Madeira travel diary || week 2

Welcome to the second week of our holiday in Madeira. If you haven't read the first part yet you can do so here and let's continue this journey through this overgrown island!

Day 8

A day where we finally stayed quite close to our holiday destination. As til now we drove to different parts of the island which approx took between half an hour and an hour to get there - with all the twisting and turning little roads - so this was a fun change. We stopped near a lil dinner place which had a gorgeous view upon mountains and the sea. Oh and they had like 3 cats which were so adorable! We keep seeing cats everywhere and I love it. Dogs as well, they just kinda walk freely here which is strange to see when you're used to seeing them walking on leashes. They also had some kind of fitness devices outside so of course we had to play on them for a bit. We started our descent to the sea on a path with occasional slippery stones so that wasn't the easiest, although compared to the walk back it really was. It was a very windy day so the waves were huge! And I still am so amazed by how blue and clear the water is, so magical. I also found a gate which looked like it leaded you to another world if you stood in front of it. Our ascent/climb was haaaaard, it was super hot so I was swimming in my own sweat, which I totally wanted *couch*. We kept smelling piss everywhere on this island, turns out it's a flower that smells like that! So strange. Our path led to a point where it was partly caved in by falling rocks and stuff so we couldn't continue over that particular path. So we went up again over a small path which led us along the ocean up in the mountains, to our hot car. Afterwards we took a walk along a levada again which I loved bc of the cool air and shadow. And we came across some cats again, they were adorable.

Day 9

Today we had to wake up bright and early because we wanted to beat the clouds to the view on the highest mountain top. Me and my husband didn't want to go since we already had our max sun intake so we requested a drop off in the forest. It was such a nice temperature and there was literally no one else around. It's so common to not see anyone for a while on this island, it's crazy. It was super peaceful and since we were dropped off at the top edge of the forest we didn't have to climb or anything. We saw some (and I cannot stress this enough) enormous trees, I think it had to be like 15 meter or something. We came across a bunch of frogs and so many banana plants. We stopped and hugged two adorable cows who we gave some water from a little stream nearby. The silence was so calming, just the sounds of water falling and birds singing.

After we reached the other edge of the forest we entered the neighbouring city, which was Santana, where we did our groceries while being here. We had agreed to meet at the supermarket with the rest, so we went there and got ourselves some lunch. Not long after the others arrived and we had some ice cream.

We decided to drop our freshly bought food to the holiday home and continue to drive to Boa Ventura. We had heard from the house owner that there was this restaurant nearby that had really good food. So, we took it upon ourselves to go out to have dinner there. We had some time left to kill though so we walked a bit and saw a garden with about 2917 different kinds of cactus plants, soon after we found three little goats chilling in a bit of grass on a hill. One of them kept jumping up to my husbands hand which was funny.

Once at the restaurant we got some roasted steak on a spear which was served with fries and some kind of garlic bread (Bolo do Caco), which was the absolute best. I wasn't really a fan of the steak (I don't really like meat) but the rest of the food was really tasty! In the evening we played Rummikub again, as we did often. It's just that fun.

Day 10

Finding a bunch of waterfalls was today's mission. And finding them we did! There were supposed to be 25 or something but I didn't count them. They were gorgeous though! It was a big cliff where they fell from, ending in a pool. So this waterfall was super high and along the way it got accompanied by a bunch of little ones along the way. It was beautiful but I bet it would be absolutely stunning in raining season, when there's loads more water. The path there was so fun to walk! Some parts were so narrow and rocky and the trees were kind of mysterious, so yes. My kind of path! At one moment we wanted to walk past this large group of slow people so we ran along the lower path with the tree roots n stuff, which was fun! Our hike back was climbing, walking and climbing. Of course we saw some birbs again and a whole lot of the yellow plants.
Driving back to society we stopped at a place where we took a lil walk along a water base thingy where it was WINDY. You could see the clouds moving so fast, it was really cool!

Day 11

Today we took a lil chill day and got some pictures for this outfit post. We went for a walk near the sea for a bit and just kinda took it easy. So, nothing really interesting. :) We bumped into a family that wanted us to take pictures and later on, when we ate our lunch on a rock the father ran down the mountain an upwards again. Probably getting diapers or something, but I guess we'll never know, lol.

Day 12

While trying to find somewhere to walk without needing to sit in the car for an hour, we drove to Ilha, a town nearby. Here we were able to climb up a mountain, me and my husband however took a different path soon into the climb. It was very warm and in the full sun so we felt more like enjoying the shade. We walked on an overgrown path which lead us to pine trees and a bunch of ferns. I love the smell of pine trees! So fresh, but I love the forest anyways, so.. :) after our lunch we found a trail near a little stream again, which was nice. The sounds of the water traveling downwards, combined with forest sounds, is so calming.

On our walk back we enjoyed seeing the different types of houses they have here, while walking in the middle of the road, because the traffic on this island is an actual joke. You might see two or three cars an hour, or nothing at all. If only the rest of the world was this quiet! I think I'm gonna have to move to the 1800's...

Day 13

Today we went to Porto Moniz, but stopped at a cute place first where we could walk on a little cliff and watch the waves crash. It was quite a windy day so the waves were big, which we loved. My husband found a bunch of crabs that were chilling on the rocks, so he went on his way to get some cool shots, which he succeeded at! After a while of climbing the surprisingly sturdy rocks we headed to Porto Moniz where my mother-in-law and I went to swim in the ocean. It was pretty scary at first because you can see everything through the clear water, but not how far things are. Illusions, illusions...

After having dried off we headed to the west side of the island, which we never really been to. Turns out that side is even greener! We tried to find a hiking path but kept finding super steep ones, of course that didn't stop us and we finally found a good trail. We saw a bunch of caves in the neigbouring mountains, which was cool and we could see the sea in the far distance. It was so peaceful, the only thing we could hear were the birds, wind blowing through the leaves and the sea falling on the rocky shore.

On our way back we stopped at Seixal again, the place we went to in our first week here, to see the ocean again with the high waves. We were at an embankment kinda thing where the water goes over in flood stage, so it kept coming closer and closer. We saw a lot of crabs again and two of them looked like they were about to fight, when in reality they were getting ready to make babies, lol. It was becoming pretty late so we decided to wipe the salt water off our cameras and faces and call it a night.

Day 14

In the morning we got most of our things packed since we have to leave super early tomorrow to catch our flight. It was a super hot day so we tried to walk somewhere with a lot of shadow and ended up at the ocean, with no shadow in sight. Ironic isn't it? The place we're staying at lies close to the coast, so we took a walk down the mountain and were at the "beach" - the beaches here are just a bunch of pebbles - just like that. We walked along the shore and watched the water for a bit. It was still rough, but nothing compared to yesterday! Getting back we had to climb in the heat again (don't know why we keep doing that) and avoided sharp branches that we're trying to stab us. It was so fun to walk through overgrown stuff though!

Back at the holiday home we played our last Rummikub match and packed the rest of our stuff, seeing everything in pink glasses, as one does when you're about to leave.

Day 15

Now that we're on our way back I'm feeling quite sentimental about it all. I'll miss the misty mountains and different kinds of green. We headed out just before dawn to drive all the way to the other side of the island, return the car and catch our flight. We learned our lesson on the trip here and supplied ourselves with enough food and water this time. The fly back gave us a nice view over some parts of France and Belgium and we went along the coast of our beloved cheese country, which was fun to see from above instead of just from the ground!

And with that our suitcases and hiking shoes are put back in the closet, waiting for our next adventure! That was extremely cheesy, lol. Oh, we brought some monstera seeds with us and they are growing! One is already getting a leaf. My husband is a proud plant dad!
I hope you enjoyed reading and I wish you a very lovely day!