Dalvík

For the virtual machine, see Dalvik (software).
Dalvík
Town and Municipality
Dalvík Church in March 2008
Dalvík Church in March 2008
Flag of Dalvík
Flag
Location of the Municipality of Dalvíkurbyggð
Location of the Municipality of Dalvíkurbyggð
Dalvík is located in Iceland
Dalvík
Dalvík
Location of Dalvík
Coordinates: 65°58′N 18°32′W / 65.967°N 18.533°W / 65.967; -18.533
Country Iceland
ConstituencyNortheast Constituency
RegionNortheastern Region
MunicipalityDalvíkurbyggð
Population
 (January 2011)
 • Total
1,454
Postal code
620
WebsiteOfficial website

Dalvík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈtalˌviːk] ⓘ) is the main village of the Icelandic municipality of Dalvíkurbyggð. Its population is approximately 1,400.[1]

The town's name means "valley bay."

Geography

Dalvík is on the western shore of Eyjafjörður in the valley of Svarfaðardalur.

Transportation

Dalvík harbor is a regional commercial port for import and fishing. The ferry Sæfari, which sails from Dalvík, serves the island of Grímsey, Iceland's northernmost community, which lies on the Arctic Circle. Bus services to Siglufjörður and Akureyri are provided by Strætó.

Culture

The annual Fiskidagurinn mikli festival 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.[2] Despite its small size, Dalvík has had four representatives at the Eurovision song contest for Iceland.

Sports

In sports, Dalvík is probably best known for alpine skiing. 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 and Iceland forward Heiðar Helguson.

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

Economy

The local economy is based upon fisheries and fish processing.

Dalvík is also a tourist destination for boat trips in whale watching and heli skiing.

Other information

The Dalvik process virtual machine in the Android operating system was named after this village.[3][4] While the Dalvik virtual machine has been discontinued, replaced by Android Runtime 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

  1. ^ Hagstofa Íslands, Statistics Iceland Website
  2. ^ The Great Fish Day Archived 2008-04-16 at the Wayback Machine, Iceland Review article.
  3. ^ Journal entry referencing the source of the name
  4. ^ "Google Calling: Inside Android, the gPhone SDK". onlamp.com. Archived from the original on 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dalvík.

65°58′N 18°32′W / 65.967°N 18.533°W / 65.967; -18.533