No Night Fever on Disco-Island

The name Disco-Island might give you false expectations. There is definitely no night fever to be found. Roundabout 850 people live in the main town Qeqertarsuaq, which used to be a whaling outpost called Godhavn (good harbour). There is a supermarket, a local market where hunters offer their daily catch, a restaurant, a grill, a café, a very beautiful small church and a cute little museum which is worth a visit. There is even a halfpipe for skaters and BMX-bikers. But there is no night club. Not needed here.

We treated ourselves to our own little cottage on the beach. The small wooden house is called Skansen dit hejm and has been a wonderful home to us for five days. From the living room window we could see right on the beach and the sea where we could observe whales and icebergs swimming around in the distance.

Every two days or so a big cruise ship would stop by the island and the town gets busy for a couple of hours. The locals set up tables where they sell souvenirs to the visitors. Apart from that it is quiet. Here are 24 hours of action outside our living room window compressed in 60 seconds:

Quite amazing, considering the biggest sports event in Greenland was currently taking place in Qeqertarsuag: The annual Greenlandic football premier league. The town is proud to own the northernmost soccer field that complies to FIFA regulations. A local sponsored the artificial lawn. Our landlord, Linda, told us this surely must be the most beautiful soccer field in Greenland. With the sea and the whales and the floating icebergs on the one side and the dramatic fell of the island on the other, we think it surely is the most spectacular soccer field in the world. Linda works in the local museum and sees to a special exhibition on the local team G 44, which the museum staff set up in a tent next to the field.

The eight best Greenlandic soccer teams battle for the cup for one week. The local team G 44 is doing quite well so far, they won their first game 5 to 0, their second one 3 to 0. We keep our fingers crossed!

Disco Island is a perfect getaway for hikers. If you are ambitious you can climb the Lyngmarkfjeld to the glacier or the even higher (almost 1000 meters) Skarvefjeld. We didn’t quite feel up to that and did some easier, but nonetheless rewarding hikes instead.

We went to the old whalers-watchpost Udkikken (Qaqqaliaq in Greenlandic), which was quite adventerous. There is no real path, you have to find your way through quarries and around little seas. A big antenna system, probably something military, gives you orientation on the way. Anywhere else this kind of installation would surely have been closed off to the public, here we hiked right through it. Once you make it you are rewarded with a fine view around the peninsula. But to be honest, we’ve seen finer views.

Like on the hike to another, quite spectacular viewpoint called Kuannit. It’s right on the dramatic coastline just a view kilometers east of the town. We walked right by the seaside through the wild on the way there, on the way back we followed the green marked hiking path, which was a lot easier. The view was simply stunning, especially with the fog just dissolving. One of our favorite hikes so far.

You don’t need to climb mountains if you want to leave the coast and go inland. Right between the two fells is the socalled Blaesedal, the „windy valley“. Paths wind their ways along both sides of the river, on the right side coming from Qeqertarsuaq the path is even marked with red dots on stones. If you follow this way you will come to a waterfall. After that the path goes on but the markings don’t. If you go on and then turn right you will get to the yellow path leading to Kuannit eventually.