Dalvík () is the main village of the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic municipality of

Dalvíkurbyggð Dalvíkurbyggð (, regionally also ) is a small municipality in northern Iceland. Dalvíkurbyggð is on Tröllaskagi and west of Eyjafjörður. History The municipality of Dalvíkurbyggð was formed in 1998 by the merger of three districts of oute ...

. Its population is approximately 1,400.Hagstofa Íslands
''Statistics Iceland'' Website The town's name means "

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

bay."

Geography

Dalvík is on the western shore of

Eyjafjörður Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is ...

in the valley of

Svarfaðardalur Svarfaðardalur (, " Svörfuður's valley") is a large valley in central north Iceland. It is a part of the Dalvíkurbyggð municipality. The Svarfaðardalsá River flows down the valley, having its mouth near to the town of Dalvík Dalvík ( ...

Transportation

Dalvík

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

is a regional commercial

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

for import and fishing. The

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

Sæfari, which sails from Dalvík, serves the island of

Grímsey Grímsey () is a small Icelandic island, off the north coast of the main island of Iceland, straddling the Arctic Circle. In January 2018 Grímsey had 61 inhabitants. Before 2009, Grimsey constituted the ''hreppur'' (municipality) of Grí ...

, Iceland's northernmost community, which lies on the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

Culture

The annual Fiskidagurinn mikli is held the Saturday after the first Monday of August, attended by up to 30,000 people who enjoy a free fish buffet sponsored by the local fishing industry.The Great Fish Day
, ''Iceland Review article''. Dalvík has had four representatives at the Eurovision song contest for Iceland, despite its small size.

Sports

In sports, Dalvík is probably most known for

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

. Böggvisstaðafjall is one of the best known ski areas in Iceland. The town has produced a series of skiers who have represented Iceland in the Olympics, World Cups, World Championships, and European Cups, as well as other international and national competitions. Amongst these have been Daníel Hilmarsson, Sveinn Brynjólfsson and Björgvin Björgvinsson. Football teams from the village have had their ups and downs but have managed to produce some nationally known players; the most recognized one is former Cardiff City and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

forward

Heiðar Helguson Heiðar Helguson (; born 22 August 1977) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a striker. Heiðar started his career in the Icelandic league system, with UMFS Dalvík and Þróttur. Following a one-season spell in Norw ...

. Hamar golf club has a 9-hole course, a short drive outside Dalvík.

Economy

The local

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

is based upon fisheries and

fish processing The term fish processing refers to the processes associated with fish and fish products between the time fish are caught or harvested, and the time the final product is delivered to the customer. Although the term refers specifically to fish, in ...

. Dalvík is also a tourist destination for boat trips in

whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins ( cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...

and heli skiing.

Other information

The Dalvik

process virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized hardw ...

in the Android operating system was named after this village.Journal entry
referencing the source of the name While the Dalvik virtual machine has been discontinued, replaced by

Android Runtime Android Runtime (ART) is an application runtime environment used by the Android operating system. Replacing Dalvik, the process virtual machine originally used by Android, ART performs the translation of the application's bytecode into native ...

in current versions of Android, .dex (''Dalvik EXecutable'') and .odex (''Optimized Dalvik EXecutable'') files are still used, so the Dalvik bytecode is still used for all Android apps.

References

External links

Dalvíkurbyggð municipalityFiskidagur official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalvik Populated places in Northeastern Region (Iceland)