Arnarfjörður () is a large

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coas ...

region of

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 ...

. "Arnar" is the genitive case of "Örn" , the name of the first settler of the fjord.

Description

The fjord is 30 km long, five to ten km wide, and is oriented NW/SE. It branches into two main bays, both containing a few coves. They are

Borgarfjörður Borgarfjörður () is a fjord in the west of Iceland near the town of Borgarnes. Although the waters of Borgarfjörður appear calm, the fjord has significant undercurrents and shallows. The many flat islands lying in the fjord are for the most ...

to the east and Suðurfirðir to the south. The largest settlement on the fjord is the small village of

Bíldudalur Bíldudalur () is a village situated on the coast of Arnarfjörður, one of the Westfjords in Iceland. It is situated in the Vesturbyggð municipality and has 238 inhabitants (as of January 2021). The village prospered in the 19th century thank ...

. Lowland strips along the bay are very limited, with mountain slopes falling steeply into the sea in most places. The

' highest mountain, Kaldbakur, is also located between Arnarfjörður and the neighboring Dýrafjörður, a parallel fjord to the north-east.

Legends

According to folklore, the fjord is said to house the most sea monsters of all the country's fjords, and to have many sorcerers.

References

External links

Arnarfjordur - West fjords
Fjords of Iceland Westfjords {{Iceland-fjord-stub