Madeira 2007

Madeira 2007 (2)

We decided to treat ourselves to a week in Madeira to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We had no idea what to expect but anyone we spoke to who'd been there said how nice it was so off we went.

There was a huge amount to see (and photograph) and we ran out of time to do all we wanted. This bit of the website is split into 2 pages covering the 2 halves of the week - it would take far too long to load in otherwise.

This page covers Wednesday to Friday. For Sunday to Tuesday please click here.

Wednesday brought another interesting and varied day. The sun shone and the weather was warm and dry. We didn't see any fog (although we must have driven around it because it seemed to be lurking on the mountains). We took ourselves off to the north east of the island for more stunning scenery.

We called in at Machico for a drink. There was a lovely church but we didn't take any photos as it was clearly being used for prayer while we were there.

The south side of the peninsula took us to Baia d'Abra - not quite as dramatic but pretty none the less.

This little bird let me get quite close before flying off. There were two of them around together with a few swifts that were swooping about.

From the north east corner we travelled along the north coast, calling in various places on route to admire the views. Lunch was at Santana - lovely food and very friendly people yet again.

As you can see, we even saw a valley or two not covered in fog. The plant life is quite amazing and clearly thrives on the volcanic soil that makes up the island.

Somewhere along the way we stopped at a picnic spot - not to eat but to admire the view. It was surrounded by wild flowers so here's the pick of the day.

Our final stop of the day was at some volcanic caves near Sao Vicente.

From the car park you go under a tunnel which has a few ceramic tile pictures (very nice) and past a waterfall. Madeira is apparently famous for its waterfalls but we've hardly seen any so either we've been in the wrong place or it's been drier than normal.

The first part of the guided tour is through the exhibition centre. This was about a lot of different volcanoes not just those that created Madeira and was very well laid out.

A couple of film shows followed about the foundation of Madeira and volcanic activity in general. The second film was 3D and very impressive. We were then taken on a guided tour of the caves. These are lava tubes, dug out by volcano lava as it rolled down the mountains. There were no stalagmites or stalactites as the caves are basalt and do not have any limestone or calcium. There are some hangy-down things that look like small stalactites but they are lava drops.

Back to the hotel for our daily steam bath and soak in the jacuzzi - very civilised!

Thursday found us back on the water again to watch a few dolphins. This time we were lucky enough to see both common dolphins and spotted dolphin courtesy of the Ventura do Mar crew.

There was a bit of a breeze this time so one of the sails was hoisted. Unfortunately, the sea was still pretty calm and the wind not strong so we couldn't go as fast as Jonathon would have liked. Most of the passengers, of course, preferred the calm!

The crew are very knowledgeable about the sealife and happy to help identify both mammals and birds. The bird below is one of a flock of Cory Sheerwater that we saw.

The trip ended with us travelling alongside the cliffs. To our amazement we saw there was a small cable car. This is apparently the best way for the farm workers to reach the bottom! You can just about make out the tiny farm house against the cliffs (left hand picture below) which are amongst the tallest sea cliffs in the world. No-one knew whether the cows they have on the farm came by boat or cable car. Apparently the potatoes from this farm are some of the best on the island.

We ventured up the mountain on a cable car (not the one mentioned above) to Monte in the afternoon. As it was a clear day (we were so lucky with the weather!) the views of Funchal were really good.

Lunch was at the Quinta do Monte and was delicious (we ate really well this holiday - I think they must specialise in excellent chefs and waiting staff). After lunch we visited the Tropical Gardens at the Palace. I've only included a small number of pictures here but if you'd like to see more, please click here for a separate page of garden pictures.

Among the plants there were a few statues and a lot of very large terracotta pots.

There were also a few birds - both wild and tamed - not to mention a whole load of Koi carp

A series of wall plaques showed the history of Portugal and there were a couple of museums (we didn't visit those)

The gardens were lovely and we could have easily spent another hour or two there but couldn't afford to miss the last cable car back down. As it was, the sun was starting to set as we travelled back to the coast.

Friday came around all too soon and it was our last chance to go out on the water. We chose the Seaborn catamaran again as we'd enjoyed it so much earlier in the week.

As the breeze was a bit stiffer this time we had the sails up which was good.

With Jonathon pretending to be the mast head his main job was dolphin spotting (he's good at that!). We saw both common dolphin and spotted dolphin - they just love playing in the bow wave and when they've had enough they simply swim off.

Lunch was late (we didn't finish until 4 p.m.) so that didn't leave much time for the afternoon's planned activity of visiting the Botanic Gardens. As it was so close to the hotel we took ourselves off there for an hour and a half or so with a promise to ourselves to visit longer next time.

As with the other gardens, I have put a few photos on this page but the majority of them on a separate page. Please click here to see the other page.

Three of the main areas that we visited were the Succulent Plants, the Palm Trees and the Exotic Birds

Finally our lovely holiday ended so I'll leave you with a Bird of Paradise plant - they were everywhere on the island and looked spectacular. We didn't manage a single Levada (aquaduct) walk, nor did we get to the Desertas Islands on the nature tour, nor did we do a whole lot of other things that we would have done if we'd had more time. We'll just have to go back for longer!