Restarted the day at Pastelaria petit fours bakery, avoiding the hotel buffet, which would just be calories for the sake of it. We had lovely almond croissant and a flat white, or strongish milky coffee. They also made us two lovely ham, cheese and salad rolls and nicely wrapped them for us to take as a picnic on our day trip, which was to see the highlights of the west of the island.
We got back to the hotel and waited in the lobby for our pick up. Our lady guide arrived on time and we got into the van, I was lucky enough to get the front seat because of my long legs and poor old Sue had to sit at the back. After another pick up we headed off to Câmara de Lobos which is a fishing village made famous by Winston Churchill who stayed and painted there. This is one of the few times we have done a guided tour like this and we were given instructions to be back at the Van in about 20 minutes. So we had a quick wander around with all of the other tourists, of which there were many, took some photos and clambered back into the van.
We set off through the first of many tunnels (we might have been through a couple already ) to Ribeira Brava where there is a nice Church and a market. Our guide was full of good information and she asked me what a Cortado was. I knew, but the Portuguese version is unlike the Spanish Cortado which has a dash of milk, this one has a touch of Madeira wine and a shaving of lemon peel – absolutely delicious! I am with the Portuguese on this one. After a little wonder and a few more photos, we climbed back into the van.
The next stop was Magdalena do Mar for some sea views and a banana plantation. As you go into mountains the banana plantations gave way to vineyards then eucalyptus and pine forest. Higher in the mountains only smaller plants and bushes grow because of the snow that they get.
We then drove up into the mountains. We saw a lot of parched trees due to a fire started by a carnival firework catching a eucalyptus tree in 2024 – this destroyed a lot of trees and property and went on for 13 days. It also subsequently led to some rock falls down the mountains in heavy rain due to the resulting lack of tree cover.
After a foggy and rainy stretch during which we saw a few cows by the roadside, we stopped at Mirador de Santa for view over the natural sea pools at Puerto Moniz. These sea pools were absolutely stunning and the water looked very inviting. You could even see the fish swimming around in the clear water. We were lucky to get gorgeous sunshine for this part of the visit and found a nice spot on the front overlooking the sea pools to eat our packed lunch. After this, we sat in a little café and sampled a Nikita, which is ice cream mixed with pineapple juice and beer and comes in a range of flavours.
We headed off after lunch and stopped at the Seixal viewing point with waterfalls and another nice church …somewhere .
On the approach to S. Vicente we saw glimpses of the old road – this part of the coast is good for surfing
The final stop was the Cabo Girao glass viewing platform and Poncha stop. Poncha is a traditional alcoholic drink from the island of Madeira, made with aguardente de cana, honey, sugar, and either orange juice or lemon juice. From the platform we had an amazing view over Funchal and across the bay. There was a sugar cane plantation around this area. Rum and molasses are made from this as well as the Madeira speciality honey cake.
Luckily, we got back just in time to see the whole of the England rugby match and witnessed their spectacular form. So, a very successful day from start to finish. Although the tour was not a normal way of travelling, we felt that the guide was excellent, and we learnt a lot about the island and island life. We rounded off the night with another very nice meal in the à la carte restaurant of our hotel.
Looks like a very beautiful Island and you appear to be making
The most of your stay. Although it may be difficult to believe we having a beautiful spell of weather home here. Ben’sverandah
Is very impressive Cana