Hike in Madeira
March 16, 2023
Arturs Laizans
It was a lucky coincidence that we went to Madeira.
Our friends Kristaps and Signe were spending a few weeks there in January as a workation kinda thing. They were escaping the cold and dark winter of Latvia. We were also invited to join them for at least a week. But we were on the fence for the whole of December about whether we should go.
"Will it be warm enough?"
"How many holidays will we have to take?"
"Aren't roads too winding there?"
In the end, we rejected the offer and decided not to go.
That would be the end of the story, and it would be hardly possible to call it a story at all, if not for Ryanair drastically lowering their prices for those flights and us failing to pass on such a bargain.
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Landing in Madeira, we were soon greeted by many friendly but reserved locals living their daily lives. Life seemed on pause compared to our home city Brussels.
Madeirense people were enjoying a breath of warm summerlike evening breeze. Townsfolk savored the low tourism season, and we happily joined them.
Indeed life in Funchal seemed so easy and idyllic. If winters are so warm and summers are not much hotter, what else would a person need? I contemplated becoming a gardener and living peaceful life in Madeira.
Local cuisine mainly consists of locally sourced ingredients, those being fish and fruit. Of course, we had plenty of those during our trip. They also have local sweet liquor called Poncha. It is very popular and is made with lemon or orange juice, honey, and rum. You can get it form such bars on wheels and we had to try one.
Yes! Madeira has palms! Every vacation destination that has palms earns definite thumbs up 👍 from me.
So we went on a hike. Multiple hikes actually. I would say that it is the most popular activity on this island - go on a hike and take pictures. And so we did.
The views are truly breathtaking. Every turn reveals a new "Ahh..." or "Oh!", or "Wow". Kristaps who is an aspiring landscape photographer was very happy there and was shooting away like there was no tomorrow.
And sometimes there is no tomorrow. The weather in Madeira is changing rapidly. We had to adapt our plans a few times. If it was too cloudy in high mountains, we just climbed down a couple hundred meters.
We also met quite a bunch of "wild" animals. Mountain cows and bulls munching away grass next to roads on mountainous terrain. This one was one of a group of twenty or so other cows. At one point I found myself alone and surrounded by them. So I did the only thing I could think of in that moment - shoot.
Climbing up and down the mountains, admiring the views, enjoying the warmth and sun. Being on holidays is no easy job. Rest stops are much appreciated and having such a scenic panoramas is a sin to skip them.
OK, I will spill a secret. Me and Evelina, I would consider us a moderately active travelers. Meaning, we like to see and do stuff, but we also like to chill - on a beach, next to a pool or in a restaurant. Madeira in January doesn't provide many "chill in a beach" opportunities. This ladder out of the natural pool would probably be much more appreciated in the summer months.
I will leave you with this double exposure. Which I like, but is also not true. Evelina usually is not that spiky, but rather lovely and sweet. The same could be told about Madeira even in January. Yes, it can be rainy. Yes, it can be windy. But mostly it is very pleasant.
Don't trust everything you see on the internet, especially weather forecast in Madeira. 🙂
All pictures are taken with Canon EOS 500 film camera shot on Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400 or Fujifilm Superia 200.