Igaliku

Igaliku stands on the site of Garðar, the seat of the Norse bishop of Greenland from 1126, and the ruins of the cathedral, the bishop's farm and the great byre are in and around the present village. The nineteenth-century Danish and Greenlandic settlers who founded the modern village built their houses of stone taken from those ruins, so the two are physically continuous. It sits at the head of a fjord between mountains and is unusually green.

What you actually see

• The cathedral ruins - the remains of the Norse bishop's church at Gardar.
• The bishop's farm - the byre and outbuildings of the episcopal estate.
• The stone houses - the modern village built from the ruins' stone.
• The fjord setting - the green valley between mountains at the fjord head.

When to go

June to September is the season. Access involves a boat and then a crossing of the isthmus. Winter closes the route.

Honest expectations

Getting there involves a boat to Itilleq and then several kilometres over the isthmus. Facilities are a small hostel and a café. The Norse remains are foundations rather than standing walls.

Nearby

Qassiarsuk is northwest, and Qaqortoq is south.