There is a land’s end feeling to the Nanortalik region, akin to the North Cape in Europe and other remote but accessible edges of large landmasses. Out here the Atlantic Ocean meets rugged coastlines and human settlements, and cruises to Nanortalik are often on a transatlantic itinerary either east- or westbound, and often with a trip further up the coast into Western Greenland included.

Deep fjords, steep mountains, and icebergs may remind travelers of East Greenlandic landscapes while green meadows, farmed hillsides and even patches of forest echo the kind of landscape the Norse first met when they arrived here 1,000 years ago and named the place Greenland.

Nanortalik itself is the largest fishing and hunting community in the southeastern parts of South Greenland but with no more than 1,300 souls this is a tiny town compared to the outside world.

Life here is tied to the seasonal rhythms of sea and fjord fishing, the arrival of sea ice in the spring and tending to sheep on the farms inland, and in a series of images and words below we have told the story of both everyday life and cruise experiences in town.