To visit Madeira Island, part of Portugal, was one of my objectives for some time. Once arrived at the location, for a one-week vacation, alongside my beautiful girlfriend, I have decided from the first moment that this looks like better than I even imagined. I am saying this, even though the full experience will be presented to you with ups and downs, as not even this quarter from Atlantic Ocean is perfect. How could it be? After a slight delay at the Marseille airport, from which we depart to a three and a half hours flight to Funchal, capital city of the island, we landed on the runway extended on the… water (!!!) – will talk later about that – and it was almost 01:00 AM in the morning. The airport is located near Machico, around 30 kilometers from Funchal, and the only reasonable option to take in consideration to go in the main city of the region is to take the 9 Aerobus, for 5 euro.

Easy access from airport to the city, but disastrous busses

Regarding the transport from the airport, we face the first unexpected things from Madeira: most buses are old, looking like wrecks, with tons of black smoke coming out of the exhaustion pipe. OK… this doesn’t look very promising, worse than in many places from Romania. Found out later, that most of the transportation companies are a joint between the municipalities and private firms which, of course, is the main reason for the picture. OK, there are some modern shiny and great looking busses, but to keep Pareto’s principle, I don’t think they represent more than 20% of total. It is an impression gathered in eight days. You can check some details here, if you wish: SAM. Now, OK, we could leave with that, in the end, but the match expectations vs. reality started from 0-1. In no time it got even to 0-2. This is because in Aerobus we couldn’t pay by… card! ATM in the terminal? Luckily, yes! A nice local police officer guide us to first floor and we could extract some money. Still, in 2022, to not be able to pay by card at 01:45 AM in one of the most interesting vacation destinations from whole Europe! Even though they are situated, geological speaking, on the African rift.

Look at this… ideal place to stay in Funchal!

Starting from 0-2, quite disastrous, but the paradigm changed quite quick. When we arrived at the accommodation, at around 03:00 AM, everything looked dreamy, even if it was the middle of the night. The apartment felt like home, everything in place. A bottle of Setubal wine on the table, water and bananas – so good was that I found those. And, oh, the view! Truth being said, it was quite dark to distinguish the ocean, but I could imagine at least what I will be seeing in the morning. So right I was! The GoPro 10 was set to film the sunrise and that was a recurring activity all along the stay in Funchal. Now, the location of the apartment block was at the very neighborhood of the ocean. Apartamento do Mar e Lua is the best place to stay in Funchal, go for it. It was a great impression from the very beginning, so: 1-2. But there is a lot to come! 🙂 Especially that the vacation is very young. After a good night sleep and a meeting with our great host, Elisabete, to settle some details, we started the Funchal recognition.

Grab something from Pingo Doce and start visiting Funchal center

We found out that, even though we were located four kilometers west from the city center, there is a mall exactly against our location. Forum, interesting shape and building, but the key point was Pingo Doce, a supermarket with fresh food, where you can eat a lot of fish types, squids, octopus and everything that the ocean can offer. It is a great alternative if you want to avoid in some proportion the restaurants, which let us down, to be honest. You can eat a great warm meal for 10 euros or even less at the market’s restaurant. You can find all type of wine, the local beer – Coral – which is not very enjoyable for me, interesting sweets, mostly pastry, also a nice butter and so on. Just take it in consideration, Pingo Doce, will be a good friend in Madeira. Grabbing some tuna sandwiches and pastes de nata, then off we go to the center to visit the… up hills of Funchal and, yes, the ancient cathedral, from the… 15th century! The island has six hundred years of history! For a video with the cathedral, check below.

Nuns Valley and Monte with the famous basket ride

The flavor of the climbs in the town are interesting, especially that we don’t know, yet, what we will be facing in the next days. We go up to see the citadel, but it is close during the weekend, so is the cathedral. The edifice from the video was seen from the insight eventually, not the citadel, though. There was no time! An appetizer, the biggest city on the island, was, as said only the beginning. After the first full day on Madeira Island, I’ll put the score at… 3-2! Now, from Monday on, the trips start and not only with guides, but self-wondering. The menu begun with a 35 EUR trip that included a trip to Monte, where we could take the famous Basket Ride, one of the seven most interesting commute systems in… the world! After a coffee, we climbed to Nuns’ Valley, sow a double rainbow (!!!) and afterwards went down to the popular village itself, where we met the traditional alcoholic poncha and the chestnut flower made queijada, see some images below. Almost five hours and the first half of the day was a success! If we exclude the old vehicle we made the trip, then… it is 4-2!

10 kilometers from Funchal to Cabo Girao – what a journey!

Nice and all, but the sunset is at 20:00 so we have some more hours left to explore the things we need to. We decide to take a walk to Cabo Girao via Camara de Lobos. I knew that there is some ascent, but didn’t check in depth how much… We started with a slow walk on the promenade that links Funchal with Camara de Lobos, one of the favorite places for holidays of the late and famous Winston Churchill and the heritage is still there. We took some pictures and said to spend more time on our way back. We wanted to touch the famous skywalk from Cabo Girao. From here, for five kilometers, it started: 500 meters ascent, through fields of cabbage, strawberry and, especially… bananas! No taste though, as I picked one from a tree – in Romania you don’t find them so. With the sun in our back and with the humidity raised from the ocean, the climb was not easy at all, but it is such a great memory! Once done with the road, we ate an ice-cream, drank a nice coffee at the location, before going on the skywalk. I am very afraid of heights, and it took some time for me to get accustomed with the landscape. Once I did, though, there were some nice pictures. Look:

Eating at Churchill’s and the promenade by night

The way back from Cabo Girao was not easy. Missed the bus because I have made a mistake, but we did take a ride to Camara de Lobos, so we had some time to enjoy a bit the fishermen village from southern Madeira where many things happen, apart from Winston Churchill’s heritage. For example, Santa Maria de Colombo ship was built here between 1997 and 1998 – this is a great replica of Christopher Columb’s famous ship and about it I will tell you later. Also, here, most fresh fish we ate comes from. It is a lovely place to experience, and we did catch here a sunset and also a good meal, at Churchill’s. The price, though, 64 EUR for two plates, some bread, two sparkling wine glasses and one 0.75 l water looks ridiculously high. Still, the experience was a great one, I mean the place, the vibe, the moment. Worth it all! And gave us fuel for the way back – 4.5 kilometers on the promenade by night, another great experience. A stop at Pingo Doce and then arrived at home to drink some more sparkling wine. 😀

We saw the famous and rare seal monk!

Peace and quiet, the night falls and the camera set for another sunrise. Two days of sea are to come. One with a catamaran, specifically to see whales and dolphins and another one on board of the mentioned Santa Maria Colombo to enjoy a medieval experience. In the end, both proved great, I mean both excursions, another 35 EUR / each / day worth it! For around 3 hours we were sailing and did spot some dolphins and pilot whales so that was a success. The cake piece, though, was the moment, on Wednesday, when the skipper from the ship showed us a monk seal! They are so rare and shy that it is almost impossible to see any. In fact, the guide from Monday’s trip told us that our chances to see a monk seal where of 0.000009% or so… But we did it, we spot the cute thing! It is an achievement. It swam alone, maybe to some warmer water.

Swim “under” Cabo Girao

The action described above happened at the foot of Cabo Girao. And here the water is 12 meters deep and 23 degrees warm! Wow! It was indeed great, and I have leverage it and took an ocean bath in both days and took even some pictures. We weren’t allowed to spend too much time, but for 15 minutes each I really enjoyed being in the “middle” of Atlantic Ocean. Now, the trips were nice and all, but we still some time to do things in each of the days, because there were things to do and time not to waste! Tuesday brought another climb. Again, didn’t check the terrain so we went to the botanical garden to see it and drink a coffee there. It seemed a decent place and it was – apart from the fact that we couldn’t drink coffee because the minimum amount to pay by card was… 15 EUR! Nobody had Revolut there so… so much for the coffee! Now, the botanical garden is one thing, but the road there is a totally different story. How to start?

The brutal way to Funchal’s botanical garden

Some snacks from Pingo Doce and off we go. Only three kilometers. How bad it can be? Until we arrived at Farmer’s Market, everything was steady. After, though, I think we climbed 2 kilometers with, maybe, 500 meters elevation! It was brutal, even though it was through the city. I could not imagine it can be that abrupt! I mean, c’mon! What kind of city is Funchal?!?! Initially, my personal plan was, after the botanical garden, to visit also the stadium of Nacional Madeira, to walk a bit of path, that Rapid Bucharest followed in 2006 when they played there in UEFA. From the garden we should have 1.8 kilometers, but some more similar ascent. No thanks! It was enough. A walk through the awesome park, full of cactus and all kind of beautiful plants and it included an interesting small museum and also a Santana house type, and some pictures: the view was not great into the botanical garden, but also from the botanical garden you were stunned in one second! You can see the pictures, of course.

Eat at restaurants based on tip from Madeira locals, if not… Pingo Doce!

From here we just breath a bit and went for the descent. That was not easy either but comparing to the upwards road it was a real walk in the park or, in this case, from the park. We drank a wonderful green smoothie somewhere inside Farmer’s Market to revive our senses. Jolie Fruit Mixology is the name! It has great, great coffee as well! OK, the juice was one thing, now we need to bring in some food, real food, preferable something fresh from the sea. We saw an interesting location one day prior, so we thought to go there. The name, Borracheiros, made it clear that we shouldn’t expect anything fancy, but maybe some local hospitality, as it was more like a sports bar. Still, the experience here was awful.

In the first place, the order, came in one hour and a half and when we raised a flag about it, we were challenged that: “we have a lot of customers!” What the F-U-C-K?! I was absolutely furious, and will try to explain for all owners / employees from restaurants once and for all, what to consider if “they have too many customers”:

1. Hire more staff.
2. Remove more tables.
3. Turn on the key!

I want to pay and to be properly treated, not to give… 46 EUR for uncooked food! Because, yep, in the end that was what happened, and I really had a bad evening because of this. But then we decided to go more often to eat at Pingo Doce. At least three times cheaper and far better quality! Now, if you really want to try some local restaurants, always take in consideration tips from locals. We didn’t, and it cost us. So, your call! But, since I am a bit behind with the score, after the stories above I would update the good – bad things in Madeira to 11-5!

CR7 museum, just for “check”, the hotel… less than unimpressive

Now, I have shared the second part of the Tuesday, third full day of our journey, it is time to mention the first morning in which we didn’t have anything scheduled, before the 15:30 appointment on Santa Maria Colombo, the ship on board which we have managed to see the seldom appearance of a swimming monk seal and mentioned about it already. In the morning, I have decided to go and take a look in the CR7 Museum, the trophy exposition of the most well-known citizen of the island, and which gives an unofficial second name to the local airport: Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, it is not that impressive, but for 5 EUR, one less comparing to the botanical garden, we were able to see better a heritage that, in one way or another, remains in the history of sports at least.

Too hydrated? Check below! 😀

No, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think I would have pay more than 5 EUR for such a visit. Took a tour and also captured some pictures, for sure. Outside, stuck to the building was also the CR7 hotel which, even though seems in a privileged position, doesn’t look good at all, I mean, I can say the contrary. As well as his “mansion” from the city – I won’t share the location here or any pictures, of course, but if you go there, you can take a look yourself, and judge my solid point of view. Regardless, it was an experience, and the good part is that in the part of the city where the museum is located, there is a free public toilet – I am not joking, not mocking, just providing an information so for those who like, as we do, to walk a lot and maybe drink things. 🙂

Ponta do Sao Lourenςo, the extreme eastern side of the island

The end of the day, after the great Colombo experience, finished with another smoothie at Jolie Fruit Mixology and afterwards with a good Madeira Rum bottle in our room. We were preparing for Thursday and this time we made our own plans, on the way, without any guide: savor the Ponta do Sao Lourenςo, on the extreme east side of the island. I promise the hike will empower your senses and you will like it to the sky and back. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take full advantage about it, because we did only a couple of kilometers, but made proper pictures and what is more important for you, there is the link with the right bus that takes you almost directly there: line 113 from the city center bus station, for 3.95 EUR. The thing is that we want to sunbath a bit in Machico as well and to have a short walk there so a longer hike at Ponta de Sao Lourenco was basically impossible – this is why I am saying a seven-night stay in Funchal is too little.

Machico and its stories

Machico is far smaller than Funchal but has some things to offer for sure. The beach is only part of that, the landscape and the streets, small and quiet are a fulfillment of the puzzle. I would say you don’t need to spend necessary too much time there, but for sure it is not enough if you want to capture in a single day both the Ponta Sao Lourenco and Machico. Nope, you would need at least one day for each, to digest these beauties with patience and relaxed. The good thing is that you can take from the bus station in Machico the direct bus to Funchal, preferable the same 113. In fact, Machico is the nearest village of the International Airport and when you travel back to the capital city of the island not only you intersect with the airport, but actually you go under the huge runway, built in 2000 on pillars! I have promised you more information on that, so here they are!

The huge runway, built on the ocean!

The image above, taken from the linked article, says it all. We arrive in Funchal somewhere at 20:00 and still had some time for our evening walk through the city, of which we enjoyed every single minute. Now, with five full days to go and one and a half remaining, I can say that the score – you should know by now what I am measuring – is 15-5. We are at half-time in a disproportionate handball game. Now, while discussing in our holiday we decided to try another important experience before getting of beautiful Madeira: a hike from Pico do Areiero – highest point where a car could take us to Pico Ruivo, the tallest mountain of the place (1861 meters). It is Friday and we are picked up from our accommodation at 10:20 AM. Just perfect to sleep as we please and to take our traditional Madeiran breakfast with local butter, toast, blue cheese and guacamole. The driver and guide until the hike departure point, Luis, is very friendly and… resourceful, as he provides some interesting information.

Stairs to Pico Ruivo, a lot of rain and bad visibility

The road to Pico do Areiero it is only maximum one hour, as the island, as mentioned, is quite small. We are prepared to climb the “beast” at around 11:30 AM and we are given five hours, just to be on the safe side, even though the paved road lasts around 9.3 kilometers. Quite a lot 5 hours, but this is because Luis didn’t want us to be in a rush. Now, the bad part was the bad and rainy weather, not that I don’t like this landscape in essence, actually I do, but the atmospheric circumstances forbid us to admire the mighty mountains of Madeira at their best. We packed ourselves good and up we went. OK, initially down and afterwards up, to Pico Ruivo. Believe it or not, 90% of the trail was paved, it has including five tunnels and aloooot of stairs! Even if it is not easy, it is easier this way, given the weather conditions. The clouds and the fog obturated the potential great view, but we couldn’t care less, and we enjoyed this trip anyway took some pictures and videos.

The cat from the top

At the cabin before the peak, we ate our sandwiches and then we climbed, on stairs, the last 500 meters. The view was not the best, but it was an experience. Especially that, in those conditions, at 1861 meters, a cat was there, waiting for us and it wasn’t forced or let there for sure. Wow! Wasn’t expecting this! Now, after savoring a bit the top, Madeira’s top, we went to the pick-up cabin, on an even annoying rain and once there we felt relieved that we could change partly our wet soaking clothes and drank a good coffee, and a poncha. We arrived at the location before 15:30 so more than one hour to wait. No problem, the stay was meaningful, we digested slowly the atmosphere and were thinking already to the next destination of the day: Santana. It is a special village, with some very authentic houses and our guide promised us something special: a visit to one of the… 1% original houses. Yep, he told us that 99% are fakes, built because of their attractive touristic look. We couldn’t care less, though…

Special Santana experience in Madeira

Still, because we had the privilege of going to one original 241 years old house (!!!) because of Luis, the guide from “Do It Madeira”, it was a huge bonus. Now, it is quite costly to maintain a traditional house as such, considering only the roof needs a replacement every two years, so the moment was even more important because of this. The host and his mother awaited us with liquor coffee and told us some short stories about the small location that had some rooms added 80 years ago – not even this number can be neglectable. We absorbed the information, enjoyed what we have seen, took some lovely pictures and now off we go back to Funchal. Truth being said, this should have been the last targeted experience and so, for that Friday, it was. We were left somewhere at the Farmer’s market, took our green juice, drank it, alongside a coffee, of course and then took one last evening pleasant ride through Funchal, as the departure day was around the corner.

A last evening, let us visit the Forum Mall, and the toy museum!

We did, though, also in the Forum Mall to see if we might get something meaningful for back home, but it turned out no big differences comparing to any mall in Bucharest. So, we did do some shopping for groceries and prepared for the final day of our dream escape. Still, we decided to give one more shot and to visit one place we tried to before going to Ponta do Sao Lourenςo, but couldn’t find the time: the toy museum! So close to the Farmer’s Market, we decided to take advantage of that on Saturday morning, so we did. And I can say it is interesting, with huge toy collections from all the decades. Now, there are not too many toy museums I’ve heard of, and I have visited the one in Nürnberg which is, allegedly, the most famous. Still, this one, from the capital city of Madeira, has things to offer and go for it! Once exit, we did go to take some pictures to the freshly arrived cruise ships in the port and heading for the final preparations to take our way to the airport.

150 euros for some… passion fruits!?

Now, what I didn’t mention was something interesting shared about the market in Funchal. Luis told us that the prices there are calculated as the farmers check you out. For example, our guide told us that, at some point, a foreign tourist paid 27 euros or so for three bananas and other paid 150 euros for three kilos of passion fruit! Wow! Do you really need to be a genius to understand that there is no way in which somebody can ask such a huge price, anywhere in the world for a bunch of fruits??? “Taste them, ask the seller to cut in front of you, because if it is already cut, most likely they top it with sugar, and after you taste… tell them you are not hungry and run!”, is Luis joking. Now, I am not sure if this is only an anecdote or not, but we preferred not to risk, especially that in these times you can find all fruits, everywhere in the world. Still, the green juice presented that we drank was wonderful and we did pay only 4.5 EUR / big glass.

Forgot to mention the lizards from Madeira!

Back to our things, we felt a bit sorry that we are leaving all the palm trees, cactuses and… lizards behind, but we were ready to do it anyway. And speaking about lizards, I didn’t mention, though, that in Madeira they are everywhere, anytime, and might see them closely, as they love this climate – how could they not? Birds are also important fauna members of the island, but the lizards gave me the impression that surpass by far the number of pigeons, ducks, seagulls. They couldn’t be caught easily on camera, so I was not less worried I could step on any, since they were sooo agile, but I must admit their appearance gave another unique note to our trip. The trip which lives its last hours. And since the plane was scheduled somewhere at 17:00, we have taken care to depart with the now famous Aerobus to the airport around 13:30. It looks quite early, but it is almost one hour trip and we need to be sure that no mistakes are made, and we don’t arrive late.

Marseille, the next destination after leaving Madeira

Now, being day, we realized how beautiful the ocean can be seen from the facility’s window and so we enjoyed one more ground view of the unique and huge Atlantic. Boarding is on its way, and we are prepared. Since we are going to Marseille, everything moves very smooth, the departure is in time, and we have a better chance to realize how special it is to take off from a runway built on the ocean, in the middle of the huge water spread. The last topping of a great experience we recommend you all! Not sure exactly when we will be back, but we will sooner than later and most likely for at least two weeks. Madeira has so many things to offer that you just cannot get enough of it in only one week, it is a fact.

As I said, we are going to Marseille now. I will tell you about that experience as well, but please be patient. I don’t think we should mix things, as the given story should, for sure, to be a stand-alone, not only because of its uniqueness, but also because of the huge volume of information presented and offered for… digestion! Oh, yes, and the final score! It should be 21-8! The last three “don’ts” are linked to the bad weather from Pico Ruivo, lack of options from the mall and… the alleged behavior from the Farmers’ Market. Still, you can imagine how big problems these are. 🙂