Saturday, September 27: after spending the night at the Ibis Hotel in Chilly Mazarin, we drop off the car at Parkinéo at 6:45 am and head to the airport. We met up with our two friends. We checked in and dropped off our luggage on our own, then waited! Boarding was delayed until 9:30 am (even though we were supposed to take off at that time), and it took a while... We took off at 10:15 am. We landed at 1:15 pm. There is a one-hour time difference with France. We were a little worried about the landing, as the runway is short and it's often windy, but it went perfectly! We pick up the car from Sixt, a Ford Focus Break (31,493 km).
and we head straight home to Sao Martinho, in the suburbs of Funchal.
It's 25°C and sunny. We put on our shorts and go in search of a restaurant. We find one not far away, on the edge of the port of Camara de Lobos.
Then we go shopping. Tonight, we're having drinks and snacks at home.
Sunday, September 28: departure at 8:20 am for the north of the island to Sao Vicente. It's about 20°C. Further inland, it's cloudier and drizzling, 16°C. We start with the Miradouro de Sao Cristovao near Boaventura. The view is nice, overlooking a mountain that drops steeply into the sea.
Let's go to another one: Miradouro do Cemitério de Boaventura. Next to the cemetery, you can see the village of Boaventura clinging to the mountain, surrounded by lush greenery.
A few photo stops along the way to Boaventura. Then on to Miradouro Ponta Delgada.
It's still a little overcast. The hibiscus and birds of paradise are still in bloom.
We follow the road along the coast. We stop at Miradouro das Quebradas, but it's quite foggy. Further on, we stop at Sao Vicente on the sea side and Cascata Agua d'Alto. The waterfall is difficult to photograph because it's too close to the road.
The sea is beautiful with its big waves. Continuing west along the coast, we stop at Miradouro do Véu da Noiva: view to the east over the cliff and a waterfall, and to the west over Seixal.
We stop to see the famous natural pools—Clube Naval do Seixal—which have been carved out of the volcanic rock.
Then we stop to eat at a restaurant just outside Seixal: Las Caraibas: burgers for some and shrimp for others. We leave again at 1:30 pm... not far away, at the end of the road. We take lots of photos of the waves.
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The Miradouro Ilheus da Ribeira da Janela offers a beautiful view of the rocky peaks. Large waves crash against the rocks. It's lovely.
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Next stop at Miradouro Porto Moniz and Ilhéu Grande. Here you can see the rocks of Ribeira da Janela from a different angle.
Then we head to Porto Moniz. Here too there are natural pools formed by lava cooling thousands of years ago. We walk along the sea.
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At 4:30 pm, we leave Porto Moniz. But we keep the village in sight with the Miradouro da Santinha, which offers a bird's-eye view of Porto Moniz.
We drive a little longer and switch to the west coast. We stop at Miradouro da Garganta Funda. A short walk down to a waterfall, but it's dry. We go down a little further to get a view of the cliffs. The light is nice.
We stop a little further on at Farol da Ponta do Pargo, the westernmost point of the island. It is a small white lighthouse with a red roof, standing 312 meters above sea level. In use since june 1922, this site has been classified as a “heritage site of local value” by the regional government. Very photogenic.
Then we stop at two viewpoints overlooking Paul do Mar (Miradouro do Precipicio and Miradouro do Paul do Mar). The village looks tiny from above.
We end the day in Jardim do Mar, on the south coast. The village looks nice, but we head to the seaside for the sunset. Well, there is no sunset because of the clouds!
We return to the village and eat at the Italian restaurant Osteria. Not bad at all. Back home at 10 pm.
Monday, September 29: departure at 8:15 am. Heading to Ponta de Sao Lourenço at the eastern end of the island. The parking lot is already full. There are lots of tourists. The peninsula is 9 km long. Volcanic in origin and with a semi-arid climate combined with strong winds, there is very little vegetation or trees. Quite a contrast to the green landscapes of the rest of the island. The “Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço” (PR8) hike (6 km round trip) is nice, the scenery is superb, but there isn't much sun.
And it's quite windy. At around 11:15 am, we arrive at a kind of straw hut. We eat a small sandwich and have some drinks. David, Stéphane, and I walk to the point a little further on, but it's a hell of a climb. The view is beautiful.
We retrace our steps and take almost the same photos again because there is a little sunshine.
Back to the parking lot at 2 pm. We buy cold drinks and ice cream from a food truck. Then we go to Miradouro do Caniçal and Miradouro da Ponta do Rosto. The views are very pretty.
Then we head to Ponta do Bode: also a great view.
We then go shopping. In the evening, we have dinner at the Espadeiro restaurant in the port of Camara de Lobos. At 7:20 pm, we head to Miradouro Camara de Lobos to watch the sunset. Yuck, too many cables. We go higher up to Miradouro do Pico da Torre. It's a little too late, too bad.
Tuesday, September 30: departure at 7:30 am for the Fanal Forest located in the northwest of the island. It's an hour's drive. It's 10°C and foggy, which is just what we wanted for a spooky atmosphere! This native laurel forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is a hike called “Vereda do Fanal” (PR13) that is about ten kilometers long. But given the fog, we don't follow it. The trees are all twisted and gnarled. It's beautiful.
The witch:
The fog and light change a lot.
We hang around until 11:30 am when the fog finally lifts. On the road, we stop at Miradouro da Eira da Achada. Meh, not great. Then we go eat at a dive bar, Bar no Negrinho, where we have small sandwiches and drinks. We hit the road again around 12:45 pm. We make a quick stop at Ribeira da Janela to take another look at the rocky peaks.
Then we head to Miradouro Trigo de Negreiros. It's nothing special. Ponta do Sol is packed with people, and there's nowhere to park. We drive around again and finally find a spot. We walk to the stone bridge: Ponta do Sol Pier. It dates back to the 19th century and was inaugurated in September 1849.
We want to eat ice cream! We settle down at the Sol Poente restaurant overlooking the sea and enjoy ice cream with drinks. We leave at 4:40 pm for Miradouro do Cabo Girao. A popular tourist attraction, it is a viewpoint with a glass walkway. Admission is €3 per person. The view is not bad, but not amazing.
We're going to eat at the Vila da Carne restaurant in Camara de Lobos around 6 pm: sirloin steak and fries for everyone. The meat is good and tender. Then we head off to watch the sunset over the port. The village lights up, but there are clouds on the other side.
Back home around 8:30 pm.
Wednesday, October 1: departure at 7:30 am for the parking lot of the “Levada das 25 Fontes” hike (PR6), a 4.3 km round trip. After an hour drive, we begin the walk in a light drizzle. There is a steep 2 km descent on an old road to a building that houses a snack bar. Then it continues downhill via steps in the forest. There is a flat section along the levadas. These are old irrigation channels. It is very beautiful.
It starts to rain a little harder. And there are also a few more people. We arrive at the waterfalls, but there are only small trickles of water.
We are now completely soaked. We head back up to the “casa” with the intention of taking the shuttle, but it can only carry seven people and there are people ahead of us. So we walk back up. It's a long way in the rain! We arrive at the parking lot at 12:20 pm. We head to the town of Calheta on the south coast to dry off and eat. We have a picnic by the sea, then sit on the restaurant terrace for ice cream and drinks. We return home around 3:45 pm and rest. After an aperitif at home, we go to dinner at 6:45 pm at Pier One Grill Terrace. I had cod, but it was full of bones and too salty. David had fish, which was good. We rush to see the sunset, but it's cloudy. We return home at 8:10 pm.
Thursday, October 2: we leave at 6:25 am for Pico do Arieiro to see the sunrise. Up there, at 7:10 am, it's raining, foggy, and very windy. At 8:10 am, it's still raining, so we leave. We were supposed to go hiking in Pico Ruivo, but according to the webcams, the weather is terrible. We head back down towards Santana. We stop to take photos at Miradouro do Lombo dos Palheiros. It's very cloudy.
Then we visit the traditional houses of Santana. Triangular in shape with thatched roofs, they are all very cute.
There are only five of them. We decide to have hot chocolate and pasteis de nata at the Bragados restaurant. In the end, we have four more pasteis because they are so good. And four more to take away! As we walk back past the little houses to the parking lot, we notice that some of them are open. They are home to artisans: embroiderers, wine sellers... Five minutes away by car, we go to see the Aguage waterfall (from a small alleyway, down some steps): very pretty.
Then we make several more stops: at Miradouro do Curtado, not bad, at Miradouro de Nossa Senhora dos Bons Caminhos, not bad at all,
in Faial, view of the bell tower and Eagle Rock,
at Miradouro do Guindaste, lots of people, drizzling rain, pretty good view. We stop to eat at the Baía do Bago restaurant in Porto Da Cruz: sea bass fillet, tiramisu, and honey cake (actually gingerbread!). Not bad.
We leave again around 2:30 pm. More Miradouros: the one at Gambao, which is not bad but has a few trees in the way, and the one at da Portela, which offers a beautiful view.
We hit the road again, heading back home. We stop at Airport Viewpoint to try to see planes taking off or landing. We see a few, but they have already taken off because there is a hill blocking the view. Then we stop at the Cristo Rei do Garajau statue. This statue, dating from 1927, was designed by French sculptor Georges Serraz. It faces the ocean.
We keep it short because it's raining, so we don't go down to the platform at the bottom of the statue. We get back home around 5:15 pm and have drinks at home. Then we head down to Camara de Lobos for the sunset, which is pretty nice for once.
We end the day at the Anonimo restaurant (pizzeria) around 8:15 pm. Return at 9:30 pm. We eat pasteis with tea.
Friday, October 3: sleep in until 8 am. Depart at 9:15 am for a tour of Funchal. We park in the parking lot next to the cable car. We start by visiting the Mercado dos Lavradores (farmers' market), a building dating from 1940.
We find fruits, vegetables, fishes, spices, souvenirs. It's very colorful.
We buy some exotic fruits (mangoes, passion fruit, devil fruit, pineapple bananas) but, gosh, they're expensive! Then we go to see the Cathedral.
There is a mass. It is not possible to go inside. We walk around the old town, passing by the Regional Government Palace, a square with St. John the Evangelist Church, and the town hall.
We're going to eat at the A Bica restaurant: black scabbardfish and tuna skewers. The scabbardfish is barely cooked. Then at 1:20 pm, we queue for the cable car that goes to the Monte Palace garden. The climb takes a while. The garden is large with paths going in all directions.
Not easy to photograph. There are quite a few people. It's rather pretty. You can see the famous sled runs held by two men.
We take the cable car back down and walk to the small green and white lighthouse to enjoy the view of Funchal.
From here, you can clearly see that Funchal was built on a hill.
Well, we deserve some ice cream now, don't we! We find a little shop selling homemade ice cream. Not bad! We leave the capital at 5:25 pm and head home. Aperitif and dinner at home, trying exotic fruits: passion fruit too bitter, dragon fruit not sweet enough,
the bananas pineapples weren't great, but the mangoes were very good. At that price, we expected better. We pack our bags—it's already the end of the vacation!
Saturday, October 4: up at 8 am. We tidy up the house and finish packing. Left for the airport at 9:35 am. Arrived at 10 am. Returned the car to Sixt: 32,155 km. So we drove 662 km. Checked in and dropped off our luggage. Went through security. Went outside to a terrace to watch the planes take off and land.
We have lunch at Pizza Hut. Then we head for boarding at 12:30 pm, but we have to wait in the airlock because the plane is still emptying of passengers. Takeoff at 1:15 pm. Landing at 5:20 pm (local time) at Orly. We call Parkinéo around 6 pm. We wait half an hour. We get home at 8 pm.
