Pirates in the West fjords
Pirates in the West fjords
WORK/PROJECT: SEEDS offers our volunteers a new exciting project, located in Patreksfjörður, a fishing village in the West Fjords. Our hosts are building up an extraordinary recreation centre dedicated to piracy: The Pirate House. An old smithy has been transformed into a venue that accommodates; an exhibition of piracy, a pirate school for kids, a café and a concert locale.
The aim of our project is to beautify and develop the recreational area and environs of the venue. We will help cleaning up, planting trees and constructing an outdoors classroom for the pirate school, with hands-on experience and activities for children.
The Pirate House is considered one of the more interesting tourist attractions in Patreksfjörður. Its exhibition displays the stories of pirates that raided the Icelandic shoreline in the 15th and 16th century, recreating the atmosphere and experience of both the pirates and their victims.
Volunteers should be prepared to experience all kinds of weather and be sure of bringing warm clothing since most of the work will take place outdoors.
ACCOMMODATION: SEEDS volunteers will be hosted in a local guesthouse; sharing rooms, sleeping in beds. Please bring your own sleeping bag.
Volunteers will receive food supplies and be in charge of the cooking and cleaning activities. The kitchen will be at the volunteers’ disposal and a washing machine is available at the guesthouse.
Do not forget some traditional/typical food from your home country for an international evening.
LOCATION: The West Fjords are among the most breathtakingly beautiful places in Iceland, with its high mountains and dramatic fjords cutting deep into the landscape. No wonder that the Lonely Planet travel guide put the area on its top 10 list of regions in the world to visit in 2011. Lonely travel claimed that the “oddly shaped” peninsula is “as isolated as it is spectacular”. Luckily, “isolated” does not mean inaccessible. With only 7400 inhabitants in the area, each person has around 1,2 Km2 of personal space, so there is ample room for any visitors as well.
Although the locals here are great, it is the nature that attracts visitors. For understandable reasons as well: it is untouched and almost uninhabited. The cliffs and valleys are packed with birds, the uninhabited fjords offer a moment of silence and tranquillity, and the Arctic fox proudly roams the mountains and inlets. The waterfalls are high and the streams pure. The distances are long and the fjords are deep. And then there are places where there are no roads at all.
Patreksfjörður is a typical fishing village with a population of about 750. The fjord got its name from its first settler, whose spiritual guide was St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.
LANGUAGE: English will be the language in the camp; basic conversational skills are needed.
TERMINAL: Closest international Airport: Keflavík/Reykjavík (KEF). Bus station: Central Reykjavík (BSÍ).
SEEDS organises the “minibus option”, a shared transport from Reykjavík to the camp site and vice versa. Apart from being cheaper and more convenient, it allows volunteers to meet fellow campers and have a relaxed trip, while stopping on the way for interesting and tourist sites.
EXTRAS / SPECIAL REMARKS: Participation fee EUR 200 (Euros).
Volunteers should have a motivation for working outdoors and be prepared to experience all kinds of weather. Please bring warm clothes, overcoats, scarves, gloves and hats as most of the project/trips take place outside and the weather in the spring can be cold or rainy.
There will be countless opportunities to discover the area by foot or to hike the surroundings; the location is surrounded by stunning nature.
SEEDS and/or our hosting partner will organise free time activities in the area; for instance visiting the local swimming pool, horseback riding and kayaking.
Age: 18+