Madeira

[Ay Ay Ron]

Spent a week with the wife there last week and I must say that is really is a beautiful Island. We stayed just out of Funchal which seemed a decent base for getting around.

The Island apparently has 27 micro climates which helps with the variety of plants there, and its no surprise that there are a lot of gardens. Anyway. Here's a selection from the trip.

Loads of these around!

Local by A_Cro, on Flickr

Cable car to the Tropical gardens, decent views.

Cable car views by A_Cro, on Flickr

Free flow by A_Cro, on Flickr

Fly by A_Cro, on Flickr

Daisies by A_Cro, on Flickr

Went on a couple of excursions, one to the west of the island, up over the mountains and along to the coasts, A sunset & Stargazing tour which was brilliant but would have been so much better if there was a new moon, not a full one) and a guided walk through the Levadas.

Sunset & Stargazing. Unfortunately, the sunset wasn't great but the ride up in a defender was worth it!

Sunset long exposure by A_Cro, on Flickr

Sunset by A_Cro, on Flickr

Stars by A_Cro, on Flickr

Above the clouds by A_Cro, on Flickr

Under the dome by A_Cro, on Flickr


West coast.

Another village by A_Cro, on Flickr

On top by A_Cro, on Flickr

Glass floor. 851 meter drop.

851 meters by A_Cro, on Flickr

Tides by A_Cro, on Flickr

Rocks by A_Cro, on Flickr

And a couple from the Levada walk.

Steps by A_Cro, on Flickr

On and on by A_Cro, on Flickr

Flutter by A_Cro, on Flickr

More on my Flickr stream, and I've got some panoramic's to stitch this week.

 

[brisa4984]

lovely pictures.

just got back 3 weeks ago having popped the question there near pico areiro.

picture 6 to the right. a pink house. our family house is close to that.

how was the flight

 

[McGherkin]

Nice airport there. Well, unusual.

OT, really good pictures

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Cheers and congrats! Our flight was fine although I'm finding out I suffer with my sinuses when landing! A couple of her friends flew out on Tuesday and had to land on Porto Santo, go back up, try again and if failed, would have had to spend the night in Tenerife.

Where your family house is is lovely and the views are cracking! We were talking to a couple of cyclists at the view point and they had ridden from Funchal! Mental! We went to Pico Areiro for the star gazing. Superb!

Cheers McGherkin. Yeah it's different! Apparently the 7th worse airport to land at.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Wot ?

No star trails....?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Lol. We weren't even up there an hour and the wife wanted to use my lens for half of it.
If (more than likely when) we go back I'll be hiring a car and going up there for a good few hours when there's no moon.

 

[Niall]

Good stuff, I especially like the star photos. It's something I need to try but it’s difficult when I rarely go to a non light polluted area.

 

[James28]

I'm thinking of going there with the missus at the end of September.
More specifically here:
http://www.hotelthevine.com/en/hotel-overview.html
http://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/the-vine.en-gb.html

Any tips for madeira itself? Is it easy to get around the Island, plenty of nice beaches?

Edit: Just been reading up, doesn't seem to be the place to go for beaches!

 

[brisa4984]

10 years ago it was proper tricky.
Back then roads were so steep that reverse gear was required to drive up Roads are piss easy now. It has a highway so its dead easy to see the island but i recommend driving around it, enjoy the sights rather than diving through it.
People are sweet, rarely a troublesome or confrontational society.
Places to stay - Funchal or its out skirts.
Hire a tdi - you will need the torque.
Drink - try various madeiran wines, ponche, nikita at bar 12 and poiso.
Eat - casa santo antonio a restaurant in Est camara de lobos for traditional meet on a stick food.
Visit - paul de serra, ribeira frio, pico ariero, for some beautiful site above clouds. Visit Santana for traditional architecture and drink fresh gushing mineral water from rocks beside the road (love this)
Pick up a tourist leaflet for the up coming church saint parties and go and enjoy the music, food.
beaches - Machico and cancela beach are man made yellow sand beaches imported from the Sahara. Canical is a natural yellow sand beach. the Rest are pebble, stones. the water is f**king freezing, it is the atlantic though.
s**t loads of water sports to enjoy also.

september is a hit an miss time to go with regards to the weather.
May - Mid september the weather is proper nice.

 

[brisa4984]

 

[thegadget_777]

My mom is from Madeira! Haven't been there for 14 years, great pictures!

 

[ilovewilly]

I went into a bakery the other day as I fancied something sweet.

I noticed a nice looking cream cake so I asked the price. "A pound."

How about this large cinnamon whirl? "A pound. Everything you see here is a pound"

Superb. I'll go for this one in the corner. "£2.50 please."

You said everything is a pound? "Ah yes, but that's Madeira cake".

 

[SharkyUK]

I came in here looking for cake... but the photos will do I 'spose.

Nice set mate, cheers

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Cheers guys. Loved the place, definitely one I'll go back to and be able to do completely different things.