Author Archives: Rigmor

Death by baby blanket

So, did you hear the one about the crazy pregnant lady who went a bit overboard when making a baby blanket and ended up crashing the plane with her crocheting hook? No?

Spending a day in Funchal

While in Madeira, we stayed in the capital —  Funchal. Funchal boasts about 110 000 citizens. Staying there over Christmas and New Year, the city was decorated for the holiday season. In addition, there seemed to be some local celebration going on with a mini-market set up in the middle of town where people were selling various types of craft, dressed up in traditional clothing. It was a nice addition to the holiday; it gave a good idea of what […]

Levada walk from Rabaçal

We have another early morning start, and drive back to Paúl da Serra, this time with the intention of hiking. We are lucky to have the company of a relative of Nelson’s, local to Madeira who knows the valleys, the paths and how to get around. At Paúl da Serra, we need to park: the road that winds down to the walking paths is closed. We learn that this is because of traffic accidents down the very narrow road: instead one shuttle bus […]

Santana

Santana feels like a compulsory visit as a UNESCO heritage site. And so we go. The drive from Porto Moniz feels long, however. The landscape is possibly even steeper than in the south, the houses and villages more scattered and the roads older.

Porto Moniz

Porto Moniz is a town northwest on the island. It is not too far a journey from São Vicente, so we combine the two. This means that when we actually get to Porto Moniz, it is lunchtime and we are starving. This in itself is not the best idea. We park along the seaside, and start looking for a restaurant, but all we see are hotels, cafés with all-English menus, souvenir shops, and restaurants joining the hotels. The real town […]