We’ve had enough fun in Funchal, it was now time to check
out the north side of the island, even though we had a preview when we visited
Porto da Cruz a few days ago. We checked
out of the lovely 5-star Vine Hotel, hopped in our rental car and drove east along
the southern coast, which took us by the airport.
Driving under the runway of Madeira Airport.
There are 180 pillars!
Here's a pic from the Internet where you can see the long extension of the runway...amazing engineering and construction!
The plan was to do the Vereda
da Ponta de São Lourenço, a 6-kilometre return hike on the peninsula on the
east coast of the island. It was
supposed to be easier than our hike a few days ago as there was not much elevation
gain, plus it was 2 kilometres shorter.
When we were over a kilometre from the main parking lot, there
was a line of cars on the road ahead of us.
A police officer was talking to each car, and some were pulling their
cars half onto the sidewalk to park while others were turning around and leaving.
As we surmised, the parking lot was full already. Yikes.
We decided that we didn’t want to add a few more kilometres to our hike
on this late morning, especially with intermittent showers parading in from the
ocean. We turned around and found a nearby
viewpoint, just north of the peninsula that had some great views, and we could
see many hikers on the trail in the distance.
It was unfortunate to miss the hike, but we were happy with our decision.
The coastline of the hike we missed. We could see people walking along the saddle on the right, a bit above the middle of the photo. The island on the left top is the one we saw from Porto da Cruz a few days ago, it has a tunnel through it.
You can't quite see the tunnel through the tall, rocky island, but it is the darkest bit, just to the left on the bottom.
Looking north. There are a couple of people on the left for perspective.
Looking west, back towards Madeira.
Naomi liked this photo due to the contrast of the colours...I guess I was wearing the perfect outfit for it.
It was a stunning coastline.
We continued north and stopped in the town of Santana. Prior to reaching the village, Naomi asked me
what music I wanted to hear in the car…well Santana of course!
Starting to head around the east part of the island.
We saw signs for this kart racetrack and stopped by. It was wet and there was no one racing. It's not far from our next hotel so like Arnie said: "I'll be back".
She didn't race...but still decided that she was the winner!
An old bridge by the race track.
The tourist attraction here are some typical, historic
houses called the “Casas
of Santana” (yes, very original).
These small, triangular homes are made of wood with thatched roofs and
were usually painted in bright white, red and blue colours.
The first casa we found in Santana.
I didn't quite get the tourist appeal of them...
An overpriced fruit market. Naomi had done her research so we didn't get suckered into paying tourist prices for the food.
More casas.
This one actually looked like someone lived in it. See the deck off to the left of the house? They would be alright for a tiny home...big enough for me.
And they had a nice view of the ocean too.
Naomi sampling the local Poncha alcoholic drink. It is made from sugar cane.
The island is so lush. Naomi pointed out that its sub-tropic climate is conducive to growing almost anything.
Unfortunately it's not the time of the year to see the flowers in their full glory.
We spent about half an hour wandering around and then continued
to our next accommodation at a winery.
Our new hotel, at Quinta de Furão (Ferret Winery). I can't remember why I pulled this face...
The view from our room!
It was an amazingly spacious room.
Gorgeous!
Too bad the weather didn't cooperate on our arrival.
The lounge, complete with a fireplace which Naomi loves.
The rest of the afternoon was a lazy one, as it was rainy
and windy outside.
At the pizzeria on the property, that was lucky for us as we both love pizza, and this one had a fireplace too.
Yummy pizza.
We have three nights here, and it looks like it’s going to be
a lovely stay!
One of the suggested “must dos” on Madeira is to head up to
the third highest peak on the island called Pico de Areeiro, which
is only 43 meters shorter than the highest peak, Pico Ruivo, and catch
sunrise or sunset. We opted for sunrise
which meant an early wakeup, although not too early as sunrise wasn’t until
7:41 am. However, we did have a 45-minute
drive to get there, and we aimed to be there for 7 am, in case parking the car ended
up being a challenge. Our experience so
far on Madeira is that every activity/attraction is busy, even though it isn’t peak
tourist season.
We arrived in the dark with misty rain falling and sure
enough, the parking lot was already almost full. After 5 minutes in the lineup to get our
parking ticket from the machine, we walked up to the main building which housed
a café, washrooms and who knows what else as it was all closed and locked up
for the night. We walked around, trying to
figure out the best spot to catch the sunrise, if it happened as it was still quite
cloudy.
It was chilly, maybe 6 degrees and windy. We couldn’t help but chuckle at a few of the seemingly
ill prepared tourists, some in shorts, some with no jackets…silly people. There was also a couple with one- to
two-year-old baby in a backpack which seemed a bit crazy. The kid was well bundled up in a one-piece ski
suit, but his hands were exposed and within 5 minutes he was starting to cry. The parents figured it out.
The skies started to open up with the sky turning a bit
orange. We could see some of the peaks
to the south and west from the peak. Streams
of clouds were rolling over some nearby peaks, but that was short lived, and it
socked in again. That was as close to
seeing the sun that we would get while at the peak.
Everyone is hopeful that the sun will appear.
What are we doing up here so early in the morning?!?
A big radar dome at the top of the mountain.
I think it's about to pop out...
Looking to the west, we could see more of the nearby peaks...
...and the clouds were rolling over this peak. Super cool!
It's still looking promising...we think...
But then it was gone…the clouds completely obscured any view
of the sun. Oh well, you win some, you
lose some.
Umm...well it's officially sunrise time at 7:41 am, and here's our view.
The trailhead for a hike to the highest peak, Pico Ruivo,
begins here, but we had read online that it was restricted, and you could only
hike the first 2 kilometres of the 6-kilometre trail. We decided to check it out, even though the
visibility was only about 100 meters.
We just had to imagine what the views were like on a clear day.
It almost seemed surreal hiking along the trail that worked
its way along the spine of the mountain.
Most of it was easy walking on a stone path and steps with wire fencing
to prevent you from falling down the precipitous slopes.
We were near the end, but Naomi stopped to check out this viewpoint while I continued on for another half a kilometre or so.
The fog gave it a cool feeling, like this was a walkway in the clouds. Wait a sec, it was!
The end of the line, at least today. We never did find out why the trail was closed from this point on...most likely for maintenance.
What to do?!?
Well, I can head back.
This was a narrow part of the trail that I knew Naomi wouldn't have liked. Good thing she stopped where she did.
It got a bit blustery and chilly near the end.
Well, it wasn’t the sunrise we had hoped for, but still a
cool experience and we were glad to have made the effort to get up to the peak that
early…but then it was time to drive back to the hotel, enjoy a well-deserved
breakfast followed by a nap!
We were treated to a rainbow as we drove back to Funchal.
Talk about a steep road! When there are stairs for sidewalks...
One of Funchal's cute, narrow roads.
We had to stop for a while for a bunch of school children to cross the road...super cute.
After a relaxing 3-4 hours at the hotel, we decided to head
out and check out a viewpoint on the coast, to the west of Funchal called Cabo Girão. At 589 meters above sea level, it is the
highest cliff skywalk in Europe. Kind of
a funny claim in my mind. Yes, it is
technically part of Portugal, but Madeira is closer to Morocco than it is to
Portugal. Regardless, it did provide a lovely
view.
The highest cliff skywalk in Europe!
With a beautiful rainbow to boot.
The ocean looked so immense and unending from this vantage point.
That's a long way down.
That little white spec on the water, near the top just to the left of center, is a catamaran sailboat! A decent ocean-going sized one too.
The rainbow just wouldn't let up...but the rain was coming and we reached the car just in time.
There's that catamaran again, heading to the Funchal harbour.
Another great day on Madeira, but tomorrow we will head to the north coast and stay at a winery near the town of Santana.
