Departure

Every time I set foot at an airport about to embark on a journey there is one song that pops into my head… I was 13 when this song came out, the same year I moved from Hong Kong to the States. And as I was finishing my last minute packing for this Madeira trip, the song came on. It reminded me of just how fragile life can be, and how important it is to cherish every single moment, happy or sad, with yourself and with those you love. The song would be stuck in my head as I took a red eye flight alone to Madeira to meet up with my friends. Is it just me or do people feel more intense emotional reactions when flying?

情感有若行李仍然沉重待我整理

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天氣不似如期但要走總要飛
道別不可再等你不管有沒有機
給我體貼入微但你手如明日便要遠離
願你可以留下共我曾愉快的憶記
當世事再沒完美可遠在歲月如歌中找你

“You know what we can’t get back ever again? This exact moment. That exact smile. The way the earth takes a new breath in each morning, silent but alive under the rising sun.”

— @thedailyrest

Arrival

After a few hours of light sleep on the direct flight from JFK to Madeira (Azores Airlines now offer direct flights from NYC on certain days), I made it to Madeira’s Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport (more on him later). It was still pitch-black when my flight landed and the sun was just rising when I stepped into my Bolt ride heading to the Savoy Saccharum Hotel in Calheta to meet up with my friends. We took a costal route on the 40-minute ride to the south-western part of the island, passing by the slight morning traffic in the main town of Funchal. Out the window, the stepped terraces along the hills reflected under the first morning sun. The landscape reminded me a lot of Cinque Terre - it’s no wonder why they call this island the Hawaii of Europe.

My friends had arrived the night before from Lisbon and picked up a rental car. After freshening up in the hotel room we headed down for a nice breakfast outdoors overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We explored the property and crossed the street to check out the seaside bar and lounge area. I was told there were wildfires on the North side of the island right before we arrived, and was wondering if the little bit of smog we were seeing were from the fire.

Wine TOUR and Tasting

We got into our rental car and drove to our first stop of the day - Quinta do Barbusano, a vineyard located in the valleys of São Vicente. The roads leading to the vineyard was interesting - Madeira is hilly so naturally there are a lot of tunnels and highways, and once we reached the town of São Vicente we drove up a windy one way gravel road around an unassuming chapel in the middle of one of town.

The views from the vineyard was even more breathtaking - grapes are grown horizontally along the stepped terraces just like in Cinque Terre, and you can see the town as well as the sea to the far end. Different sections of the hill has different climate that affects the grapes - those closer to the sea gets more wind and ends up being more salty. Harvest is done usually in September so at the time of us visiting they are in the pruning phase, cutting off the leaves and branches to prepare for the following season. Since there are no more grapes around, the sheep are led out and roam through the terrace helping with the pruning.

We sat down after the tour of the vineyard right when the rain clouds rolled in and tasted 6 different wines, and I got a bottle to take home.

Seixal

After the wine tour we continued on the North side of the island and headed towards Seixal, a town known for its black sand beach. Unfortunately parking near the beach was a pain, so we opted for a drive-by and continued towards Piscina Naturais do Seixal, an outdoor natural pool formed by volcanic rocks. From the main street we walked down a steep path leading down to the sea level, and watched up close as waves crash in onto the volcanic rocks. The waves were strong and conditions were really rough out in the water, so everyone was standing on the shore admiring the waves.

Porto Moniz

Post wave-watching in Seixal we headed northwest to Porto Moniz, another costal town famous for its lava pools. But first it was time for a late lunch. We stopped by Conchinha and tried the traditional Madeira bread “Bolo do caco” with garlic butter, and grilled limpets, a type of aquatic snails that’s a crossover between clams and mussels. The food was delicious but the coffee that I consumed to keep the jet lag at bay was pretty bad. Equally bad that day was the stormy weather. It rained during our stay at the vineyard in the morning and the skies stayed pretty clear for the afternoon, but clouds were rolling in by late afternoon. This is what the Piscinas Naturais do Porto Moniz looks like on a typical day - a swimming area of 3800 cubic meters surrounded by lava rocks. Unfortunately the strong winds brought heavy crashes of waves and seawater engulfed the all of the natural pools. Needless to say the entire area was closed due to “strong sea turmoil,” and we took our time comparing the serene pools on the blown up poster by the gates to the sight in front of us, overwhelmed by the power of nature.

Fanal Forest

As we make our way back to the South side of the island we took a detour and stopped by Fanal Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site recommended by another friend’s taxi driver. We didn’t know what to expect when we drove through a deserted area with one main road, but it turned out to be our highlight of the day. Located in the mountainous area of Porto Moniz, Fanal Forest features century old, twisted laurel trees and luscious moss over a huge landscape. At 1,150 meters above sea level, it’s common for the area to be covered in dense fog. We enjoyed our mystical walk through the greenery and spent a lot more time there than intended simply because we can’t get enough of the scenery. Yes it is a cow poop landmine, but well worth the walk.

Closing out Day 1

Heading back to our hotel we came across cows roaming along the road and burnt down bushes and trees. We must have drove passed the aftermath of the wildfires in Porto Moniz and even smelled it within the car.

The Wanderer

“But perhaps by choice or perhaps by destiny, the wanderer will learn: Solitude is but another transient state of existence; the world will find him somehow. And with each discovery, with every human connection he nurtures from a lonely twilight to the birth of another dawn, with every first goodbye before his next flight, the wanderer will arrive a step closer to whatever he is searching for.”
— Calvin Sun, *The Monsoon Diaries*

We got back to our hotel just in time to catch the sunset at the rooftop, and checked out the infinity pool before grabbing dinner on the top floor of the hotel. I had the tuna belly which was surprisingly delicious and followed it up with a watermelon salad before winding down for the night as we have a big hiking day ahead!

Madeira Peaks

Day 2 begins with a wake up call at 6:30AM and checking out of our hotel before sunrise. We had to skip the nice continental breakfast at the hotel in order to drop off our bags at our new hotel in Funchal before our scheduled pick up time for our full day hike of the Madeira Peaks. Our tour guide Charlotte was running late because of traffic so we got just enough time to stop by a nearby cafe to pick up a light breakfast and sandwiches for the hike. The mini tour bus picked up a few more passengers along the way and we made our way anti-clockwise loop from Funchal around the island towards Pico do Arieiro, the starting point of our 6.2 miles hike. Some do this hike the other way around starting from the other peak (I was told this is much harder), or do a round trip but begin before sunrise to be able to do the sunrise at the highest peak of the island.

At 1818m, Pico do Arieiro is the 3rd highest peak of the island. A dome-shaped defense radar station here at the peak marks the start of the hike, and we braced the strong winds as we began with a relatively easy descent (you can probably tell from my crazy hair).

At one point towards the beginning of the hike, you walk down a narrow bridge with cliffs on both sides. If you turn back around at the end of the narrow path, you get this amazing view of the mountain (Pedra Rija) and the steps you came down from with the defense radar station in the back. This section of the hike is the famous image you often see when you Google the Madeira Peaks hike.

At this point we were only maybe half an hour into the hike and it’s been relatively easy so far. Our guide has prepared us for what’s to come, including five tunnels and lots of steps before we get to the other peak. We continued our slow and steady descent, passing a manmade opening, to get to our first tunnel, Túnel do Pico do Gato and emerged on the other side with more greenery and some red-legged partridge.

Our hike continues through amazing scenery - a few cliff slide walks and and more tunnels, before we get the real deal of the hike, the killer vertical steps.

This is to show how vertical we were going…

After the killer steps, we made it to the other side of the peaks where the scenery completely changed. A heather forest appeared before us with tree branches from trees that burned down from a wildfire in 2010. The heavy fog and the subtle signs of regrowth created a mystic and even magical vibe.

In the spring and summer time the mountains are covered with the native purple flower called the pride of Madeira. Our guide said we won’t see them this time of year but I managed to catch a little it of it! We also found some fresh oregano!

At around 2PM we finally made it to the house on a hill (queue the song!) that marks the only rest stop of our day. We got an hour break time to have our lunch and free time to do the optional 15-min hike to the actual Pico Ruivo at 1,862m. From above the house on the hill feel so small against the backdrop.

We had about 45 mins left of the hike to get to the other parking lot and the final stretch of the hike was pretty much flat. You can see where we started (the defense radar station) all the way in the back in one of the photos!

Funchal

After the hike we rode back to Funchal and I completely snoozed on the bus for a full hour. We got back to our hotel - one that feels like a cruise ship from the 1990s, freshened up and walked east to our dinner spot in central Funchal. We passed by the pier and the Cristiano Ronaldo statue (fun fact he was born in Madeira and has a CR7 Museum managed by his brother by the pier).

Dinner was at Akua, a place we found online. We ordered everything fish - sardines with eggplant and passionfruit, fish sausages board (very interesting!), Indian mackerel, and braised tuna with razor clam rice. Food was delicious and so were the 2 deserts we ordered!

We ended the night at the rooftop bar at Savoy Palace, the hotel next door to ours. The place is called Galáxia Skybar, and has an outdoor terrace with an infinity pool and a great view of the city. All their drinks are ‘out of this world’ themed and it was a great way to end our night!

Mercado dos Lavradores

Our original plan for the morning was to go kayaking and then tea at Reid’s Palace but weather conditions weren’t good so we had a change of plans and decided to do a few touristy spots around town. After the hike yesterday we needed to sleep in so we didn’t get our breakfast till closer to the end of the serving time. After breakfast we took the foot bridge that connects Royal Savoy to Savoy Palace and walked all the way over to Mercado dos Lavradores, the fruits, veggies and fish market. We got to sample some exotic fruits - annona (custard apple) has a texture similar to jackfruit but smells like dirty socks; Monstera Deliciosa is the fruit of a monstera plant and tastes like a mixture of pineapple and banana but looks like corn on a cob when you push away the skin. These exotic fruits seem pricey so probably not something the locals have regularly?

We walked through the rest of the market and checked out the fresh fish section as well (they have the long black fish called black scabbard fish which is a delicacy in Madeira!)

Botanical Garden

We were going to take the cable car up to the Botanical Garden but only the one to Monte was operating so we took a bolt taxi instead. The garden grounds was beautiful - we went through the succulents section, tropical plants and then the colorful gardens. The weather was great for majority of our stay and in come the clouds and the drizzles when we’re about to head out.

Blandy’s Wine Lodge

Before our scheduled tea time we stopped by Blandy’s for a quick tasting. They have scheduled tours as well but we couldn’t fit it into our schedule.

Afternoon Tea at Reid’s Palace

We booked an afternoon tea at Reid’s Palace and tea was out on the terrace overlooking Funchal. We each got our own tea, five different sandwiches, scones and sweets as well as champagne. It was drizzling throughout our meal and we spotted a rainbow as the skies cleared!

Cabo Girão

Cabo Girão is one of the tallest cliff in the world at 589m from sea level. We got to see the sunset here and the lighting was just perfect.

Dinner at Santo Antonio

On our way back to Funchal we stopped by Restaurante Santo Antonio to try the espetada beef on laurel skewer - it’s served in front of you on a stick hung vertically. The meat was great and we ordered some salad and Bolo do Caco to go with it.

Star gazing by the water

We got back to the hotel by 9:15PM and decided to check out the hotel pool area and the shore. We ended up staying out there by the shore and star gazed. The stars look bright and actually came out well in the photos on a Google Pixel phone!

Work from Anywhere Day

My friends departed early for Porto the next morning so I took my time at the hotel, enjoying a breakfast by the pool with a book and then worked outside by the shore on a chair. It was great listening to the waves and people swimming. There wasn’t a single laptop in sight other than mine so you could tell I was the only American there.

I checked out of the hotel by 11:45AM and switched to my airbnb of one additional night, then took advantage of the time difference to explore town before my work day starts at 2PM local time. I stopped by the post office to mail my postcard (which unfortunately to the day of writing still hasn’t arrived in the mail), walked to the Madeira sign by the pier and looked around for a magnet I saw a few days ago. I was able to check out a handicraft market at the park and Rua do Santa Maria, the street that has all the painted doors and restaurants we passed by the day before.

Last Supper

Once I wrapped my work day when it was just about to get dark, I headed to Kampo, the sister restaurant to Akua we went to on Wednesday. Kampo specializes in meats whereas Akua specializes in seafood. I got a bar table seat right by the kitchen and was able to see all the action. I ordered a oxtail ravioli with truffle and foie gras as well as the filet and scallop. Everything was delicious and I only wished there was someone else to share with so I could order more.

Last Dash

I thought about watching the sunrise on my last morning in town but decided to go for a run right at sunrise at 8:15AM. I headed to the Forte de São Tiago on the eastern tip of Funchal and caught the sun rising above sea level. A cruise ship also docked on the other side of the water so I ran along the shore from the forte to the cruise terminal and back towards the lighthouse, totaling 2.25 miles. I am not a runner but running in a foreign city was a lot of fun - maybe I’ll start packing a pair of proper running shoes with me from now on.

I got back to the airbnb to shower and packed up and it was time to head to the airport for my noon time flight. It started raining as we were boarding but the skies cleared mid flight and I caught sight of a rainbow! Till next time Madeira!

Madeira. October 2023