Seeking sun in Madeira

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Easter couldn't have come soon enough with the lack of sun and slow appearance of spring in London. We had originally booked this trip to Madeira with Adam and Myles, however they were back in Melbourne enjoying the sun there. It was an early flight, departing Gatwick at 7.10. Unfortunately the spare seat next to me was taken by someone else as easy jet had separated a family. Oh well, got the spare seat on the way back. The flight was just under 4hrs given there was a strong headwind. This of course paid dividends on the way back with just over a 3hr flight.

We were staying up in the hills surrounding Funchal at a place called Choupana Hills Resort and Spa. It offered amazing views out across the Atlantic Ocean and down to Funchal (capital). The island itself was like nothing we had seen before. Huge steep hills and mountains, with deep crevasses and gullies, very lush, almost tropical. As the clouds rolled in it felt like you may see a dinosaur. We had a very relaxing three days with late starts, massages, great seafood and lots of time to read. One of the highlights was a walk along the levada (water way), it was extremely pretty but a little hairy in places with huge drops down into the valley below. At the end of the walk we took a cable car from Monte to Funchal and had a poke around they city. It was extremely quiet and subdued. Many of the cruise ships that come in one day and out the other had already departed for the day.

We got a spot of bad weather on one of the days, but we were able to take advantage of the early afternoon before it set in. We drove across to the western side of the island for lunch next to the crashing waves. Rather dramatic coming together of water, spiralling up and twisting around before crashing over the rocks. As we drove back across the Paul da Serra viability dropped to about 20m. Luckily it cleared in evening so we were able to enjoy another wonderful sunset over the Island of Madeira. It was great to feel the sun on our face again after so long. Hopefully spring is just around the corner when we get back to London.

PHOTOS

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