| I stayed a week on this
Portuguese volcano island located off the African coast, 900K from mainland
Portugal and 500k from Casablanca. The island has a very rich vegetation and various clima zones. At the time I was there it was one big construction site, as tons of EU-money was poring in. During this rental-car trip I was fortunate
enough to stay in very relaxing hotels: |
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View over Funchal from the Cable Car descending from Monte |
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Reid's Palace and the hotel district in Funchal |
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Typical alley in Funchal |
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The lounge in the Quinta do Monte (the other hotels were similarly nice) |
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The dining room in the Quinta do Monte |
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The church in Monte where the last emperor of Austria is buried. |
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Tobogan, a major tourist attracation |
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Cural da Freiras (Nun's valley) a secluded valley in backcountry of Funchal where in ancient times nuns fled to find shelter from pirates looting Funchal |
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Cabo Girão, with 580m vertical drop the second highest cliff in the world |
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High alpine plane (~1,600m) close to the Encumeda pass |
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Access to the Posta do Sol hotel. A true challenge to any driver. |
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Cliffs in the south-west |
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Porto Moniz with its famour rock pools |
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The old road near to Porto Moniz, only recently replaced by a tunnel |
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Camara do Lobos, a old fisihing village (any one of the very few harbors which wasn't a huge construction site) |
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Pico de Arreire (1'800m) |
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The south-east peninsual which is very dry, as it is distant from the mountains |
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On the peninsual |
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more spectacular views from the peninsual |
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Last but not least, a Levada (irrigation channel) a very typical site on Madeira and very popular for hiking along |