Madeira

Tour of the Northeastern part of the island

June 3, 2000

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Since we spent all of our nights at a hotel in Funchal, we wanted to get out at least one day to see some more of the island. The roads are incredibly narrow and twisty, and the local drivers quite bold, so we were not too excited about renting a car. The island bus system is quite good, but not terribly convenient for a day-long tour of the island. So we signed up with a tour company for a tour of the northeastern part of the island.

The next morning a taxi arrived, rather than the expected minibus. Change of plans... they were short a minibus so one of their drivers brought his taxi instead. So we had a private tour!

Our driver/guide, Paolo, was an ambitious young man who spoke several languages: Portuguese, English, German, French, a little Spanish, and was enrolled in classes to learn more. He was also very talkative and informative, so we learned a lot as we drove.

From Funchal we zipped down the highway to the center point of the island, then north over the mountain pass in the middle, and then east around the north, east, and south coasts back to Funchal.

As we approach the pass we climb into the clouds... it's pretty typical for the highest parts of the island to be in the clouds much of the time. The weather comes from the north, so the northern side is very rainy.

Looking back down toward the south side.

Our taxi.

One of our first stops was the grottos of Sao Vicente, which are ancient lava tubes. (Madeira is, after all, a dormant volcano.) They were fairly nifty.