures from caribou bone and stone.
Reindeer spring rolls were on the menu at the local cafe.
Dave and I never tired of Greenland's cliffs, waterfalls, and icebergs. We climbed into bulky expedition suits and rode an open boat into the fjord.
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