Madeira: North Coast - September 13

Because of where we are in the western end of the time zone (GMT +1) we enjoyed the early morning sky while having breakfast.

We left the hotel at 9:00, boarding the bus for our tour to the north coast of the island.  We climbed out of Funchal to Cabo Giraud where there was an observation platform with a glass floor and an open grate floor.

looking back at Funchal

 

The road up to Cabo Giraud and down was steep and narrow with numerous switchbacks, all making the driver's skill in maneuvering our fully-size bus impressive. As the day progressed we would find that switchbacks and tunnels are commonplace on this mountainous island.  In fact, there are 147 tunnels on the island, many thousands of feet long.

 

Having descended to the coast, we visited Ribeira Brava, seeing Lady of Fatima cathedral and walking around.

 

Once again we climbed, this time into the clouds to an altitude of about 4900' before descending to Porto Moniz.  There were moments when visibility was good but much of the time above 2500' visibility was limited; above 3500' sometimes to only a few hundred feet or less.

We had lunch at Restaurante Orca, then wandered about, our progress impeded by rain showers, some of which were heavy. (Lasting 2.5 hours, had the weather been better this would probably have still been a long stop.)  It did provide a respite from often straining to understand the accent and word pronunciation of our guide Joaquin.  Perhaps aware of this, he tended to be just a mite tautological, saying the same thing multiple times again and again redundantly and in a recapitulatory manner that was annoyingly repetitive.

descending towards Porto Moniz

Restaurante Orca with swimming complex - red flag = no swimming

 

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL - fishing from 100'  about the water in a rainstorm

Departing Porto Moniz, we headed along the coast. Between the fishing villages of Seixal and S. Vincente, we passed a number of small but impressively tall waterfalls.

 

 

After Saint Vicente, we turned inland, heading back to Funchal.  Eschewing the high speed road in favor of a winding secondary road, we made a couple of stops at scenic vistas along the way.

 

 When we came down off the steepest part of the slope we again saw farming everywhere.  Because of the terrain, most of the farming is done using terracing.  This makes tending and harvesting crops that much harder because farm equipment cannot negotiate the terraces so it is all hand labor.  And even in populated areas, any space not occupied by structures was likely to contain produce.

 

After some relaxation at our hotel, we walked to Villa Cipriani where we enjoyed a delicious, graciously served dinner.