Casa de Cha, Faial

All this sight-seeing makes you hungry and we fully appreciated a delicious lunch at Casa de Cha, Faial

These two tile murals were outside the restaurant

and the views were amazing

with vivid blooms everywhere.

Santana

With such a great name we were expecting fantastic things with the small town of Santana. The Madeirans are very proud of their original thatched roof cottages in this part of the island. However the houses we saw were definitely a very sanitised version of how the people used to live: more like Disney than real!

Love the heather-wood fencing though - you see this style all over the island.

Porto da Cruz

Back onto the northern coast and to the town which was our destination after the levada walk. This time we explored the other side of Eagle's Rock and you can see how dramatic the coast is in both directions. 

Young lovers,

or a more composed couple,

or even a lizard!

A lovely view of the town from the headland.

Ribeiro Frio

Next stop was Ribeiro Frio (Cold River)

where we visited a trout farm

and wandered a short way along this very popular levada walk.

The rains came (well, it IS sub-tropical)

but that didn't stop us sampling the local 'poncha' at 10.30 am,

a white rum, orange juice and honey mix. Saude!

Another day, another coach trip!

And you thought holidays were to relax? Well I suppose I DO spend the rest of the year relaxing! An early rise once again to set off on our tour of the eastern side of the island, different but equally beautiful.

One of the pick-ups was on the waterfront of Funchal: the pirates didn't join the tour

and this fisherman had the world to himself.

First stop was Camacha, famed for its wicker cottage industry

The church at Camacha

Our guide wanted to show us the Pico do Areeiro, Madeira's 3rd highest mountain. The weather thought otherwise

but we eventually saw the peak (nearly)!

Camera de Lobos

Having little success finding a restaurant we tried to work out the local bus timetable to take us to neighbouring Camera de Lobos, eventually getting there in a very rickety taxi! Camera de Lobos wasn't as attractive as we thought when we passed through a couple of days earlier but we still enjoyed strolling around, eventually finding somewhere to eat.

The sun setting behind the girls.

The town is surrounded by banana plantations, high up into the hills.

Fancy living 'close to the edge'?

The fishing harbour was lovely in the disappearing light.

A do-it-yourself steak on a hot slate for me and three hand picked fish dishes for the others put an end to our hunger. Later we waited at a bus stop to return to Funchal until a less rickety taxi stopped for us!

Evening walk

We decided to walk westwards along the coast, hopefully to find somewhere to eat.

Meanwhile Tine & I got our feet wet

whilst Les

and Jim posed in front of a rocky outcrop

later seen  as a ceramic mural.

Along the way this strange building, almost church-like,

man-made

and natural swimming pools.

There were colours everywhere

and a beautiful sunset-to-be!