Madeira 8

So the next morning Emilio came to get me for a day tour (emiliotaxitours.com). I had known prices for day trips from a friend who had done them many years ago and was surprised that Emilio still takes the same prices even though everything got more expensive. And I paid a bit less because I was alone, for more people he takes a higher price but when people split the price it is much less expensive. And that is something I am really grateful for. You don’t find that way of thinking a lot.
We went to Canico first to the statue of Cristo Rei. It was a nice view and from there I could see the three cruise ships in the harbor of Funchal. Honestly – three big cruise ships on a relatively small island is not my kind of thing. And whenever we stopped – even on less frequented roads – three minutes later a bus full of tourists would stop there as well. I probably don’t have to mention that I didn’t really like that. Close to the Cristo-statue is a lost place – former swimming pool. I have seen lots of lost places all over Madeira. Some are even for sale.
From there we went to Miradoura da Ponta do Rosto again. It is a nice place – I like it there. From there we went to Porto da Cruz where I had been on the rocks a few days earlier but I hadn’t visited the rum distillery. So I went to have a look. I expected a showcase with sales of rum but they didn’t sell any there. Maybe I missed the shop (I don’t drink rum so I didn’t check).
We took an old road to Faial from there and stopped along the way. The standard view along the coasts of Madeira are always steep cliffs. In Faial for once we were alone at the old fort (Fortim do Faial) – no other tourists.. yeehaaaawww . 🙂 😀 From there we continued to Santana where Emilio let me out of the car at the oldest typical house they have in Santana. An old gentleman invited me in and had me try coffee liquor which was very good by the way. I could have a look around and asked where the old lady (his mother was). Emilio had told me that she would be there but she is probably too old and frail by now. Her son tried to tell me about her with a translating app on his mobile phone but the translations were a desaster. 😀 When I got back to the car Emilio had bought me ‚bola de berlim‘. I know that kind of pastry but not with so much vanilla custard. Yumm…. 🙂 Then we went into Santana village from where I had seen pics of the typical triangle houses. Not sure what I had expected but for sure not four of them built for tourists and rarely any other.
Next stop was a hotel where most busses stop to have something to eat. There was a nice small garden and I went to have a look at the plants. The day started to be very long and I got tired. So we finally agreed on a last stop that I wanted to see and that was the port of Camara do Lobos close to Funchal. We went there and I found MY boat there… the Andreia (that is the portuguese version of my name). 😉 After that we returned to Funchal, I had a small bite to eat and went to sleep….