Madeira, January 2017

Finally... another adventure. Last time we were in airport was 4 months ago, when we went to Mallorca with kids. This trip will be all about walking and hiking - so no kids included. Our trip starts from Helsinki, Finland and we are flying with KLM. We will have a small stop-over in Amsterdam, which suits just fine- I will do some hiking clothing shopping in there :)

About Madeira - it is a small Portugese island in Atlantic ocean. The only airport is located 30min away from Funchal and it is accessible with bus (ticket about 5€/pp). As we are going to drive around and discover the island through and through, we decided, that it is more cheaper to rent a car already from the airport... and so we did. We took Goldcar and somehow they manage to make an upsell to us + we took this additional insurance as well. I will make a mental note to myself, that next time i will look into this US rental car insurance, which is about 3x cheaper, than the one they sell in rental. So we got a Renault crossover, which sucked really bad (I think everybody who has driven a Renault before, know why...)

We stayed at hotel, called Alto Lido, which was really fine. You could sense, that golden times are far over, but it was still functioning and everything was clean. The best thing about the hotel was, that there was a really nice grocery store just next door and they sold a really huge pawns, which were so nammy and cheap - 10€/kg. Photo from our best snack is next to this text :)

We manage to get all sunny and warm (+22C) weather , which was quite rare in January.

As we didn´t have children along - it was time really to concentrate on the walking and hiking, which we did a lot, specially walking. I would really recommend hiking trail called Ponta de Sao Lourenco. This trail was about 8km long and wondered through hill cliffs and valleys. Really lovely views, but I wouldn´t dare to go it through in the dark. You would think, that 8 km is peanuts, right? Let me tell you, it took us about 4 hrs to track this and please be aware - carry a bottle of water along. There is no shop or cafeteria at the end of this trail.

Second Levada we took was the 25 fountains levada, which located in area called Rabacal and whole trail took about 4 hours. Another place to see lovely views and I would really recommend this trail as well. There are endless levadas along the path and it was really amazing, if you haven´t seen those before.The Fountains self were quite small and the water flow was not impressive, but still, the experience was well worth doing this trail.

We tried to go to the Pico Ruivo Trail, but it was freezing cold at the top of the mountain and so foggy. Unfortunately we had to quit this trail before we made it to the end. We didn´t see any vies from there so therefore - before going to the Pico Ruivo look at the sky, if it is clear and sunny, then it is worth going... Otherwise not. 

As it was winter, we couldn´t enjoy the outdoor pools at the Porto Moniz and overall I could say, that this side of the island was very windy and cold. Clad that we drove through, though.

And then the magical Funchal. Our best ever experience was, when we took funicular up to the mountains and then hiked all the way up to the mountain. There was this small local bar, where I would really recommend to go. Really, a hidden gem :) I don´t know the name of this bar, but it was quite rustic and small. The serve mostly beer and local tapas, which was great after a long walk. And it costs almost nothing. I think 2 bears and plate of tapas costed about 1,50€. Yes, the bears were small, but still. And the view - I just sat on the edge of a road, drank my small bear and at my horizon was Funcal at its best, clouds, mountains and ocean. Perfect! Check it out from google map view: Little bar on the mountain top.

About Maderia food... well all goods things come to my mind. Specially stone grilled meet and tuna. It still brigs water in my mouth, when I think about it. From the photo you can see, that they bring it to the table as rare as it can be and it will sizzle in from of your eyes and according to your liking. Best one we got was from Solar da Ajuda, nammm!

Overall we enjoyed the Madeira experience a lot. It is not the right place for you, if you want to have a nice beach holiday, cause there is non of those classical sandy beaches (except for one, where they have imported the sand). All beaches are with smaller or larger stones...

I would really recommend to hire a car! You will get a long cheaper and all the hiking trails are accessible quite easily. When you go in winter months, back some jackets, because it might be quite chilly.