Madeira, Portugal - Day 2

Saturday, February 17, 2024

We started our day in Madeira, Portugal at an airbnb on the northern side of the island. The view outside our bedroom window this morning was absolutely gorgeous! Misty clouds rolling through the sky from the sea in the distance, and white houses with orange terra cotta roofs nestled in the hillside. There are a few farm animals grazing outside our bedroom window, too; mostly baby goats making bleeting noises and birds chirping in the trees. It’s winter here so they aren’t currently blooming, but I think there’s also rose buses planted throughout the valley. I bet the lush, green landscape springs to life with color in the summertime. This house is in a beautiful location on the island, and has a big outdoor patio with overlooking views. My only gripe about this house is the musty smell of the rooms. Ugh, it makes me gag. I slept with a blanket over my head half the night to block out the stench, and every time I open a cupboard door in the kitchen I hold my breath. It’s such a shame because this airbnb is wonderful otherwise.

Andi suggested we go to the local bakery this morning for pastries. We drove to a cluster of business located five minutes away from our airbnb and found a table inside Padaria & Confeitaria Donna. As we ordered, I tried to wrap my brain around being in another new country. It continually blows me away that you can board a plane and travel to somewhere completely different in only a few hours. In Madeira, Portugal, the language and signage is in Portuguese. There were all different kinds of pastries being served at the bakery counter, and new words on the menu. Portuguese has similarities to the Spanish language, but it’s different enough that I have to take a second longer to process things.

Tory and Aden picked apple tarts for their breakfast treat. Andi ordered some sort of brown sugar pastry and an orange juice. I picked a pastel del nata which is an egg custard tart originating in Lisbon. I also wanted a coffee, but I wasn’t sure what kind, so I just said espresso … and then immediately felt badly about ordering one since Andi isn’t suppose to drink caffeine right now with his inflamed stomach and colon. Shoot. “How’s the espresso?” Andi asked me from across our bistro table, practically drooling while I sipped it.

I really liked the pastel de nata, and will definitely be ordering it again when we travel to Lisbon. It has a crispy, flaky puff pastry crust with a sweet custard filling. It was obvious that we were all still in a bit of a funk this morning. Andi still isn’t feeling 100% and both Tory and Aden were unsatisfied with their apple tarts because it had raisins in it. “It’s fine, it’s just not that great,” Tory said.

From Donna Panaria near the town of Sao Vicente, the four of us drove west along ER101 to the Véu da Noiva viewpoint. Andi found a spot to park our car in a little parking lot beside the road, and then we walked over to the lookout to see a waterfall cascading down the slope of the mountain toward the sea.

Mid-morning, this side of the island was shadowed so the colors of the landscape were a bit dark. It was a beautiful sight, though. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of waterfalls this week on the island of Madeira.

From the Novia viewpoint, we continued driving to the Fanal Forest, located on the northwestern coast of Madeira between the Seixal and Ribeira da Janela mountains. Getting to the parking lot at the top of the mountain was an adventure by itself! Roadways are very narrow in Madeira as they wind through tiny hillside towns with lots of curves and switchbacks. There are spectacular views around every turn with lush, green trees and plants alongside the roads and white stucco houses with orange-colored roofs and views of the ocean in the distance.

We arrived at Fanal Forest, and Andi found a space to park our car. I wasn’t quite sure what this place was at first — some people were wearing serious hiking gear, and there were also families with small children carrying the makings for a picnic. We came to learn that several of Madeira’s hiking trails start or intersect through the forest which explained why some people were geared up for adventure. Others, I think, were simply enjoying a sunny weekend day in nature.

As Andi, Tory, Aden, and I walked through the forest we were surrounded by trees with knotted, twisted trunks. Fanal is part of the Laurissilva forest system which has existed on Earth for millions of years. It occupies 15,000 hectares of land in Madeira, mostly in higher elevations of the northern part of the island. At one time in history, the South of Europe and parts of North Africa also had this type of forest, but changes in the climate have minimized the forest to sections remaining on sub-tropical islands like Madeira. In 1999, the Laurissilva forest was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The four of us walked through the trees until we came to a large hill that many people were climbing. Andi didn’t think he had it in him to venture to the top, and Tory flat out said she didn’t want to. Aden is always game for a challenge, so he and I huffed and puffed our way up the steep slope. From the top, we had a great viewpoint of the forest below as well as the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. Clouds were building over the water, slowly making their way toward the land.

Eventually Aden and I re-joined Andi and Tory who were laying in the grass about half-way down the hillside. The four of us sat there together for a long time, relaxing in the warm sunshine. There were people around, but it wasn’t too crowded.

Tory took the opportunity to organize her purse, providing us all with an explanation of everything she keeps in there. It was like a Mary Poppins bag filled with candy, a hairbrush, her phone and a charger block, money, and more. She let Aden hold her compact hairbrush which he, of course, dropped onto the ground. The circle brush rolled and bounced all the way to the bottom of the hillside. We all watched as Aden ran after it, bouncing his way down the hillside, too!

Clouds continued to roll in over the land which was amazing to watch from our viewpoint. A few minutes beforehand, the sky was completely clear and then suddenly we were covered by a white cloud. Aden and Tory found this fascinating, and started making themselves “disappear” as they ran down the hill into the clouds. Slowly, they’d disappear from view and then re-emerge again as they ran back up the hill.

After hanging out in the clouds for a while, we were surprised that our hair turned wet! Even Andi’s beard had water droplets on it. At times, we couldn’t see any of our surroundings except for the four of us. Then, in an instant, the clouds would dissipate and we could see views of the forest before us again.

Wow! How neat was that? Walking through the old forest /aka/ “living fossils” of the Laurissilva forest was cool, but being swept up in a cloud — incredible! The four of us really enjoyed sitting on that hillside. Andi said he was starting to get a little nauseous though, and wanted to get something to eat. It seems that small, frequent meals are what’s best for him when it comes to recovering from this bout of colitis and gastritis.

We left Fanal Forest and drove to the town of Porto Moniz, about 20 minutes away. This downtown area with shops and restaurants was busy and parking was hard to come by. Andi snagged the first spot we saw in one of the parking lots and then we walked down to the waterfront.

Porto Moniz is known for its natural pools within the volcanic rocks, but with temperatures in the low-to-mid 60’s, it was obviously too cold to swim today. Additionally, the waves of the sea were huge and unsafe for swimming anyway. The area where visitors normally walk down to the natural pools was roped off.

Our airbnb host recommended a restaurant in the Porto Moniz area, but Andi was fading fast. “This place is as good as any, right?” he said. We walked into a seaside restaurant called Dom Peixe and asked for a table for four people. The restaurant was packed with people, and the waitress didn’t seem very happy. She cleared off a table for us and took our orders for drinks and food.

Andi ordered a bowl of vegetable soup, grilled chicken, and rice. Tory and I decided to split a plate of grilled chicken as well, and also got an order of French fries. Aden went with his usual kid’s chicken tender meal. Our food was really good at Dom Peixe, but our service was terrible. Andi spent most of our time at the restaurant in the bathroom again, and I had the hardest time flagging down our waitress to ask for take-away and the check. She seemed irritated with me when I asked for his meal to be boxed up to take home.

Andi returned to the table and he really needed to leave. I ended up going up to the front counter to pay our bill which I could tell immediately wasn’t neither customary or appreciated. Our waitress said something about our table to the bartender in Portuguese, and they both laughed wildly. I’m sure it was something about us ‘dumb Americans’ and our inability to be patient. Or maybe it was the fact that we all ordered chicken in a seafood restaurant. Who knows!

Anyway, I paid our bill, got Andi’s take-away, and the four of us walked back to our car. Back at our airbnb, the kids talked to their friends on Facebook Kids Messenger and I did some blogging. Andi laid in bed for the rest of the afternoon.

That evening, we warmed up leftovers for dinner and watched a family movie together. We are not big movie people, and typically have a hard time deciding on something to watch that all four of us enjoy. Tonight, we picked Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone which seemed to be a good fit for our family.

Tomorrow, we have another day in store on the island of Madeira.