What to write about Madeira when there’s so many articles about this island? That this is the island of eternal spring, a blooming garden, an island of volcanic origin, a dreamy island in the middle of Atlantic? All this is true. It is gorgeous, magical, calm, mysterious, sunny and windy, kind, diverse, adrenaline from my point of view. It was my wish to visit it for 3 years. I had so many expectations about the visit, but I was still surprised. My enthusiasm is limitless.
Madeira has 741 km2 with the smaller island Porto Santo and other uninhabited islands. Our first contact with an island will be unforgettable because we also visited Porto Santo where we landed in Funchalo because of the weather. In an hour the weather stabilized and we safely landed in the morning. I wasn’t disappointed.
Because the adrenalin was still kicking in, some people suggested that we go on a walk but we were reasonable and realised that idea a little later.
A decision that we will get to know the capital in the first day, was correct. Walk in the city was easy and good for our souls. Before we entered the city, we stopped at the second biggest European cliff that is 580 metres high, Cabo Girao. This is a stop worth seeing. With a blue bus, driven by Umberto, we drove to Monte that rises above Funchalo. Here we visited a pilgrimage church where Karl Habsburg is buried as he loved spending his holiday here. Next to the church there is a culture centre – home of the pilgrims with an exhibition of work, devoted to the emperor. The view from the top of the church also takes your breath away – Funchal on your hand. If you visit this place, you have to go sledging. Wooden sleighs are made for asphalt and all you need is a local to push you and a 2 kilometre long hill for a fun adventure, full of laughter. And from the village Livramento, back to the starting point. Renato already knew where he has to try us out. In Monte we went to rest our eyes in the botanic garden Monte Palace Tropical. Wonderful gardens, ponds, waterfalls, paths, lakes, exhibitions. We went to the town with gondola and reached the famous market Mercado dos Lavradores. Interesting, beautiful market where you are welcomed by ladies in the traditional clothes. You can buy anything you wish, from fruit, vegetables, fish, souvenirs, flowers, meat or beer Casol. We also had to see the cathedral from 1517 that is the heart of Funchalo and gives a mysterious vibe with its interior.
About 260000 people live in Madeira, half of them in the capital. But the crowd gets lost so the city was nice and calm. We stopped in Funchalo one more time. We went to the winery D’Oliveiras to try some Madeira wine and we visited Christian Museu.
The third day we meant serious business. We hiked by Levada, named 25 waterfalls. Madeira is pretty wet on the north-west and dry on the south-east. This is why Portuguese started to build artificial canals, levadas, to transport water to the agriculture areas on the south in 16th century. The last canals were built in 1940. Madeira has a lot of mountains so building those canals was very difficult. They were built by convicts or slaves. Some are even in the mountains, they built 40 kilometres of tunnels that are still reachable. There are about 2170 levadas. To maintain them, they built a great web of hiking paths. Today, some are purposed for walking through the beautiful landscape and some are narrow and dangerous. I already mentioned one of those, from the town Rabacall. The path leads through the forest and is surrounded by streams, waterfalls, rocks and colourful plants. When this ends, there’s a wall with 25 waterfalls. I didn’t count them but it was fascinating to see so many waterfalls on one place.
Waterfall Risco is a little further, but is very big and worth seeing. After the walk, we drove to the northwest and admired Porto Moniz. It is famous for natural rock pools where you can safely bathe and swim. The path lead us from Porto Moniz to Sao Vicente that lies in the hollow, on the north of Encumeada pass. We stopped here in the centre Vulkanija, where they told us how the island was formed. We also walked through volcanic caves that were first open to public in 1996.
Because the weather was promising, we weren’t too worried about climbing the highest mountain Pico Ruivo (1862m). Our path began at the neighbouring hill Pico Arieiro (1818m) and lead us up and down the stairs, through ridges and tunnels, safe paths to the house where we got some water and then we jumped to the top. We stopped at the village Achada de Teixeira. It was not a problem to walk the path, it was really picturesque and diverse. Anywhere I turned, the landscape took my breath away. It was something special and the fauna was really specific. A view on other mountains, a view on the sea, clouds on the north and sun on the south. And before me a company – what more can a man want?
After we climbed down, we were tourists again and we visited the oldest town on the island Santana. It is a great town that was just preparing for the national holiday on the 15th of August. The town is known for the triangular farm houses, covered with straw, red doors and windows, black shutters and white facade with red rim. As if you’re in a fairy tale. In some, the sell typical Madeira products, napkins, souvenirs, snacks.
We slept in the town Ponta do Sol, sunny village, which lies on the coast of Atlantic. Some were tempted by the ocean and refreshed themselves in the ocean. It felt really good. The place is peaceful, far from tourist crowds and popular to admire the sunset. This became the daily ritual after dinner. Like meetings on the terrace, poncha or nikita, like coral.
After climbing on the highest mountain, we also wanted to climb on Pico Grande (1654m). We began our journey in Bocca de Conida, in the nun valley (nuns hid from pirates in this valley in 16th century) in the town Faial Escura. This wasn’t easy because of the heat. But we managed to do it and it was worth it. You could also admire the beautiful nature and smiled at the view on the path.
A lot of us wanted it and Renato gave it to us. A day of rest. Walking on one of the many, but this time shorter levadas, Serra de Faial, rest in the town Camacha, known for the first football match in Portugal between Portugal and England. The home team won 2:1. And then a quick jump in the capital and the rest of the day in the Sunny village.
Only two days of the trip were left and we went to the Encumeado pass. This pass is a border between the northern and the southern part of the island and it’s also an area that keeps the clouds north.
In the last day we visited east of the village, headland Sao Lorenzo. It was the opposite of what we enjoyed in the previous days. We were also thrilled but it was very windy and we got a little wet. But it all goes together. Long, narrow chain of volcanic cliffs with a path presents Madeira as exciting desert destination with raging sea. As if you’re on the other world.
Short stops in Canical, Camaro de Lobos and Ribeira Brava also gave us some insight of life in Madeira.
Sunny island with a sun in its flag really charms you with the beauty of nature, diversity, its coast, magical eucalyptus to flowers everywhere. It bewitches you. And it convinces you to love it.
