Gloriadventure

         Faro do Arnel (Nordeste)         Day 6 was about setting off to the farthest point on the island so far. Nordeste is a town situated, by no surprise, in the "Northeast" of the Sao Miguel island. We visited here the Lighthouse of Arnel or Faro do Arnel which is the oldest lighthouse in Azores, operating since 26 November 1876. Here we met the clearest and bluest water on the island, and also the hottest air.          To go to the lighthouse you need to go down on a winding and steep paved road. There is a parking lot where you can leave your car since going down by car "is not recommended". My boyfriend was not scared by this sign and accepted the challenge. I was too slow to stop him and once he entered the road there was no going back. The road was so steep that it was enough space in A SINGLE CURVE to build up a house. At one point we were heading to a curve where I could see straig...

          In our second day we went for a walk…for like…the whole day. It was cardio day mostly 😅.  But it was a great opportunity for us to see more of this beautiful city.          The first destination was Jardins do Palacio de Cristal. Being autumn, you can imagine we couldn’t find so much of a flowery-green-garden, but for that time of the year, it was still pretty colorful and neat. We had the pleasure to meet a family of peacocks walking freely in the garden 💙. Since the garden climbs up a hill, there are different spots for landscapes of Duoro River and the other side of the city.             To continue our walk, we went then to Farolim de Felgueiras, which is “just” 5km away but it took us “only” one hour. It was a very pleasing experience and we saw many beautiful buildings on our way. Here we admired a 10m-tall lighthouse from 19 th century made out of granite. It situated rig...

          We took advantage of this last day in Madeira to relax in Funchal and prepare for our next stop – Porto. We spent the first part of the day sunbathing and swimming - for the first time in our trip to Portugal - in the Atlantic Ocean 🌴. As any other beach on this island, Praia Formosa was no exception for the volcanic black sand. And this time when I say sand, I really mean it, the sand was very fine here. Initially we wanted to bath at the natural pools “Piscinas Naturais da Doca do Cavacas” but the price for the entrance only was around 5€/person (adult) and we decided we do not want to spend much time here and not bath more than once.           In the afternoon we took the Funchal Cable Car up to the top of the capital. We took only a one-way ticket at the price of 11€/person (a round-trip costs 16€/pers). Before the departure of the gondola, there was a guy taking pictures of the people inside it and at the top ...

          Since we didn’t succeeded to visit Fanal Forest on our 3 rd day , we gave it a second chance today, but we took the risk and arrived there a little bit later than desired. Around 10:30 in the morning we arrived. There is a space that people use to park their car, but it cannot handle more than 5-6 cars. However, there was only one car there by the time we arrived. We were lucky enough to find the forest still in the fog. It was exactly how I imagined: a mistycal forest with old, weird-shaped trees. After a half an hour the fog disappeared and uncovered a beautiful green field with unique trees covered in the greenest moss. The atmosphere here was either a fairytale or a background of a horror movie 😊 ). We were so lucky to enjoy both of the sceneries.           The second stop was near Porto Moniz, at Ribeira da Janela. What I looked up to see here were the imposing rocks Ilheus da Ribeira da Janela. Since it is a...

          Today we slept longer. We wanted a day to “recover” and wander to different places. So we went to the opposite side from where we where (Funchal), in Porto Moniz, a little town situated in the north-west of the island. This place is popular for its natural pools. The seawater lava pools are naturally filled by the Atlantic Ocean’s high tide, offering a warm and safe setting to swim right through the imposing rocks. The scenery is unique and...oh man, do I love rocks so much!           Unfortunately, it was cloudy and we didn’t took a bath here. BUT, after enjoying this wonderful views, we then continued our today trip to Seixal. I was surprised, and I hope you will be too, to find out that the name of the city comes from some type of smooth stone (seixo) that is found in the rivers and this was used to describe the geomorphology of the region. And really ain’t talking s#!t; we got down to the beach (Praia do Porto d...

          We had big big plans for today. We decided to get up early in the morning at 6:30 and skip breakfast so we can arrive in time for the “Foggy Forest”. We didn’t really knew the name of “that misty forest that is always covered in fog”, but we guided ourselves from pictures we’ve seen on Google Maps. Never do this! You'll see why.           After an hour of driving we arrived in the parking lot. The temperature dropped from 20 degrees to 5 degrees. I was wearing just my white dress which I bought especially for this scenery: forest, old trees, fog, misty stuff, you know. I took my hoody and jacket over my fancy dress and got out of the car. We entered the path which seemed to go somewhere up on the mountain. But there were no sign of trees. There was nobody around. Only some hunters which I decided better not to go at them dressed up in a dress at 5 degrees on a mountain and ask them where the hell is the entrance to “t...

            Second day started in power. Woke up at 8, somehow left at 10. But we managed to do all the things scheduled for today, so no worries.           First stop was Ponta do Garajau. It is a smaller replica of Statue of Cristo Rei from Lisbon (you can read more about it here ). The road leading to it is only stairs, so, if taken easy, it shouldn’t be any issue to get here. The landscapes are also great and I’ve heard it is another wonderful sunset viewpoint from here.           After this we headed to today’s hike: Ponta de Sao Lourenco. It is situated in Canical, in a natural reserve, and the hike takes you to the easternmost point of the Island. According to Madeira’s hike app ( WalkMe ) the hike is a moderate one, 7,2 km long (round trip) and it should take about 2-3 hours. According to Strava’s hike monitorization, we covered 8,2 km with a moving time of 2,5 hours and 435m elev...

 (the title is not a clickbait, really)           5th of November, 8 in the morning, the plane takes off from Lisbon Airport and lands one hour and a half later on the magical lands of Madeira. At the airport exit our new rented car was waiting for us. We hopped in it, went to Auto Rent a Car to sign the papers for the rental and finally arrived at our accomodation in Funchal, the capital of the island. Because it was to early to check in, we decided to take a peak of the surroundings and eat something. After lunch, we took our room, left all our baggages and packed for today’s tour.           Being the first day and with half of the day already gone, we decided to take it easy today, see the surroundings. Of course I had a very big list of things I wanna do and see in Madeira, but 6 days weren’t enough, so I already started to tick things off my list.           First thing you notice when yo...

          *****Travel conditions*****           Given the actual situation with Covid restrictions, the entrance in Madeira is conditioned by the completion of the epidemiological questionnaire which must be filled 12 up to 48 hours before boarding in the plane.           The other documents regarding Portugal entrance, can be found here (IC / passport, Covid vaccination certificate / Covid test), or by visiting your local Ministry of Foreign Affairs site, searching Madeira.           *****Transport*****           Being an island, it’s very hard to get vehicles. Therefore, you can either reserve a car rental, or you can use the local bus.            We opted to rent a car from Auto Rent a Car just to have that flexibility that it is offering you and to have it available at our own disposal anytime we w...