Today we had two options for excursions. One group visited the National Botanical Gardens, a local handicraft market, and a Madeiran winery. The second excursion first went to a scenic viewpoint near the top of the second highest point of the island. En route, we first traveled through the capital town of Funchal and then quickly gained elevation on the windy roads above the city. At almost every turn there were spectacular views of the city and the harbor. Within 30 minutes of leaving the ship we were about 2000 ft. above the harbor and the vegetation had changed from lovely gardens around the homes to an open forest of trees. At this elevation the clouds began to form and our view was obstructed. As we approached Pico do Arieiro the trees and shrubs had disappeared leaving only a grassy savannah. As we prepared to get out of the bus the clouds parted and we could see that for the most part we were actually above most of the main cloud cover. The views of the rugged, walled valleys cutting down into the island were astounding. We walked around the top, taking in the beautiful scenery of Madeira and the Atlantic Ocean surrounding the island. Amazingly the clouds again returned to form a thick fog around us just as we boarded the bus.
For the rest of the morning we walked along one of the famous levadas of Madeira. Over 1000 miles of these small irrigation channels weave around the island. Many of them have paths along the edges. These gently sloping paths allowed us to see some of the native laurel silva forest and also some of the endemic birds such as the Laurel Pigeon and subspecies of the Tenerife Firecrest. Our appetites were sated with a very nice meal at a small local cafe where we were treated with a vocal performance. As a finale we heard some of the famous Portuguese Fado.
