Hi! The past two weeks I've been on Madeira sweating my butt off and seeing super beautiful nature and I've decided to make this diary style post about it all!
*All pictures are either made by me or my husband, the fun is up to you to decide which ones are made by who.😜
Day 1
We started off late in the evening by traveling to the airport by train, therefore we had to wait almost 7 hours for our flight to leave. We had to just kinda chill and I slept on the ground for a little, before we went through security and boarded our plane. We were THIRSTY so we got that stupid €3 waterbottle, saw an ufo and traveled back in time. We had rented a car, so we can go everywhere without having to rely on busses n stuff but BOI was this an awful car ride. I was super tired from the flight and had eaten some chocolate (I know, I know) so I got quite car sick. It's all good now though (writing this on day 8), the car rides are fun! With all the beautiful nature everywhere.
Once we arrived to our holiday house I went straight to bed, but not before we explored the many rooms in the house. It's like a maze, so fun! I've made a little tour thing that will be in a vlog on my YouTube channel, if you want to see what it looks like.😊
After dinner me and my husband explored the village a little and admired the amount of flowers there are, they are EVERYWHERE.
Then we grabbed Rummikub (a game with number connections) and snacks, which will become a lil tradition thing every evening.
Day 2
I woke up with my husband urging me to wake up bc he thought it was 10:30, turns out his phone didn't register the time difference already lol (it was 9:30). We drove to Flora da Selva, where we walked to a little lookout point called Balcões, which was packed with adorable birds and clouds. I thought it was very beautiful but others thought differently. We followed a path along the mountains where you could see about 80% clouds, which was very mysterious and made the climate very humid and cool. And the smells! Oh the smells. Many places made me think they were having a bon fire, that's what it smelled like! Other places had cool water and plant smell, which is always very refreshing.
Today we went to the middle of Madeira and see some greenery, which there definitely was plenty of, so we went to Flora da Selva, a place with some hiking routes and a lookout post. The view was blocked by clouds for the most part, but it was pretty anyways. I kinda liked the clouds, they give everything a much more mysterious feel and I love that. There were loads of little birds at this place, waiting for you to give them some of that good ol' bread or peanuts, they came super close, and my husband managed to get this super cool shot!
The trail we went on followed a little stream alongside a mountain and had super small bits to walk on some parts, with a ginormous wall on one side and a ravine on the other! A lot of trails here are like that and it's awesome.
At one point along the way we took a wrong turn so we had to walk back for a while, but it led us through rocks so I didn't mind! Once we were on the right path again we had to CLIMB a v steep hill, but once we were on the top we stumbled upon a heard of sheep! They were so cute and had little lambs!!
After climbing a steep hill you're bound to get off it too so our way back was almost entirely carefully minding your step as to not slide your way downhill, although that probably would've been fun too.😊
*All pictures are either made by me or my husband, the fun is up to you to decide which ones are made by who.😜
Day 1
We started off late in the evening by traveling to the airport by train, therefore we had to wait almost 7 hours for our flight to leave. We had to just kinda chill and I slept on the ground for a little, before we went through security and boarded our plane. We were THIRSTY so we got that stupid €3 waterbottle, saw an ufo and traveled back in time. We had rented a car, so we can go everywhere without having to rely on busses n stuff but BOI was this an awful car ride. I was super tired from the flight and had eaten some chocolate (I know, I know) so I got quite car sick. It's all good now though (writing this on day 8), the car rides are fun! With all the beautiful nature everywhere.
Once we arrived to our holiday house I went straight to bed, but not before we explored the many rooms in the house. It's like a maze, so fun! I've made a little tour thing that will be in a vlog on my YouTube channel, if you want to see what it looks like.😊
After dinner me and my husband explored the village a little and admired the amount of flowers there are, they are EVERYWHERE.
Then we grabbed Rummikub (a game with number connections) and snacks, which will become a lil tradition thing every evening.
Day 2
I woke up with my husband urging me to wake up bc he thought it was 10:30, turns out his phone didn't register the time difference already lol (it was 9:30). We drove to Flora da Selva, where we walked to a little lookout point called Balcões, which was packed with adorable birds and clouds. I thought it was very beautiful but others thought differently. We followed a path along the mountains where you could see about 80% clouds, which was very mysterious and made the climate very humid and cool. And the smells! Oh the smells. Many places made me think they were having a bon fire, that's what it smelled like! Other places had cool water and plant smell, which is always very refreshing.
Today we went to the middle of Madeira and see some greenery, which there definitely was plenty of, so we went to Flora da Selva, a place with some hiking routes and a lookout post. The view was blocked by clouds for the most part, but it was pretty anyways. I kinda liked the clouds, they give everything a much more mysterious feel and I love that. There were loads of little birds at this place, waiting for you to give them some of that good ol' bread or peanuts, they came super close, and my husband managed to get this super cool shot!
At one point along the way we took a wrong turn so we had to walk back for a while, but it led us through rocks so I didn't mind! Once we were on the right path again we had to CLIMB a v steep hill, but once we were on the top we stumbled upon a heard of sheep! They were so cute and had little lambs!!
After climbing a steep hill you're bound to get off it too so our way back was almost entirely carefully minding your step as to not slide your way downhill, although that probably would've been fun too.😊
Day 3
We had to wake up super early today to pick up my sister from the airport, she had taken another plane via a big city she wanted to see. So with the party complete and already close to Funchal, we went to a market in the city. It's way warmer on this side of the island with a bunch of sunshine, much less vegetation (everything's dry) so funny to see. It's still quite green though! The warmth was super tiring (I'm a vampire) and I was already a red hot tomato after this limited time spent in the sun (felt like an eternity). The island is very sunny and warm over at the south and the north is normally cloudy and cooler. Has to do with the cloud regulation and it being an island and stuff. So I'm very happy that we reside in the north! After a short stop at the south coast we visited some gardens and one of them was Gorgeous with a capital G. A bridge ran over it which was completely overgrown by dense plantation. We saw about a thousand and one different kinds of plants and so many lizards! There are so many of them here and they're so cute! We keep seeing them everywhere and have to stop to look every time. My husband kept making pictures of them so I'm sure I'll put some of those in here! I was SO tired today and I didn't wear the right shoes but that's fine, it was beautiful. We walked past some weird attraction thingy where you sit on a sleigh and two accapella looking dudes push you off a hill. The roads here looked pretty, reminded me of Scotland or something. Later on we returned to the outpost we went to yesterday, since it was sunny and I'm so glad we did because the view was absolutely stunning!
This has to be my favourite day so far because it involved caves and jungle looking forest mountains. Firstly, we visited a beach where I collected some rocks to paint, since the beaches here don't have any sand, only rocks! And the sea! Oh, the sea. You'll probably hear me talk about it a lot because it's so gorgeous blue and transparent! Much better than our dark and mirky Dutch water lol.
We went to go and visit some caves which were created by lava when the island arose, where solidified lava was still visible on the ceiling so that was quite interesting. The caves were found in 1885 and there were 5 tubes we could walk through. Later on we also learned some things about the origins of Madeira; basically a vulcano erupted and pushed earth and lava to the surface, creating an island with rich ground for many plants to grow on! Hence why vegetables and plants grow so well over here.
Continuing our journey, we went to hike on a mountain which was so incredibly beautiful! It was like we landed in a jungle. There was some shade as well which I, the vampire, was thankful for. The path was overgrown with all different sorts of plants and led us through giant trees and amazing view.
Three times we had to walk through a dark and small tunnel. It felt like a little adventure and the final tunnel took us 25 minutes to go through! We had to go back the entire path so I timed it on the way back. :)
We had to walk through a bunch of waterfalls and at the end the landscape was so dramatic with heights (v high mountains) it was BEAUTIFUL.
Day 5
Today my burnt flesh caught up with me and was hurting like a beach. We went to the farthest corner of the island which was a very long and hot walk. There was a trail that led us from hill to hill so it was up and down, up and down... Luckily I brought my umberella and had gotten some sunscreen, because the sun was blazing! The amount of tourists we came across was immens lol, some French dudes were like "jeu de bleu! Un croissant de paraplú?" The sea was so pretty though! We could see it from both sides, north and south, and they were so different. The south side was super relaxed and just kinda chilling, whereas the north side was throwing itself against the rocks like crazy. And the colour.. THE COLOUR. It was a bright blue with some green tints, with sparkly white when the water hit the rocks. After hours of climbing and sweating we arrived at some kind of oasis where we could sit in the shade to eat our lunch. On our way back the sea was even more beautiful because of the different sun angle and stuff, that's so cool because you can go to the same place at a different time and have an entirely different view. :) After reloading at the car we drove to some little town and took a lil trail behind houses which led to a path near a forest (with shade!!). We met some cute cats and laughed at the crazy goat screams.
Day 6
It's a new day and I still look like a red hot chili pepper. Today we went to see the top of a mountain, which was so beautiful! It had a trail going over and through it and some places had a deep fall on both sides which was so cool! You could see so much and there were so many different kinds of rocks in such a small place, made it look like there were a bunch of different climates just on this one mountain! I bet you could've seen so far in all directions, but most spots were occupied by clouds, so we could only see so much. It was really cool though! The clouds smelled so nice, really fresh and sweet. They always have this thing about them that I like, perhaps because they always look so mysterious in the mountains. Sometimes you could look through the clouds and see how deep it actually goes. Or rather, how high up we actually were!
On our way back the clouds really started to creep over the path, leading it to look like we were entirely alone up there, heck, the entire earth. I fully expected a dragon flying past us at any second, or to be passed by the fellowship of the ring.
After eating our lunch in the grass and appreciating the view we made our way back to civilization. We took a walk in a little village where we came across an ADORABLE dog and puppy so we gave them all the pets. We explored for a bit and decided to go ahead and move on to a lookout post I heard about, looking over the south coast. The post had a glass floor, so you could see off the cliff. Apparently it was supposed to be [spannend], since you can see the deep fall, but idk, didn't feel that scary to me.🤷♀️
On our way back the clouds really started to creep over the path, leading it to look like we were entirely alone up there, heck, the entire earth. I fully expected a dragon flying past us at any second, or to be passed by the fellowship of the ring.
After eating our lunch in the grass and appreciating the view we made our way back to civilization. We took a walk in a little village where we came across an ADORABLE dog and puppy so we gave them all the pets. We explored for a bit and decided to go ahead and move on to a lookout post I heard about, looking over the south coast. The post had a glass floor, so you could see off the cliff. Apparently it was supposed to be [spannend], since you can see the deep fall, but idk, didn't feel that scary to me.🤷♀️
Day 7
Again a very sunny day. We went our way in the direction of St. Vicente again (the place with the caves) and stopped at some sea side places to view the sea. The coast was quite rough but had some waterfalls running over it, which made it look quite dreamy. The mountains in the background helped with that a lot too! My husband found some weird fish and spotted a barracuda. I love how rough the sea was there, makes it look so much more beautiful! With the high waves and everything. The clearness of the water keeps baffeling us and how far into it you can see! When we walked to a little coast area we saw a bunch of crabs running away, which was pretty adorable. Sorry for scaring you though. This place must look so much cooler with the high tide, when the sea was already being quite rough when it was low tide.
Some time later we decided to walk a mountain trail with shadow, because some of us dreaded to be in the sun for much longer, so we did. This must be my favourite thing because I kept oo-ing and aa-ing at the sight. Tall mountains on one side, a deep fall on the other. Plants and trees growing all around and little waterfalls grazing the path? Yes. This place in particular was very dense and had loads of plants growing on the mountain wall. We saw a lot of succulents and a bunch of maiden hair, a type of fern but with circular leaves and black branches. Adorable. Fun thing about it, my husband went to the plant store the other day (finishing up writing this a week after the holiday) and he found this plant! So we have our own maiden hair baby at home now too!
With the evening approaching quickly we sought out refreshments by getting ice cream and swimming in a cool natural swimming pool in between a bunch of rocks. Okay I didn't swim, only my feet did. I will be swimming in there though, but that's for another day.
Some time later we decided to walk a mountain trail with shadow, because some of us dreaded to be in the sun for much longer, so we did. This must be my favourite thing because I kept oo-ing and aa-ing at the sight. Tall mountains on one side, a deep fall on the other. Plants and trees growing all around and little waterfalls grazing the path? Yes. This place in particular was very dense and had loads of plants growing on the mountain wall. We saw a lot of succulents and a bunch of maiden hair, a type of fern but with circular leaves and black branches. Adorable. Fun thing about it, my husband went to the plant store the other day (finishing up writing this a week after the holiday) and he found this plant! So we have our own maiden hair baby at home now too!
With the evening approaching quickly we sought out refreshments by getting ice cream and swimming in a cool natural swimming pool in between a bunch of rocks. Okay I didn't swim, only my feet did. I will be swimming in there though, but that's for another day.
I'm going to wrap this up right here. It's starting to get quite long so I'm dividing it onto two parts, week one and week two! I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures🌲🌿
The second part will be up soon so in the mean time, have a nice day!
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