Steep slopes and wonderful views in Funchal, Madeira

When I suggested that we go to Madeira, Henrik's spontaneous comment was; but only pensioners go there!?

Well, not saying it has to be that way. In addition, I had just read an article in some newspaper where Lottie Knutson, this fantastic travel guru, recommended Madeira in particular. After all, we are almost like pensioners, we always watch Rapport on TV, go to bed on time and usually lower the average age when we participate in some kind of event. So Madeira should be perfect for us. All said and done, we went there.

Madeira is an island group in the Atlantic located due west at the height of Morocco. The archipelago belongs to Portugal but is politically self-governing. The capital is Funchal and that's where we chose to spend a week. We found a small guest house up on the hill a couple of kilometers outside the city center by name Casa do papagaio verde, the green parrot. A real little oasis with cozy rooms and a beautiful garden. Every morning a good breakfast was served and the breakfast table was always decorated with freshly picked flowers from the garden. The fruit and vegetables also came from the own garden.

Speaking of height, by the way. Anyone who intends to walk in the city and its surroundings must be prepared for the fact that it is quite hilly in Funchal. Expect training soreness in the thighs and calves the first few days. There are, of course, buses and taxis are not very expensive, but if you want some exercise, walking works just fine. All over Madeira there are plenty of levees, which are a kind of irrigation canals that were built from the 15th century onwards to transport water from the central parts of the island out to the agricultural lands around the coast. Around the entire island there are around 200 miles of levadas that you can hike or walk along. These also extend down to Funchal, which makes for a much more exciting walk than the one along the sidewalks.

So what do you find when you visit Madeira? The island is perhaps best known for its fantastic climate. It's like a beautiful summer day all year round, it's never very cold and it never gets as oppressively hot as it can be in more southerly latitudes. For the botanically interested, the whole island is like a flamboyant garden and for those of you who struggled with keeping the hydrangea so trendy for the year alive, you can see here what they should really look like, here the flower clusters were as big as a badger's cap. Even though we are not particularly interested in gardening, we chose to visit the botanical garden in Funchal, it felt like a place not to be missed. It was a beautiful garden but it was still noticeable that not even Madeira had made it through the incredibly dry summer completely unscathed. I can also imagine that the garden is even more verdant in the spring.

Rendahls don't travel anywhere without a little gofika. This time in a slightly more luxurious form. We dressed up in the finest clothes we had packed with us and headed to the historic luxury hotel Belmond Reid's Palace for Afternoon Tea. The hotel is said to have been one of Winston Churchill's favorite hotels and is housed in a palatial building with an incredible view of the water. The service was excellent and the whole experience felt fantastically luxurious.

One of the days we took the bus up along the serpentine roads to Nunnornas dal. You can take the nice tourist buses up, but the local bus also goes towards the valley. The valley of the nuns gets its name from the convent of Santa Clara whose nuns were allowed to take over the land in the 16th century. The nuns fled towards the valley in the mid-16th century when French pirates invaded Funchal. It is something of an adventure in itself to get along the narrow serpentine roads whose slopes give those with a fear of heights a slight vertigo. Nor is it something for people prone to motion sickness. Our little bus pushed along the roads and more than once we held our breath when one of the big tourist buses would pass. I myself had hardly judged that there was room for a bicycle to get past, but the buses came by with half the vehicle hanging over the edge of the cliff. Above the valley you will find the Eira do Serrado lookout, just over 1000 meters above sea level with a wonderful view of the beautiful nature.

As Funchal is so incredibly hilly, they naturally have their own cable car. The cable car departs from the harbor and takes about 15 minutes up to the village of Monte. Again you have a great view of the island. Once up in Monte, there is, among other things, the Monte Palace Tropical Garden with plants and trees from all over the world.

When you are still sightseeing and have ridden the cable car, try riding the traditional basket sleds down the streets of Funchal again. The idea of transporting oneself with a basket sled comes from the middle of the 19th century and not much seems to have changed today. The sled drivers wear traditional clothes (no nice running shoes here!) and it seems like a lot of hard work. It goes surprisingly fast, the speed is said to be around 48 km/h. See for yourselves!

It is also not possible to visit Madeira without drinking Madeira wine. We therefore visited Blandy's Wine Lodge to get an insight into the wine's 200-year history. At Blandy's we first got a tour of the various wine rooms and the museum, to learn more about the production of the wine and its history and then finish with a wine tasting. However, all I can say is that Madeira wine really tastes awful, even the really nice ones we got to taste. Despite this, it was still a really interesting tour that is highly recommended.

As you can see, there is a lot to see and do in Madeira and in Funchal. One tip is to rent a car so that you can get around the island a little more than we did. Funchal itself is perhaps somewhat touristy, but it is still a cozy city with splendid parks and beautiful architecture. There are plenty of cozy streets to stroll around with both shops and restaurants. We can promise that we never left hungry! We managed to try the large hanging Espetada skewers and the classic chestnut soup. We visited the island during the autumn and although Madeira is a good destination all year round, perhaps you should invest in a spring trip to really experience the verdant island in its essence.