On Monday morning we strolled down to the Santa Catarina park and grabbed breakfast on the way. We then visited the MAMMA – Museum of Modern Art of Madeira, which exhibits about 300 works of art, divided into 14 thematic areas, created by Madeiran artist Rui Sá. It was certainly very different, as you can see below and it also has a great space and bar for hosting regular live music and art events.
We grabbed a snack at the local café and then headed off on another minibus tour, this time a half day trip to Nun’s Valley. The first stop off point was at the viewing platform of Pico dos Barcelos, 355m above sea level. From here we had amazing views across Funchal and to the east. It is located in the parish of Santo António – home to the ‘Andorinha’ football club, which kick-started Cristiano Ronaldo’s career.
As we ventured higher into the mountains the weather deteriorated, so by the time we got to Curral das Freiras (Nun’s Valley – but corral means corral…. Like corralling your goats) it was drizzling quite a lot and very very windy. We went into the church, Church of Nossa Senhora do Livramento, built in the 19th century, which had some beautiful stained glass windows, pictured below. We then sampled the chestnut liqueur and stopped in a café to shelter from the rain with chestnut cake and a drink.
The Corral das Freiras had traditionally been an area used solely for livestock. Over the years, however, a settlement developed. The town was named after the nuns of the Santa Clara Convent who, in 1566, found this to be the ideal refuge when pirates attacked Funchal: Curral das Freiras is one of the few places on the island that, being hidden between the mountains, is not visible from the sea. The remoteness of the area in a deep valley in central Madeira has meant that the region used to be largely self-sufficient. Its main products are now chestnuts and grapes for Madeira wine. The current population is about 2,000.
We went up to the Eira do Serrado Viewpoint, at an altitude of 1095 metres. The weather was still fairly foggy, drizzly and windy. This was a real shame because the mountain scenery was clearly spectacular but were largely obscured. We ventured out along to the viewing point and luckily the sun was struggling to shine through and we managed to not only see the mountains reveal themselves as the fog retreated, but were also treated to some spectacular rainbows. We were almost above the rainbows and these views themselves made the trip worthwhile.
We got back to the hotel and chilled for a bit before popping out to a restaurant called Tastes of Madeira. The starter was prawns with fennel and papaya, really well cooked and the flavours worked really well. Sue had sea bass and I had the black (espada) scabbard fish… apparently when in the sea very deep down it is white but when it is caught and gets dragged up to the surface it goes black….. lovely. I also got a nice shot of the harbour when we had finished.
