Madeira - Christmas 2003
Spent Christmas 2003 in Madeira, staying at the Aparthotel Belo Sol, a reasonable self catering hotel just above the Lido, 1.5 miles outside the centre of Funchal, in the middle of the tourist district. The rooms were quite large, with a good balcony, small unheated pool. The staff, indeed all the people in Madeira we met, were very friendly and professional. The holiday was organised by Madeira Travel / Air Travel Corporation who booked us on scheduled flights and organised the airport transfer, and was a lot better than getting a package holiday.
We were on the outskirts of Funchal, the island's main town of 100,000 people. A pleasant town, but not the reason why you'd come to Madeira.
The first main walk we did was into 'Nuns Valley'. We caught a bus which took us high into the hills above Funchal, and dropped us off at Eira do Serrado, a lookout into Nuns Valley. We then had a leisurely 1 hour 30 minutes walk down to the town of Curral das Freiras and the bus back.
The next day we did a 3 hour walk from Marocos to Machico following a levada through terraced agricultural fields. This was one of the easier walks in the Sunflower Book which lists over 40 walks all over Madeira and is essential if you want a walking holiday in Madeira.
On the Wednesday we did the big walk - between Pico do Arieiro and Pico Ruivo - the highest peak on the island at 1862m. This was the highlight of the holiday for us, and takes you through some spectacular scenary in the centre of the island.
We did the walk with Madeira Explorers / Strawberry World who take you up there, gave you a walking stick, a guide to lead you, and pick you up at the other end.
A very strenuous walk, lots of ups and downs, at one point you have several hundred metres to climb, but the path had a wire fence for most of the time so it wasn't dangerous as such.
Towards the end of the walk you get views over the north east of the island, with clouds covering the lower slopes.
We also did walks from Monte (the destination of the Cable Car from Funchal) following the levada through to Camacha, and a wonderful walk from Riberio Frio to Portela, following a much older levada.