Madeira 2009

Madeira February 2009

We enjoyed our visit to Madeira in 2007 so much that we thought we'd go back so ... off we went

We enjoyed our stay at Quinta da Casa Branca in 2007 so much that we thought we'd go back so .... we stayed there again

We weren't disappointed with either!

Last time we were here we tried to go up and see Curral das Freiras but it was such a foggy day that we didn't get to see anything other than fog.This time it was much better with magnificent views.

The two photos either side of here were taken on the way up to Eira do Serrado from where you can get a great view of the village.

Curral das Freiras is a secluded, cauldron shaped valley surrounded by high peaks and as you can see, the hills are quite high and the slopes quite steep!

Eira do Serrado is 1,053m high and whilst it was a lovely day when we arrived it seemed to get very windy and chilly over lunch time. We can recommend the restaurant at Eira do Serrado - very good food, service and views (we were lucky enough to get a window table).

Curral das Freiras means "Nuns' Refuge". It got its name in 1566 when the nuns of Santa Clara saw French pirates heading for their convent and decided to escape. They fled into the remote inland valley up the river Socorridos. It is still pretty remote and not that easy to get to (although drivable).

There were a few other plants / flowers as well as you would expect in Madeira (but no wild Bird of Paradise plants yet). We got the impression that this winter must have been a bit cooler than 2007 as the plants didn't seem quite so far on - still lovely though.

Later in the week a shop keeper lady confirmed that they had had a harsh winter and that everything was later than normal so our guess was correct!

Jonathon thought he'd try and act like a local at one point during the day so tried a bit of wall sitting. Doesn't look quite bored enough to fit in and there have been a distinct lack of wall sitters today compared to our last visit. Perhaps that trend has died out.

We were debating whether to walk down to the village - the guide book said that it wasn't as pretty as it appeared from above so we weren't sure. The guide book also said there were 52 hairpin bends to walk round so it didn't really appeal. We had a look at the start of the walk and it looked pretty steep (a drop of 475 metres over a distance of 2 miles!). The guide book also warned us not to rely on the bus that's supposed to bring you back to Eira do Serrado on a Sunday so it would have been a long, steep walk back up. However, the deciding factor was something we couldn't have thought of. 2 Dutch women stopped and asked if we spoke English. Yes. Did we know where the bus for Funchal was as it was supposed to be there half an hour ago. No - sorry. Where were we going and please could they have a lift. We couldn't really say no so into the car they got and off we went back to Funchal!

It did mean that we had a nice relaxing rest of the afternoon at the hotel - reading our books, playing in the jacuzzi and steam room etc so it was no real hardship!

It was a good job we went into the hills on Sunday because Monday was back to fog in the hills from about lunch time onwards. Didn't bother us as this was our first dolphin spotting day, and spot them we did - Common Dolphin. They were hunting so very busy and the seagulls thought they'd have their share of the fish too please.

We went out on a catamaran - all very civilised and a really comfortable ride

We actually took photos of each other (for a change) so here we are all kitted out in our waterproof gear! Jonathon was very glad of it at the front of the boat when it started to get a bit splashy.

On the way back in from the trip, we went to admire the highest cliff in Europe at 580m above sea level. The bits of green at the bottom are allotments. Apparently the holders used to travel by small boat to get there, now they use a cable car! The wooden boxes at the back are where they keep their tools.

With it being a water day, the plant of the day is from the hotel gardens. Latin name - Senna Didymobotrya - aka Cassia Popcorn Bush. There are several Popcorn Bushes around with their beautiful yellow and black flowers - very pretty.

When we got back from our boat trip we learned that our all day boat trip for Tuesday had been postponed to Thursday due to adverse weather forecast (strong winds). Oh well, there's plenty of other things to do in Madeira so we decided we'd bring our garden trip forward by a day and see how we go. In the meantime, we spent a long time over lunch at the hotel (restaurant is as good as we remembered) and then strolled to the local shops for a T-shirt or two all followed by another steam and spa - very relaxing!

Bringing our garden day forward a day would have worked fine had it been open! Thankfully, we asked reception to check before we set off. The reason it was closed was for Carnival (Mardi Gras) which is a bank holiday in Madeira. I had a bit of a sleep in the sun for the morning while Jonathon wandered round the hotel gardens with his camera and then we decided to go for a drive on the basis that the mountains and the coast wouldn't be closed!

As today was a driving day it seems a good time to introduce Henry, our car for the week. Good tip - if you want to drive up into the middle of Madeira it's best to have a car with a 1.6 engine (or more) as some of the hills are very steep with plenty of hairpin bends!

It took us quite a while to find the road we were looking for and we managed to get lost once or twice but if we hadn't got lost we would have missed some of the views we saw, some of the old tunnels we went through and even driving through a waterfall that was going over the road!

Drinkings was at Ponta do Sol - Madeira is not really a beach place so we were surprised to see beach "umbrellas" next to the cafe we found.

We found the road eventually and drove up and up to Paul da Serra, a very barren part of the island but also very dramatic. This is Madeira's (main) National Park. The windmills were hardly moving and we couldn't work out whether it was lack of wind or if they were broken. It was pretty chilly on the top, about 10C compared to the 23C at our hotel.

We kept on climbing and admiring the scenery. There were a few waterfalls along the way and lots of beautiful mountains. We made a couple of photo stops. The fog came and went - it was moving quite quickly and gave everywhere a bit of an eerie feel.

I was wondering what our plant of the day would be today. We'd seen loads of gorse and some very interesting lichen but as we turned one corner we came across small vineyards covered in bright yellow flowers. They were so pretty that they were immediately chosen as plant of today!

From there we headed coastwards and drove along the North coast for a while. It was raining (but not for long)! Last time we visited Porto Moniz it was a beautiful sunny day but even on a gray day, the sea was pretty special.

Our plan was to reach Ponta do Pargo for sunset (and tea) - the Tea House was recommended and was very good. This is the most Westerly part of the island. It was a beautiful setting and there was the added bonus of a stroke of Jack, a nine month old, very friendly puppy!

The sunshine was pretty dramatic on the sea when we arrived and, having driven through some fairly thick fog, we were pleased to see that it promised to be a good sunset.

We saw quite a few Bird of Paradise flowers while we were driving around. There was one solitary one just by the tea house and the sun very kindly lit it up for us.

As mentioned above, it was Carnival and this is the nearest we got to it. We missed the big parade in Funchal on Saturday as we arrived too late and we missed the bands etc on Tuesday as we were here instead but we did see some carnival goers all dressed up when they came to the cafe.

Finally, the sun went down and we drove back to Funchal.

Wednesday came around and we finally got to the Jardins da Palheiro (Palheiro Gardens). They were well worth the wait with various different parts of the garden all with loads of interest. I overheard somebody say that it was a "gardeners' garden" and that probably summed it up quite well. The camellias were slightly past their best but there were still some stunning bushes. To approach the main gardens, we wandered down Camellia Avenue before arriving at the sunken garden. There were a lot of lawn areas and the main gardens were full of specimen trees, shrubs and loads of flowers. The ladies' garden (Jardim da Senhora) had some amusing topiary - lots of peahens sitting in egg cups. There was a long border, a very nice tea house and the Ribeiro do Inferno (Valley of Hell) which was a bit like a jungle, full of big plants and tree ferns etc. It was definitely worth a visit. I've included a few photos of the garden on this page and put a load of close up flower pictures on a separate page (or we would have run out of room!!)

Our plant of the day today is a tree - a Saphora Japonica Pendula to be exact. It looked lovely with its twisted branches in the middle of one part of the garden.

There was also quite a bit of wildlife - birds were singing wherever you went and there were loads of bees and other buzzing things. A couple of creatures we photographed were a frog and a butterfly.

Having mooched round the gardens all morning, we took ourselves off on a Levada walk in the afternoon (not least as the Hortensia Garden tea rooms were at the end of the bit we were planning to walk and that's where we were having lunch!). That's not the tea rooms on the right - just a few cottages we spotted along the way.

Along with butterflies and birds, there were quite a few plants to photograph.

Dinner was in Funchal harbour at the Marina Terrace - again a recommended restaurant . The guide book recommended we try the "steak on a stone" so we did - it was very good.

Thursday came along - the day of our all day boat trip to Desertas Island. The alarm went off scarily early and up we got. "Is that wind I can hear?" asked Jonathon. "Mmmm, I think so and I think it rained in the night as well" I answered. Having looked out of the patio door, the trees were being bashed by the wind and rain and it seemed pretty clear we wouldn't be going anywhere on a boat. We checked with reception who advised they'd not been told anything yet so we had breakfast then strolled back into reception only to be told that the trip was cancelled. Oh well..... A day in the comfy lounge with books and laptops wasn't the end of the world. My aromatherapy massage was duly booked and Jonathon went to town for our refund (and some custard creams for drinkings). Afternoon tea consisted of freshly baked home made scones and home made jam (very yummy). Dinner was in the posh restaurant at the hotel and the thunder and lightning provided a dramatic background!!

The rain stopped for a few moments so Jonathon whizzed out into the garden to choose a plant of the day. Bougainvillea - very pretty. There is a huge hedge of bougainvillea around the heated swimming pool and then various other bits here and there so a good choice for today. The photo of the pool was taken on the Friday when the sun decided to return!

What we ended up doing wasn't exactly what we had planned for our anniversary but it was a very relaxing day!

Friday saw us back on the water looking for dolphins. Again, we went out on a catamaran - Seaborn this time and we much preferred this one. The boats were pretty similar but the crew were much better (in our opinion) making the trip more interesting.

Before getting onto animals, here's the plant of the day for Friday. A beautiful little flower found all around the hotel garden, really brightening up the space wherever it is.

Back to the cat trip and our first treat of the day was a pod of Pilot Whales. This was really special as we had only expected to see Dolphins so to see Whales as well was brilliant! They were quite happy, just cruising along minding their own business and ignoring their human visitors.

As if that wasn't enough excitement we then found a big school of common dolphin having a great time in the waves. One or two of them came to have a look at us but most of them simply enjoyed playing in the water, leaping about etc. Their behaviour was very different today from when they were hunting when we saw them (or their friends) earlier in the week.

Lunch at the hotel (inside as it had started to rain again but not for long), more delicious scones for afternoon tea (in lieu of pudding), a soak in the jacuzzi and then packing ready for an early start tomorrow.

Would we come back? Of course we would. We would come here again even if the island weren't so pretty and the hotel so great just for a chance to get something like this final picture.