Arctic cruise from Greenland to Canada and Northern Lights

Nuuk, meaning “the cape”, was Greenland’s first town (1728). Started as a fort and later mission and trading post some 240 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle, it is the current capital. Almost 30% of Greenland’s population lives in the town. Not only does Nuuk have great natural beauty in its vicinity, but there are Inuit ruins, Hans Egede’s home, the parliament, and the Church of our Saviour as well. The Greenlandic National Museum has an outstanding collection of Greenlandic traditional dresses, as well as the famous Qilakitsoq mummies. The Katuaq Cultural Center’s building was inspired by the undulating Northern Lights and can house 10% of Nuuk’s inhabitants.

Itilleq is an idyllic little village located on a small island about ahalf a mile off the west coast of Greenland, and only about a mile north of theArctic Circle. It is one of the most picturesque villages in Greenland with itsquaint colorful houses surrounded by stunning rugged mountains and glaciers.Originally, the village of Itilleq was founded on another island in 1847, butwas later moved to its present location. The 100 people living here todaysurvive mainly on hunting and fishing, with a fish factory being the mainemployer.

Iqaluit is the capital of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut, which is Inuktitut for “our land”. The community is located at the head of Frobisher Bay, an inlet of the North Atlantic extending into southeastern Baffin Island. The Bay is so long that it was first taken to be the possible entrance of a Northwest Passage. In Iqaluit, the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum and the Nunavut Legislative Assembly Building both house incredible collections of Inuit artwork with interesting local prints for sale in the museum shop.

Named in honour of Sir John Franklin’s widow, the lonely and uninhabited Lady Franklin Island lies off of Baffin Island’s Hall Peninsula at the entrance to Cumberland Sound. The island is named for the wife of Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer who died trying to discover the Northwest Passage. The geology of the island is striking with vertical cliffs of Archean rocks, likely to be some of the oldest stone in Canada. The waters around Lady Franklin Island offer an abundance seabirds, ducks, seals, and walrus. With a bit of luck it is possible to see Atlantic Puffins here and perhaps even a rare Sabine’s Gull.

The Torngat Mountains National Park is situated on the eastern side of Labrador’s northernmost point and features mountains sometimes described as the “Eastern Rocky Mountains”. The park covers an area of 9,700 km2 (over 6,000 mi2) and is dotted with remnants of several cirque glaciers. Saglek Fjord has an outstanding array of geological features and the steep cliffs provide some of the best exposures to the earth’s geologic history. The name of the national park goes back to Torngarsoak, who was believed to control the life of sea animals and took the form of a huge polar bear. Polar bears hunt seals on the ice here in the winter months, and herds of Torngat Mountain and George River caribou migrate to and from their calving grounds in the warmer months. Inuit use the area to hunt, fish and travel throughout the year and many still have a strong spiritual connection to this “Place of Spirits”.

Around the year 1000, Vikings from Greenland and Iceland founded the first European settlement in North America, near the northern tip of Newfoundland. They arrived in the New World 500 years before Columbus but stayed only a few years and were forgotten for centuries. Since the settlement's rediscovery in the last century, the archaeological site has brought tourism to the area. Viking themes abound but so do views, whales, icebergs, fun dining experiences, and outdoor activities. L'Anse Aux Meadows on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland is a remote community of just 40 people, with St Anthony, 40 minutes away, having a population of only 3,500. The region is locally famous for springtime polar bears, nesting eider ducks, the northern extreme of the Appalachians at nearby Belle Isle, numerous spring and summer icebergs, and a rich ocean fishery. L’Anse Aux Meadows National Historic Site is the UNESCO World Heritage Site that tells the story of Leif Erickson and the first Europeans in the new world. This site is often the keystone attraction for cruises themed around the Vikings. Discovered in 1960, it is the site of a Norse village, the only known one in North America outside of Greenland. The site remains the only widely-accepted instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, and is notable for possible connections with the attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Ericson around 1003, or more broadly with Norse exploration of the Americas. The root of the name "L'Anse aux Meadows" is believed to have originated with French fishermen in the area during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, who named the site L'Anse aux Meduses, meaning 'Jellyfish Bay'.

Surrounded by natural treasures and glorious seascapes, Halifax is an attractive and vibrant hub with noteworthy historic and modern architecture, great dining and shopping, and a lively nightlife and festival scene. The old city manages to feel both hip and historic. Previous generations had the foresight to preserve the cultural and architectural integrity of the city, yet students from five local universities keep it lively and current. It's a perfect starting point to any tour of the Atlantic provinces, but even if you don't venture beyond its boundaries, you will get a real taste of the region.It was Halifax’s natural harbor—the second largest in the world after Sydney, Australia’s—that first drew the British here in 1749, and today most major sites are conveniently located either along it or on the Citadel-crowned hill overlooking it. That’s good news for visitors because this city actually covers quite a bit of ground.Since amalgamating with Dartmouth (directly across the harbor) and several suburbs in 1996, Halifax has been absorbed into the Halifax Regional Municipality, and the HRM, as it is known, has around 415,000 residents. That may not sound like a lot by U.S. standards, but it makes Nova Scotia’s capital the most significant Canadian urban center east of Montréal.There's easy access to the water, and despite being the focal point of a busy commercial port, Halifax Harbour doubles as a playground, with one of the world's longest downtown boardwalks. It's a place where container ships, commuter ferries, cruise ships, and tour boats compete for space, and where workaday tugs and fishing vessels tie up beside glitzy yachts. Like Halifax as a whole, the harbor represents a blend of the traditional and the contemporary.