Madeira: East End - September 17

Dragging a bit this morning after a late evening and a night in a persnickety hotel room, we boarded our bus at 9:00 for an all-day tour to the eastern part of the island.

Our first stop was Santuario da Nossa Senhora da Paz (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peace).  The chain surrounding the statue is from a German submarine.  It forms a rosary.

 

We continued upward, climbing through eucalyptus then pine growth to tundra on our way to  Pico do Areeiro at 5900' above sea level.  It is high enough to get cold enough to snow there on occasion during the winter months. It was in the low 50's today. 

an ice house used at one time used to store snow to cool drinks in Funchal

The weather was on the cusp of raining and/or clouding over, but held off on doing either.

There were spectacular views, reminiscent of elements of Kauai National Park, Grand Canyon and Machu Picchu.

 

Whenever walking uphill or up stairs to see one a vista we were quickly reminded that the air was much thinner at this altitude.

no, that is not the biggest golf ball in the world in the upper left-hand corner - it is a radar dome

We descended to Ribeiro Frio where we stopped at a 'posto aquacola' (fish farm) and a small Our Lady of Fatima chapel.

 

 

 

Pam has known Heidi longer than Pam has known me

We continued our descent, passing through small farming communities.

Reaching the coast at Santana, but remaining several hundred feet above the village, we visiting  an observation point and some replicas of traditional housing before stopping for lunch at Quinta do Furao, a restaurant and hotel situated in a vineyard.

 

 

Back on the bus wee headed towards Canical on the eastern end of the island.  There was a marked change in the vegetation, transitioning from lush to noticeably more arid.  We stopped at the eastern end of Canical for a photo op.

 

From here we returned to Funchal and our hotel.  Along the way one of the tunnels was 1.3 miles long.  The highway also passed under the main runway at the airport.  This was not a tunnel.  The runway was built out into the water on pilings with the road winding its way between them.  Below the runway and the highway was a marina.

picture of model at airport

Before ending today's posting, let me say something about "lavadas".  This has nothing to do with the washing of hands.  Throughout our time on Madeira we have heard how lavadas are used to managed water on the island.  Over hundreds of years a network of channels have been created guiding water from the mountains to where it is needed at lower elevations.  These networks are still integral to agriculture on the island.  They are paralleled by footpaths, originally as away of moving around the island and now popular routes for hikers.  Some lavada treks take more than a week.