Madiera

It would make a great trivia question - name the country that honours a bald headed pot bellied politician and has named its airport after a still playing soccer player. Admittedly the politician was Winston Churchill (who painted here in the 1950's) and the soccer player is 4 times world player of the year Christian Ronaldo but even without these two Madiera seriously punches above its weight in terms of history, scenery and tourism adventure opportunities.

We disembarked right on 9.00a.m. to find Daniel of "Daniels Taxis" waiting for us directly outside the port. Daniel has a heap of great reviews on trip Advisor and shortly after meeting him we just knew this was going to be another fantastic highlights tour !

Beating tbe ships tour buses out the gate we were soon climbing in our Mereedes 8 seater taxi out of Funchal up impossibly steep roads to the lovely commune of Monte with its church not only providing panoramic of views of  Madiera and our cruise ship from its balcony but also being tbe final resting place of the last Austrian Emperor exiled here at the end of WW1.

From the church we took the steep steps down to the start of Madieras famed wicket basket toboggan run. 2kms down a very steep road in a wicker basket with no brakes controlled only by 2 men with a steering rope and extra grip on their shoes to help slow the basket down !

Monika started screaming straight from the start more i guess in antjcipation as the descent thankfully was not too worrying except for cross over roads where a solitary observor sat in his chair to help prevent us being wiped out by crossing cars. Thankfully he was on the ball!

From Monte we made our to a lookout with great views of Funchal and the coastline. Here you could clearly see the tropical nature of the Island.

We headed next climbing on circuitous roads to the stunning Nuns Valley (Cural das Freiras) originally settled by nuns in a mountanous valley to avoid raiding sea pirates. The road en route provided for incredible views all round including a precipitous valley area referred to as a mini grand canyon . Here hundreds of feet below you could see walking tracks clinging to the sides of cliffs running from tbe Ocean up this steeply sided valley !

We reached the incredible lookout overlooking the valley and the village many hundreds of feet below. Here you could also see the old road  which is no longer in use after a landslide 7 years ago.

Gobsmacked we left to head back down the same torturous route before climbing once again. The landscape here showed just how fertile the island is with bananas, sugar cane, vineyards and just about every known vegetable growing !

We moved on to Cabo Girao at nearly 600 metres high of some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe with breathtaking views particularly when standing on the overhanging glass skywalk that had both Monika and self treading on warily !

Wowed again we descended to a Cornish look alike fishing village called Camara des Lobos famed as a favourite haunt of Winston Churchill who came bere to paint whike recovering from ill health in 1950. The fishing village is connected with a lovely pronenade walk that goes all t thege way to Funchal making this a popular destjnation for an afternoon or evening meal

Our route back took us through the main tourjst aea complere with its 5 star hotels and high rise appartments. Madiera has grown on the tourist radar over the years partly because of its warm climare, partly becahse of the fame of Christian Ronaldo, partly because of its collection of stunning walks and partly because of its festivals with its new years eve fireworks recently voted one of the worlds best !

This is a stunning island and for us a must return to destination !

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