We were all ready and waiting for our minibus at 8.10 as we’d been told that with multiple pick-ups, it would arrive any time between 8.10 and 8.45. So we waited and waited…..and waited. At 9.00, I asked reception to check if the tour had been cancelled but was told the bus was definitely on its way. It did arrive a few minutes later and we were his first pick up. In the course of conversation, it turned out that the hotel had given us the wrong times – we should have been told 8.50 – 9.00am!! So a good start to the day!
It was a 7 seater minibus and we picked up 3 more Brits and 2 Swedes and off we set. The driver, who told us later that his name was Andre Agassi (!!), was a real character and made the day memorable. For those of you following this with a map, or have personal experience of Madeira, we drove along the coast road to the west, to the fishing village of Camara do Lobos where Winston Churchill used to visit regularly, to sketch and paint.
They are very proud of their connection to him. There’s a Churchill’s Place café and bar with a huge photograph of him on the outside wall, showing him painting looking over the harbour.Then it was on to Cabo Girao, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. There is a viewing platform built out over the cliff, and I even managed to look down, and didn’t feel TOO terrified, even though it is 580m virtually straight down to the shore, where the small area between cliff and sea is cultivated in a neat pattern, looking very picturesque.
In an exhibition room is a brief history and photographs of some of the famous people who used to stay in Madeira – Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Emperor Charles I of Austria. There is a cable car going down to the beach, but thankfully, this was not part of the day’s activities!On we went to Campanario named after the rock out in the sea which looks like a bell, then on to Ribiera Brava, where the driver’s mother was born. This, like most of the villages round the coast, is surrounded by great hills with some construction still going on, on what looks like inaccessible land. It’s a very pretty place and we had good coffee in a little café by the sea wall.
Most of the roads we drove along to reach these places are accessible only to cars and small vehicles, so we saw places that larger tour buses would have not have taken us. Some of them are very scary but our driver was so laid back and obviously so familiar with them that the fear factor was largely removed! The slopes have to be seen to be believed but the views were just stunning. Looking down from some of the slopes above Campanario, we could see the new coast road that has been built in the last 8 years. As there is so little land space, some of it has been built as viaducts out over the ocean, a very impressive sight from above.
From Ribiera Brava, we turned inland and cut up through the centre of the island on another stretch of relatively new road, through tunnels built straight through the mountains. Andre explained that the tunnel road surfaces were quite uneven, as, when the tunnels were built, they used horseshoe shaped concrete linings, and insufficient thought was given to the forces to which they would be subject. The result is that, although most of the upper parts of the tunnels are strong enough to withstand the pressures exerted by the vast weights of rock overhead, the bases are being forced up.
Our next stop was Sao Vicente, on the north coast where the residents were preparing for the Feast of Sao Vicente. The village looked very pretty with its decoration of flowers and streamers and the smell of the wood being prepared as charcoal for the barbecues was enough to make us feel hungry. Before we went off for a little explore, Andre took our orders for lunch (in Porto Moniz, top left of Madeira). The church in the centre of Sao Vicente is truly beautiful inside, quite small but intricately decorated with paintings all over the walls and ceiling.
As we returned to the bus, a small van drew up beside us – the pyrotechnic “expert” for the evening’s festivities. We were just about to get aboard once more, when this “expert” set off 5 huge rockets no more than 6ft away from us!! He simply stood the stalks on the ground, held the rocket in his hand at about head height, lit the fuse and let them go once the rocket fired – hundreds of feet into the air and the bangs were tremendous. I don’t think ‘elf ‘n’safety would have been enamoured of him! We don’t know whether it was just a signal to everyone that he’d arrived, or for our benefit as visiting tourists.
However, suitably entertained, we drove on along the north coast road towards Porto Moniz. The ocean here is so different from the south. The waves are enormous and most of the view is obscured by a fine salt mist. Spray from the breaking waves continually hit the bus, yet there are houses along the road – how they manage to keep anything dry is a puzzle. This road has also been replaced in recent years with a new one tunnelled through the rocks, and also suffering the same problems as before. In some places here, there is also cracking of the tunnel walls – NOT such a good sign – and water is leaking in. The old road here was quite spectacular – one of the other English ladies, who has been visiting Madeira for 14 years, had driven along it. It was not for the faint hearted - single lane with occasional passing places, cut out of the cliffs and only protected on the ocean side by a low wall.
Not long after Sao Vicente, Andre stopped and let us out to walk along a short stretch of the road so we could photograph 2 of the highest waterfalls on this side of the island.
We could see ahead of us the village of Seixal
and the town of Porto Moniz, all shrouded by the spray, but caught in rays of sunshine. Just before Seixal, we stopped to photograph the Bride’s Veil waterfall, dropping straight into the ocean. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get near enough as the old road has been cut off by a huge landslip.
There were some very good tourist stalls here and the prices were cheaper than in many of the other places we’ve been. Tom bought a lovely sweater, all greens and dark greys – too warm for here, but it’ll be lovely back home.On we went, stopping briefly in Seixal before arriving in Porto Moniz, ravenous. Our café overlooked the ocean so we were treated to wonderful breaking waves while we ate. Lunch was excellent – Madeiran cabbage soup; either tuna, scabbard fish or steak (all very good and large portions) for main course, followed by fresh fruit salad then coffee. We had red and white wine and could have had more if we wished, but we all wanted to go out and enjoy the ocean views.
Suitable refreshed, we set off once again, straight up the side of the hills – or so it seemed! If we’d thought the roads we’d travelled on this morning were winding, we had to think again! There were quite a few indrawn breaths as we negotiated some of the bends, much to Andre’s amusement. We stopped briefly for a bird’s eye view of Porto Moniz, looking just like a child’s play mat,
then we climbed further up to the road over the central plateau – and here we drove into cloud. So there were no views, which was a disappointment. We climbed to a height of 1418m to the Pico das Urzes where we were given the choice of doing a short levada walk. 6 of us decided we would, despite the cloud and cold so we all bundled up and walked for half an hour to meet up with the minibus again.
The sun actually came out while we walked – but only on one side, the other was still shrouded in cloud. It WAS a bit damp and the breeze was chilly, but by the time we reached the bus, we were pleased we’d done it.Driving on over the Paul da Serra (1500m), we were again in cloud and passed the wind farms there at Bica da Cana (1620m) where Andre showed us a video he had taken on Tuesday this week of SNOW on the road! They do get it occasionally.
As we started to make our way back down the mountains, Andre pointed ahead of us to where we could see the highest peaks of Madeira – Pico das Torres (1851m) and Pico Ruivo (1862m) – only the tops could be seen above the clouds.
We won’t be going there!On the descent, he showed us the channels that collect the condensation from the clouds and feed the water down to huge pipes, the contents of which are used by the hydro-electric plant. After it has gone through the plant, the water is fed into another network of levadas to irrigate the land below. We drove on the wrong side of the road so we could experience driving through a waterfall, which was also good for cleaning the bus! The mud streaked black car following us had exactly the same idea!
This stretch of road is subject to many rock falls as we saw from the very dented barriers beside the road, but we were fortunate enough NOT to have any fall on us. Through more small tunnels, where the road surface is appalling due to the vast amounts of water that continually pour down it, we descended to Encumeada where we stopped for a glass of Poncha, a very Madeiran drink of fresh lemon juice, honey and white rum. WOW!! It certainly clears the tubes – a bit like drinking Vick vapour rub, Tom said. One small glass was quite enough! The levada here was the far end of the one we had been walking along earlier, but by now had collected several others en-route and was somewhat larger.
At this point it disappeared into a pipe, and went on its way downhill.Then it was back in the bus
for the last, fast ride back to our hotels – joining the rush hour traffic. It was a fantastic day out. Tom didn’t feel car sick at any point, even with the winding roads, I think because we stopped so often and he had plenty of fresh air, but also because the ride was bumpy rather than floaty. Our driver was very knowledgeable both about Madeira, its history and stories, and about the vegetation, plants and the land formations. We found out from him that the trees outside our room are kapok trees. The pods we likened to avocados, burst in February releasing the kapok into the air. The angel statue we saw earlier in the holiday (when we did our first levada walk) is a memorial to all the men who died during the building of the original island infrastructure.
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