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ICEland, IRELAND &  PORTUGAL 2025

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Iceland - June for long days 11 night trip  - 2 spots a day  

https://guidetoiceland.is/nature-info/what-to-do-in-iceland

June 3 Midnight Sun in the N/NW at midnight , no moon  Moon  at 4am for best photographs. 

June 12 3am Sun in N, old moon in NE, 45 degrees apart. in 

​Photo opportunities; Puffins, Plate boundary, Landscapes, Snorkle, Midnight sun, Building tracking.

How to do landscape  videos ? -Use lots of time lapsed  side tracking clips,  or multiple short approach clips into each sight. Panoramas when we are there. 

 

Plan is allow time for birding in North and South, skip Fyords in East and West.   

https://guidetoiceland.is/nature-info/birds-in-iceland

Rekjavik  3 nights

Town tour, Creative Cluster

Option -  Helicopter tour of eruption - 35 mins $500 pp.   

Gullfoss Waterfall

Thingvellir NP - plate boundary 

Option - snorkeling at the plate boundary

Kerig Crater

Route 1 - Stick solely to the Ring Road and, in theory, you can drive around Iceland in about 17 hours. Estimated drive times below = 16 hrs.

To Akureyri - 4 hrs from Rekjavik   

Kirkjufell -  mesmerizing shape and 2 waterfalls.

Glaumbaer - Visit the turf houses and learn more about how people used to live in those typical houses.

Textile museum Blumfoss in june "knit fest"

Akureyri 1 night. To Myvan 1.5hrs direct

Husavik Village,

Tjornes Penninula puffins,  Several bird-watching trails will take you to see the puffins; one leads to its outermost tip, called Voladalstorfa, while another runs along the cliffs by Skeidsoxl. Both of these will grant you fantastic views of the colony. While admiring them, you can keep an eye out for the elusive ptarmigans, great cormorants, and black guillemots. A great advantage of birdwatching from Tjornes is the fact that, when looking out to the ocean, you have a good chance of spotting whales and dolphins. Avid birdwatchers seeking more than just puffins should head just a few minutes southeast of the peninsula to Vikingavatn, the Viking Lake. The wetlands here are home to thousands of freshwater birds, allowing you to admire all kinds of duck species and nesting horned grebes.

Asbyrgi Canyon trail to Botnstjorn lake birding

Dettifoss Waterfall 

Option - 2-3 hr whale watching. 

Midnight sun Photos 

Myvan  2 nights

Godafoss waterfall, 

Midnight Sun Photos 

 

Myvatn birding; Bird Museum: A Haven of Feathered Wonders,  Höfði and Skutustadir,  Extend your adventure to additional hotspots like Neslandavík, Álar, Laxá rive Nature Reserve, and Stakhólstjörn . North Bank Circle 2-3hrs starts across Hotel Reykjhalid . 

Pseudocraters Krafla - Walk around a pond and admire the conical shapes that were not formed by traditional explosions. 

​Hverfjall - Giant circular crater in excellent condition. It is possible to walk all around the rim!  2 hr there and back. 

To Hofn 6.5 hrs

Studlagil - 1.5 hr N of

Egilsadur - Hallormsstasdur to SW.

Rt 1 then follows Eastern Fyords 

Breiddalvik Reindeer

Small town of Djupivogur  

Fauskasandur beach and Headland  

Hvalnes lighthouse right before Hofn

Hofn 2 nights 

Skaftafell National Park  hike the South side 

Further along the South Coast from Dyrholaey, between Skaftafell and Jokulsarlon, you can find Ingolfshofdi Cape and Nature Reserve. This hidden gem of a destination is surrounded by mighty cliffs and only accessible by crossing the dunes to its northwest; its sheltered, protected location makes it a thriving home for Iceland's puffins and other birds. Like at Latrabjarg, you can expect to see the puffins nesting with a number of other species, such as kittiwakes and guillemots;   you can also expect a wealth of seafowl that includes many of the country's saltwater duck species.

Hike to Svartifoss or walk to the tongue of the glacier,

Jokulsarlon is the famous glacial lagoon with Diamond beach opposite

Options: Mulagljufur canyon requires 4WD and a rather rough hike in, all day Glacier tour with Marina Travel 

To Viki Myrdal 2 hrs

Fjadrargljufur Canyon

Puffins at Dyrholaey Arch in south Iceland  (June 10). Please also note that it could be closed somewhere between 1st and 12 of May and then limited access until middle of June. During the nesting season the lower part is open to car traffic but the higher part is then only open to travellers on foot during daytime (09-18).  

Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach

Viki Myrdal 1 night

​Option - Revisit puffins at Westland Island 

To Rekjyavik

Skogafoss - Another 60m high waterfall, but this one is wide. It looks like a shower curtain. Take the time to get up-close at the bottom and to climb the 370 stairs to the upper viewing platform.

Seljalandsfoss - Discover the famous 60m high waterfall where you can walk behind.

Raufarhólshellir - 1.3km lava tube 

Selfoss - semicircular fall & Wool museum 

Kerig Crater

Rekjyavik  2 night

June 12 3am Sun in N, old moon in NE, 45 degrees apart. Looking North 

Option - Nakvic Viking ship.

Option -  Helicopter tour of eruption - 35 mins $500 pp.   

​See also 

https://www.zigzagonearth.com/10-day-itinerary-iceland/

​IRELAND

To Dublin

​Dublin 1  day  Dublin Castle, Trinity College Library shows Book of Kels & Grafton St, Christ Church Cathedral Trinity Bar 

To  Limerick 2.5 hrs + Old town ​ Dolans pub in Limerick for music

Stay in Killarney and then drive the Ring of Kerry and Killarney NP. ​

Killarney National Park was the first established national park of Ireland (1932). It remained the country’s only national park for close to 50 years until Glenveagh was established in 1984. It covers 41 square miles (105 sq km) in County Kerry and contains the most extensive coverage of native forest remaining in Ireland.

The park is also home to Ireland’s only native herd of red deer and 141 different species of birds. If you’re into wildlife viewing, this is the park for you! 

The Ring of Kerry is one of Ireland’s most popular drives and cuts right through Killarney National Park, go clockwise. 

Close to Annascaul with South Pole Inn. 

Back to Dublin via Cork 

PORTUGAL   10 nights  

To Lisbon ​

Lisbon Setúbal Peninsula  - 3 nights - Sammie lives in Lisbon.Museum of Maritime in Alges subdivision  - the majestic Royal Bergantine, commissioned to be built in 1780 by Queen D is on display. Monastry Jeronimo next door. 

In Lisbon proper there are some castle ruins (São Jorge) and an old monastery (Geronimo) that are worth the visit, also the tile museum.

Sintra Moorish castle in Sintra train ride on CP Sintra line.  Dinner with Sammy lives in Santa Isabel

Tagus Estuary Natural reserve - 30 miles 1hr drive 

The Sado Estuary, decent amount of wildlife and some dolphin residents. Comporta has some really nice places to stay and lots of hiking around there too, dune ecosystems, etc.

Alentejo on way to Algarve some very historic towns and lots of wine/cheese if you're into that. 

Algarve  3 night

Coast & Sagres Fortress & Museum (Henry the Navigator) in Sagres 1 night 

Coast  - Benagil Cave on way to Faro   3 nights 

Birding - Faro

We stay in Quinta do lago at the Four Seasons Fairways.  ( the Ria Formosa) with mud flats and good walks nearby, lots of waders in particular.  

Milren roman ruins 

To Nazerre via Obidos 4 hrs

To Porto 3 hrs via Aviero

Porto 3 nights

"Historic Centre of Porto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar". 

Douro Valley: 2h Rabelo Boat Tour with Wine Tasting & Audio Guide

By Companhia Turística do Douro   https://ctdouro.com/en/

Visit Amarante, Régua, and Pinhão.

 

Drop off car in Porto.

Madrid  3 nights -

Paella cooking Class in Madrid with Bottomless Wine Pairing! By The Cooking Clubhouse

day trip Segovia and its Roman Aqueduct, Avila

Best April - September for the migrating birds. 

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Fjadrargljufur Canyon

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Skogafoss

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Iceland

In geological terms, Iceland is a young island. It started to form in the Miocene era about 20 million years ago from a series of volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where it lies between the North American and Eurasian plates. These plates spread at a rate of approximately 2.5 centimeters per year.[3] This elevated portion of the ridge is known as the Reykjanes Ridge. The volcanic activity is attributed to a hotspot, the Iceland hotspot, which in turn lies over a mantle plume (the Iceland Plume), a column of anomalously hot rock in the Earth's mantle which is likely to be partly responsible for the island's creation and continued existence. For comparison, it is estimated that other volcanic islands, such as the Faroe Islands have existed for about 55 million years, [4] the Azores (on the same ridge) about 8 million years,[5] and Hawaii less than a million years.[6] The younger rock strata in the southwest of Iceland and the central highlands are only about 700,000 years old.  

 

What is your favorite geological spot in Iceland and why? I would pick the bridge between the Eurasian Plate and North American Plate, located on the Reykjanes Peninsula. For me, this is a place where the theory of plate tectonics shifts from being a diagram to something tangible – and spectacular! Standing at the bottom of the rift valley while being shadowed by the fault walls of the divergent plate boundary is an unspeakable feeling.

 

 

Recorded settlement has conventionally been dated back to 874, although archaeological evidence indicates Gaelic monks from Ireland, known as papar according to sagas, may have settled Iceland earlier. By 930, the chieftains had established a form of governance, the Althing, making it one of the world's oldest parliaments. Towards the end of the tenth century, Christianity came to Iceland through the influence of the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason.   In the early thirteenth century, the internal conflict known as the age of the Sturlungs weakened Iceland, which eventually became subjugated to Norway over the 13th century. The Old Covenant (1262–1264), and the adoption of Jónsbók (1281) effectively ended the Icelandic Commonwealth. Norway, in turn, was united with Sweden (1319) and then Denmark (1376). Eventually all of the Nordic states were united in one alliance, the Kalmar Union (1397–1523), but on its dissolution, Iceland fell under Danish rule. The subsequent strict Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was detrimental to the economy. Iceland's resultant poverty was aggravated by severe natural disasters like the Móðuharðindin or "Mist Hardships". During this time, the population declined.

Iceland remained part of Denmark, but in keeping with the rise of nationalism around Europe in the nineteenth century, an independence movement emerged. The Althing, which had been suspended in 1799, was restored in 1844, and Iceland gained sovereignty after World War I, becoming the Kingdom of Iceland on 1 December 1918. However, Iceland shared the Danish Monarchy until World War II. Although Iceland was neutral in the Second World War, the United Kingdom invaded and peacefully occupied it in 1940 to forestall a Nazi occupation, after Denmark was overrun by the German Wehrmacht.[1] Due to the island's strategic position in the North Atlantic, the Allies occupied the island until the end of the war, with the United States taking over occupation duties from the British in 1941. In 1944, Iceland severed its remaining ties with Denmark (then still under Nazi occupation) and declared itself a republic. 

 

Portugal

The history of Portugal can be traced from circa 400,000 years ago, when the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Homo heidelbergensis. The Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, which lasted almost two centuries, led to the establishment of the provinces of Lusitania in the south and Gallaecia in the north of what is now Portugal. Following the fall of Rome, Germanic tribes controlled the territory between the 5th and 8th centuries, including the Kingdom of the Suebi centred in Braga and the Visigothic Kingdom in the south.

The 711–716 invasion by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate conquered the Visigoth Kingdom and founded the Islamic State of Al-Andalus, gradually advancing through Iberia. In 1095, Portugal broke away from the Kingdom of GaliciaAfonso Henriques, son of the count Henry of Burgundy, proclaimed himself king of Portugal in 1139. The Algarve (the southernmost province of Portugal) was conquered from the Moors in 1249, and in 1255 Lisbon became the capital. Portugal's land boundaries have remained almost unchanged since then. During the reign of King John I, the Portuguese defeated the Castilians in a war over the throne (1385) and established a political alliance with England (by the Treaty of Windsor in 1386).

From the late Middle Ages, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal ascended to the status of a world power during Europe's "Age of Discovery" as it built up a vast empire. Signs of military decline began with the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco in 1578; this defeat led to the death of King Sebastian and the imprisonment of much of the high nobility, which had to be ransomed at great cost. This eventually led to a small interruption in Portugal's 800-year-old independence by way of a 60-year dynastic union with Spain between 1580 and the beginning of the Portuguese Restoration War led by John IV in 1640. Spain's disastrous defeat in its attempt to conquer England in 1588 by means of the Invincible Armada was also a factor, as Portugal had to contribute ships for the invasion. 

Further setbacks included the destruction of much of its capital city in an earthquake in 1755,  Dona Maria I (17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal from 24 February 1777 until her death in 1816. Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, she was the first undisputed queen regnant of Portugal [a] and the first monarch of Brazil. She commissioned  the ship Bonaventure on display at the Naval Museum.  Deposed by Napoleon she fled to Brazil.  Brazil won its independence in 1822.

Spain

the "flysch" rock formations along the coast of Zumaia in the Basque Country, Spain. Flysch is a geological phenomenon created by millions of years of sedimentary layering, resulting in striking, parallel lines of rock that extend into the sea. The unique shapes, often covered in green moss and washed over by the tides, reveal Earth's ancient history, with layers dating back over 100 million years.

Photo strategy 

This is primarily a scenic trip with some wildlife and cities.

Focus on video progressions, walk into waterfalls and faults.  ID shots for locations. Tracking shots for mountains with time lapsed walks and drive by. Telephoto wildlife still and video. Tracking inside buildings, panoramas at wide angle and level to avoid pincushion. 

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