We hailed a taxi and went to the Botanical gardens this morning. It was nice but not as impressive as Monte Gardens, although I loved the cactus garden which had some very impressive and treacherous looking specimens. There was also a bird garden: nice birds, shame about the small cages. Then we walked to the Orchid Garden, not far down the hill, a lovely place. I had no idea orchids were so tricky to grow. We ate Madeira honey cake with beer on the terrace. We'd planned top walk back into Funchal but it was so steep we grabbed a waiting taxi. Just as well - the roads don't go straight down and it took ages by car, let alone if we'd been walking. Driving is difficult, the streets are narrow, incredibly steep and with many very sharp bends. Best avoided unless you like a real challenge!

Back at the hotel I had an aromatherapy treatment. I had booked a chakra balance (not that I was very sure what it was but it sounded interesting) but there was a technical hitch so I had to swap. It was very nice though. That evening we ate at the O Tapassol. It had been full every night but we were really early. it certainly was an excellent meal, the best we'd had so far. Lots of it too, and €50 for 2 of us.

17th July

We'd arranged with a taxi driver to go on a half day tour of the Nuns Valley (Cural das Freiras) this morning and Juan arrived promptly. It's a good way to see the island if you don't want to go on coach tours. It tends to cost about €50 for a half day and €90 to €100 for a full day. Comparable to a coach trip for 2 of you but cheaper if there are 3 or 4. We liked the freedom of it. We started at a local viewpoint - see the levada photo, although that was as far as we walked on that one! - and Juan identified all the flowers and trees for us. He knows his stuff and his English is good. We stopped at St Martins Church but unfortunately it was closed. Every now and again we stopped to admire the views and take photos, and once to fill his water bottles with fresh water from the mountains. Ice cold, delicious and free. Nuns Valley was fantastic. We stopped at the Aire de Serrado viewpoint, 1006 mts (3300ft) high, stunning. Juan asked if we'd like to walk down a little way and then meet him, so we did. He didn't mention we'd be walking 2.5km and descending 500 mts! But it was a wonderful walk (although I wished I wasn't wearing sandals) with a total of 43 turns, according to Juan. I couldn't have managed it a day or two earlier but had recovered from our first walk by now. After, we had beer and cake at the Nuns Valley Snackbar, and sampled some local liqueurs. 

We arrived back at our hotel after 2pm and went for a walk to the contemporary art museum in the old fort next to the hotel. There was very little there and it was rather too contemporary for our tastes. More interesting were the preparations going on for a wedding reception later that evening. Certainly a lovely location for it, overlooking the sea. That night we ate at a Japanese restaurant. The food was delicious but there were few customers. I guess it was because it was a lot more expensive than the places around us, and smaller sized portions. 

18th July

We were up early for our jeep tour of the west of the island. We were last to be picked up and sat in the very back - not too comfy but it looked rather squashed everywhere and we did swap after lunch. We joined up with another 6 jeeps and went along in convoy. It was a good day although low cloud spoilt some of the views. We went through Camara de Lobos, Ribeira Brava and then off-roading up through the forests. That was pretty hairy and you had to hang on tight. We were in cloud when we reached the top but we could imagine the views! Then on to Miradouro where we could see everything, then Porto Moniz with its volcanic rock formations on the coastline. There was a lot of development going on (EU money) with new roads and tunnels causing traffic jams. I'm not sure it's a good thing but will open up new parts of the island to tourism. They work 24/24 so the work gets done really quickly. After Sao Vicente we stopped for a good lunch, included in the price of €33 each for a whole day, excellent value. After lunch we had a car wash in a tunnel waterfall! Very effective too but you have to shut the windows quickly. Then on to Cabo Girao, the 2nd highest cape in the world at 580mts. Great views.      

We experienced the weather that Madeira is famous for - one minute hot & sunny, the next cool and cloudy, then average elsewhere. It can change from one village to the next - but no rain so that was fine with us. We were then all taken back to our hotels.

That evening we walked down to the harbour and had an excellent meal on the Vagrant, the Beatles one time yacht, starting off with champagne cocktails. It was a good way to spend our last night in Funchal's town, finishing with a romantic moonlight walk back to our hotel (we were usually back before dark!).

19th July

We packed up and checked out and were picked up by Juan who took us up to the Choupana Hills Resort. It takes about 15 minutes and is a very steep journey, unbeloved by Style reps! And I don't blame them. Although we were early, we were greeted very warmly and given fresh fruit juice whilst checking in. The resort is out of this world, extremely classy and 5* all the way. It has an oriental air and if you check out the website (put your sound on) you will see what I mean. It really does look exactly like it says. There are only 64 rooms, housed in semi-detached bungalows in the grounds. Ours was at the foot of the resort and there were lots of steps. You can ask for buggies to get you around but that seemed like cheating so I prepared to get fitter! There are indoor and outdoor pools, the outdoor one having a 'razor edge' on two sides, very unusual and effective, and a spa. There are lots of staff, all very friendly and helpful and everywhere is very spacious. The views over Funchal were incredible. 

We spent several hours by the pool, relaxing and observing everywhere. To be honest, at that point we felt a bit intimidated. We're not used to places quite that luxurious and with that level of service and I felt as though we didn't quite belong. It also seemed to be full of extremely good looking people - and older men with TWs (trophy wives!) I'm glad to say that we soon settled in and the next day felt much more comfortable. 

That evening we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and it was superb. Far more expensive than anywhere else, but far superior. In fact the food was some of the best I've ever had. Absolutely delicious, beautifully cooked, presented and served. Excellent wine too. I could see our credit card taking a huge bashing this second week.

20th July

We had an excellent breakfast - the pastries are to die for - and then thought we would walk some of it off by tackling the levada that goes right through the resort. We walked to Monte and then back, a total of nearly 12km. It's a pretty levada, with flowers alongside for the first part. It was a very hot day and a relief when we reached some shade. Most of the walk follows the levada, and some of it is very hairy indeed. if you don't have a head for heights, don't tackle this one!  There were sheer drops of several hundreds of feet, mostly totally unprotected and the path was often no more than 2 feet wide. If you look closely at the photo on the right, you can see this - the very thin wire fence was an unusual concession to the drop and not found everywhere.

At one point you come to a tunnel and leave the levada, going through a wooded area. It's lovely but went steeply down so I wasn't much looking forward to the return journey, and it was very hot. We were in Monte after 90 minutes and had a wander around but had seen it all before. After a beer, we came back, with a number of stops to get my breath back! It seemed less vertiginous coming the other way and we arrived back at Choupana a little quicker. 

That evening there was a cocktail party, free drinks and nibbles. At the prices they charge for drinks, not to be sniffed at. Then another superb dinner. The hotel runs a courtesy minibus service into Funchal but the last one comes back at 7.30 so if you want to eat elsewhere, you have to take the taxi fares into account (€15 each way between hotel and town I think). In any case, this food was so good we decided it was worth the cost.                                                

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