21st July

We'd booked another tour with Juan, this time to the eastern part of the island and we started off by heading up to the Terreiro da Luta to see the Madonna, a large statue with a rosary made from the anchor chains of ships torpedoed in the harbour. It seemed to be a place of pilgrimage with flowers and candles, and a couple of barefooted people praying at her feet. Then we went on to Pico de Arriero, where we'd almost got onto the wrong walk the week before. This has to be one of my favourite places on earth, marred only by all the people visiting. It's the highest part of the island accessible by road and second highest point in all (1810m). And the views are breathtaking. There was a duo playing Andean pipes and it really added to the atmosphere. I felt we could have been in South America rather than Madeira. 

Then we drove to Ribeiro Frio where we had a short walk through a wood and visited a trout farm, with trout of all sizes in pools scattered around a pretty garden. From there we walked along a short levada in dappled shade to Balcoes, with its lovely views (see below). We'd built up a thirst by then and stopped for lunch at the Casa da Cha do Faial, an old teahouse now restaurant. It was huge, catering for a large number of people on coach trips. We ate another traditional dish, tomato soup with poached egg in it. Then on to Santana, the village famed for its A framed thatched houses called palheiros. There aren't too many left now but the government has built 2 in order to retain the tourist attraction! And we also visited a 'private' one and had a look inside and were given coffee liqueur by the owner. Our final stop was at Camacha where we visited a vast wickerwork factory. We watched the craftsmen at work and were amazed at the wonderful things on sale. Very hard to transport them home though - and so much cheaper than here. We had arranged to attend a bird watching evening back at the hotel so declined a walk round town and set off back to Choupana. It had been a fascinating tour and we had now seen a great deal of Madeira.

We had a short rest before the bird watching which was a slide show and talk followed by a walk around the gardens looking for birds. Sadly, there were only 3 of us plus the 2 representatives form Madeira Windbirds. We didn't see many birds but it was an interesting insight, nevertheless. Since we'd had some lunch, we decided to have room service rather than eat in the restaurant. We had Caesar salads with prawns but it wasn't nearly as nice as everything else we ate here. Disappointing.

22nd July

We spent the day relaxing by the pool. It was quite cloudy which was in fact quite a relief as we're not big sun worshippers. We also tried out the Turkish steam bath which was great - but very hot. Back to the restaurant for dinner and it was fantastic as always.

23rd July

We had our 2nd walk with Madeira Explorers booked for today, details below.

Hidden Corners (São Jorge) - Herbal and Medicinal Plants
This walk situated in the beautiful valleys of São Jorge will take you into the lushest places to be found on the island. Walk through Madeira's rain forest and experience the profusion of herbs and medicinal plants that abound in these valleys, and at the same time learn about the healing properties of these ancient remedies. Walk through or behind a waterfall and arrive at a true paradise on earth. The sheer beauty of this place where the silence reigns supreme, will take your breath away. It is without description. This is truly a mystical paradise from where you will have difficulty leaving. A place that you will want to come back again and again. Not to be missed (very slight possibility of vertigo).
Difficulty Grade: 2 - Easy walk
Walking Time: approx. 4.5 hours
Distance: 13 Km

It was a long drive to get there with lots of delays due to road building but finally we arrived at a café and met up with the rest of the group. There's always a loo/coffee stop at the start of the walks. We were a large group of 15, led by Arvro, a leader with a great sense of humour and much knowledge. Apart from some steps at the beginning it was virtually flat, along a levada to its source and back again. We had lots of stops to hear about the different plants and their medicinal uses, which was fascinating. There were some steep drops but it wasn't nearly as dangerous as our walk to Monte although some of the group didn't like it very much. And hot too - so walking through the waterfall near the end was very welcome! On the way back Arvro gathered laurel sticks for the espetadas on their Sunday walk. He told us about the walk, a full day one, advertised as grade 4 and difficult in our leaflet, and at 18kms longer than any we had tackled before. But it sounded wonderful and we decided we'd have a go and signed up for it. We seemed to be getting our 'Madeira legs' so hoped we'd be OK. At the end of this walk, we stopped again for welcome beer, always a good ending to a great walk. 

That night we tried the Discovery menu, a blow-out one of many courses and including several glasses of wine. We'd walked for hours, we deserved it! I haven't been mentioning specific food we ate here but this one deserves a mention. Each meal was preceded by an 'amuse bouche' (an appetiser) and lovely bread. Tonight's was small glasses of avocado soup. Then duck foie gras with pineapple chutney, toast & salad, with Madeira wine. Next up was coconut and truffle soup, then red grape granita. A glass of white wine came along together with lobster in a kilner jar! Lots of it, in a creamy sauce, no shell, all cut into pieces. Red wine with the next course - veal medallions with vegetable tian and banana. Followed by more Madeira wine and a selection of desserts, then tea or coffee with more delicious tidbits. Phew, and not very pc either! At €65 each it was not bad value, considering what we had. What we discovered however, that it was actually rather too much! 

24th July

It was very hot today and we had a day of relaxation planned, sunbathing, reading, Turkish bath, swimming. Martyn had a full body massage and I had full reflexology (feet, hands, head). Very good. Instead of dinner we had afternoon tea in the lounge , trying out Choupana's own blend of tea which was the best I have ever tasted. 

25th July

We were up at 7am and it was already baking hot, rather like standing under a hairdryer when we went out for breakfast. It was well over 30 degrees when we were picked up for our long walk by the Madeira Explorers team. We were a small group, 5, plus 2 guides (Arvro as before) and Nelson who was learning the route and our driver/cook Daniel. We were to walk halfway and meet up with him for our espetada barbecue. This walk isn't mentioned on the website but is described in the leaflet as 'Exploring the West' and tends to be offered to clients who have already walked with the group. The barbecue is the same price as their picnic (€7) and is considerably better! We started out at Paul da Serra (where we'd been on our jeep safari) and walked towards the centre of the island. We started by following a levada, uphill. Not too steep at that point. The views were stunning but it was hazy and we could see some small fires in the distance. We passed a lot of burnt shrubbery. We had quite a lot of uphill walking and it was extremely hot. We saw several buzzards and a kestrel whilst on the side of the mountain. We passed lots of mountain waterfalls and were able to keep refilling our water bottles. We drank litres and litres of it that day. What a beautiful drink. After the levada, the walking got tougher, relentlessly uphill and sometimes quite rough ground. I found the last half hour extremely tough going, not helped by the heat. But I made it - just - although I wasn't sure I'd manage the second half of the walk. We were high up too, which probably didn't help. 

The barbecue was held at one of the special picnic spots found on the island. They have indoor barbecues, to stop risk of fire spreading. It was a festival day so there were many families sharing the area. Daniel did us proud, we had huge chunks of steak on the laurel sticks collected on our earlier walk, lots of mixed salad, potatoes and bread, washed down with a sort of sangria (red wine and orangeade). I stuck to orange and water though as my head was aching from the exertions of the walk! But it went and after a brief consultation, I was assured the rest of the walk was flat and downhill and felt able to continue. We walked in the woods this time, much cooler, following the levada and with the customary lethal drops on the other side. We cooled off in more waterfalls and looked out over even more fantastic views. It was quite tough going, potentially lots of chances to fall so we had to watch our feet all the time. It was also very steep going down at times but I could manage that OK. We arrived back at the minibus at 5pm, pretty tired, very dirty, and feeling fantastic. I was so glad I hadn't given up.

We had a lovely final dinner at the hotel. It had been a great day and a wonderful holiday.

26th July

Time to go home, after a leisurely day sitting around at the hotel. We went to the airport in the afternoon and were pleased that our request to the Style rep for more leg room on the plane had been acted upon and we had emergency exit seats which made the return journey much more comfortable.

This holiday was superb and lived up to, in fact exceeded, all our expectations. Splitting the time between 2 very different hotels was a good idea and in fact it felt like 2 different holidays. I would recommend both hotels highly. The Porto Santa Maria was in a great location for the city of Funchal. The Choupana Hills is very special and would be a perfect honeymoon destination but isn't so well situated if you want to spend a lot of time in the city. The Madeirense were lovely people, always very friendly and helpful to us and the actual island is very beautiful. I think the high points were the walks we did; we really felt we were getting to know the country in a way you can't do unless you're on foot. We would like to visit again, perhaps at a different time of year, mainly to walk some more of these wonderful levadas and other trails. 

LINKS

Style Holidays    Magic Breaks    Hotel Porto Santa Maria    Choupana Hills Spa & Resort   Madeira Tourism    Madeira Island  Madeira Explorers  Monte Palace Garden    Orchid Garden    Madeira Birds