Only a little further away from Funchal than a stone’s throw, Câmara de Lobos is probably one of our favourite towns so far visited on Madeira.
Paúl da Serra is the top plateau on the middle of the island. I can tell you one thing: it doesn’t feel tropical here, and your ears will probably have popped several times on the way up. Where there were palmtrees there are now wind mills and fog, fog and more fog over a rocky landscape.
Jardim do Mar is not actually listed in our guide book, but our guide book has picked the most touristy spots on the island, only, so we are happy to leave the guide a bit behind. Why exactly Jardim do Mar became a destination, we cannot say. But lunch time was approaching, we weren’t hungry and decided to go somewhere close for a stroll first.
We are exploring the southern part of Madeira now. On Christmas Day, when most everything is closed, we somehow end up at a place named Boa Morte — “the Good Death”. It is a small village, placed high up on the mountain side. A trail goes from here: we can either follow the levadas to the next village, or we can walk down the steep mountain side through narrow streets down to the city — Ribeira Brava — “the Wild […]
Before arriving on Madeira, we had heard about Poncha – the local drink that seems to be enjoyed pretty much wherever and whenever. And during our first evening on the island we got a taste of the stuff; it was being made fresh at stalls in the capital, Funchal, at what they called the festival of light (though it did not actually coincide with the night of the winter solstice, which the little heathen in me would have appreciated).