Sørvika is a village in

Harstad Municipality Harstad (; ) is the second-most populated municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the Harstad (town), town of Harstad, which is the most populous town in Central Håloga ...

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located along the Vågsfjorden on the island of

Hinnøya Hinnøya ( Norwegian; ) is the fourth-largest island in Norway, and the largest outside the Svalbard archipelago. The lies just off the western coast of Northern Norway. The island sits on the border of Nordland and Troms counties. The western ...

about south of the town of Harstad SandtorgKirke

Its

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

(2001) is about 451. The village includes the ''Sørvik Barne- og Ungdomsskole'' school which houses grades 5 through 10, the ''Sørvik barnehage'' kindergarten, and the ''Sørvik eldrehjem''

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home, old folks' home, or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – or rest home, is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Ty ...

. Sørvik also has its own soccer team called SMIL (''Sørvikmark Idrettslag''). There is also the Sandtorg Church, a grocery store, and a gas station. In the churchyard are three British war graves.

Sørvik Rural Museum

There is also a rural/historical

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

in boundary with the church and cemetery grounds, which is open every summer for visitors. The museum was founded in June 1953, and consists of several log buildings moved from various locations near

. The museum is a great opportunity to experience and view the average Norwegian home and lifestyle in the beginning of this century and earlier. The museum shows different log architecture since the 19th century and earlier, but also farming/fishing and everyday tools used in this period. Every museum event is normally advertised daily on signs by the road. There are also guides for tourist groups.

Vikevatnet

Vikevatnet is a lake located about northwest of Sørvika. Vikevatnet is formed by various small brooks from nearby

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s, but mainly from its main water source from Vollstadheia. The outgoing stream/river, known as "Sørvikelva", ends by the coast of Sørvika. This river was earlier populated by

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are bull trout, sewin (Wales ...

, but vanished because of the lack of continuous heavy water stream and earlier pollution. Vikevatnet is a popular fishing destination for families or fishing enthusiasts from all around

and other nearby areas. The main population of fish consists of

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...

, and some freshwater eel (

Anguillidae The Anguillidae are a family of ray-finned fish that contains the freshwater eels. All the extant species and six subspecies in this family are in the genus ''Anguilla'', and are elongated fish of snake-like bodies, with long dorsal, caudal and a ...

). The surrounding properties are mainly owned by local farmers or other landed property. The lake is also a very popular bird destination, and you can often see rather rare (for this area) birds in this area including

swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

, black-throated loon,

dipper Dippers are members of the genus ''Cinclus'' in the bird family Cinclidae, so-called because of their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater. Taxonomy The genus ''Cinclus'' ...

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. ''Gallinago'' snipe have a nearly ...

Eurasian curlew The Eurasian curlew or common curlew (''Numenius arquata'') is a very large wader in the family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia. In Europe, this species is often referred ...

Eurasian whimbrel The Eurasian or common whimbrel (''Numenius phaeopus''), also known as the white-rumped whimbrel in North America, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Pal ...

northern lapwing The northern lapwing (''Vanellus vanellus''), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tewit, green plover, or (in Ireland and Great Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Palearcti ...

, and a variety of freshwater ducks and

grebe Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes (). Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Most grebes f ...

birds. File:vikevannet.jpg, Vikevatnet in summer. File:vikevannet trout.jpg, The most common guest of the waters is the Vikevatnet trout.

Metal community

Sørvika is locally known as a "metal-community". The

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...

movement is connected to the youth of the village. There have been several well-known bands that have their roots in the village. Examples are Cat Eye (who will soon sign their first record with a German company),

Flame Thrower A flame () is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction made in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density, they are then considered plasma. ...

(who won Norway's biggest amateur rock-contest Rock Mot Rus in 2005), Eternal Silence, and Monkey Business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorvika Villages in Troms Harstad Populated places of Arctic Norway