We set off on time and picked up six novice guides - they were a bit late. Our guide is Carla. She told us that 110,000 people live in Funchal, which is half the island population.We stopped at Cabo Girão to see the view and look down at the cliffs and terraces from 600 metres - the highest cliffs in Europe. I bought two postcards and an extra stamp for Australia. Along the route we saw the ubiquitous mimosa trees with their yellow flowers. We also saw young sugar cane plants, and we walked through a banana plantation.
Next we went on to Ribeira Brava or wide river. It flooded its banks in 2010. We had to make an advance lunch choice of fish, pork or omelette and we opted for the fish. In the small town of Ribeira Brava we visited the church with its famous nativity scene which was still in place. We took several photos of the wooden figures. Then we had a coffee at a place near the sea, before boarding the bus again.We drove on through Ponta do Sol, a warm village where they grow orchids and bananas. We had time to walk up through a banana plantation and heard all about the lives of the growers and the life cycle of the banana plant. There are no banana diseases in Europe, we were relieved to hear.
In the sea at Calheta we also noted the nets for farming sea bream, sea bass and dorade. Further on we noticed the yellow sandy beaches, the sand was imported from Morocco. Then we headed inland into the hills; it was raining. We went higher up and noticed the levadas or irrigation channels providing level walkways alongside. We heard that Madeira suffered bad forest fires in 2016. We reached an altitude of 1300 metres before descending. It was foggy and rainy.We learnt about the native plants including mimosa, agapanthus and hydrangea - only the mimosa was in flower in January. We also noted the silver laurel trees.
We headed downhill to Porto Moniz on the most northerly point on the west coast of Madeira., and we had a sociable lunch at Restaurant Cachelote, where we shared a table with a cheery Scottish couple. After the meal, we studied the spectacular volcanic rock formations.
We headed down the coast easterly towards Seixal, where they used the flowers to decorate the village for a festival. Then we headed back across the island to the south coast, and called in at Camera de Lobos, where we saw the church of S. Sebastian and its chapel of the Lady of the Conception and tasted a poncha or punch drink made from orange and lemon juice with honey and white rum.
We arrived back at our hotel at 5.30. In the bar, it was Happy Hour where we had room for a small glass of medium dry madeira. At dinner, we tasted the squid rings along with a red JP Azeitao Syrah Castelao Aragonez 2017.
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