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Madeira - Waterways & FlowersBy Carole Gallagher
We flew into Funchal, the capital, from where it is just a 15-minute taxi journey into the area known by some as the 'homelands' and characterised by rolling green hills, pastures and wine merchants' elegant summer houses. Here, our first hotel was in the small, genteel town of Santo da Serra. What struck me most about the hotel was the tranquillity. The atmosphere was very restful, and the gardens and lounges very inviting. It's the sort of place that makes you realise that finally you really are on your long-awaited holiday. After a very good night's sleep and a generous buffet breakfast, we headed out the next morning on a circular walk. We started with a short road section, then joined the Levada Nova, the first of many levadas that we were to follow across the south-eastern corner of the island on our week-long journey to the south coast. It was a quite liberating feeling to be able to stow our map and walking notes away in our knapsack, the water channel proving a far superior guide to even the best waymarking system. The levadas may have been built to serve a very practical function (carrying water from the wetter northern part of the island to irrigate the drier south), but with their grassy paths and beautiful flowers (hydrangeas, African lilies, honeysuckle, wild fuchsias and agapanthus, to name but a few) it's quite easy to forget that! Every so often there would be a break in the trees, revealing glimpses of the sea, and we finished the day with a pleasant section across lush glades with good views of the rolling hills beyond.
At Camacha, we stayed in the centre at the Estalagem Relogio, a 3-star hotel which feels typically Madeiran. Its café attracts locals and visitors alike, and it proved the perfect place to relax and enjoy a spot of people-watching after our walk. Our next day's route, shorter than the previous day's, once more followed the picturesque Levada da Serra, leading through denser woods of pine and eucalyptus trees before emerging into rugged moorland. At the end of the levada, we descended into greener scenery to join the Levada de Tornos which, unlike some of the levadas the holiday follows, is actually still used for irrigation and is therefore is deeper and fuller. We followed this only for a short way, about three kilometres, before descending into the valley and rising once more to Monte and the most luxurious of all the accommodation on the holiday, the 5-star Quinta de Monte. What can I say? It is an absolute delight, and two nights there was not enough. The setting is superb, high above Funchal with views to the sea. During the day, the luxuriant gardens are filled with visitors from Funchal strolling around or sitting at tables sipping tea (our own stay here was to do the opposite - to visit Funchal), but in the evenings a wonderful peace and stillness descends. At dinner, you are made to feel like minor royalty - the waiters, all in bow ties and crisp, ankle-length aprons, pour your wine and attend to your every need.
It was with some regret that we left the quinta the following morning. The walk started with a taxi transfer across the valley, after which we set off along the Levada do Norte. Once again, the scenery was different to other days - we now found ourselves walking through the vineyards that produce the grapes for the famous Blandy wines, as well as clusters of houses, some of which could be seen making the most of their proximity to the levada to siphon off water for their own colourful, well-tended gardens. There are a couple of options for your walk, but if you have a head for heights I would recommend doing as we did and following the levada all the way to Cabo Girao, the site of some of the tallest sea cliffs in the world. The cliffs are, in fact, just under 500 metres high, making for some pretty breathtaking views. We stayed there a while taking it all in, then took a taxi (of which there are always plenty at the cape) back into the mountains to our last hotel. The Quinta de Monte is a hard act to follow, but the Jardim da Serra, another 5-star quinta, can at least boast the best restaurant of the week. The holiday features two nights here so that, after four days of levada walking, you can finish with a completely different day's walking in the wonderfully remote-feeling mountains behind the coast. A great end to a great week of walking. Other Travel DiariesTo read about the experiences of other members of staff on their Inntravel holidays, visit our travel diaries archive.  |
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I had of course read the guide books, all of which describe 
The next day, we left our suitcases in reception and set off towards our next hotel. This time our guide was the Levada da Serra, which we reached after a short walk along a forest trail. You'd be forgiven for thinking that all levadas are the same, but that is not the case, especially as the scenery around you changes too as you progress west. I found the Levada da Serra to be extremely pretty, surrounded by laurels and lots and lots of flowers - far more, in fact, than any other levada on the holiday because it is much less used. The path was wide and pleasantly springy underfoot, and in fact the walk turned out to be one of my favourites of the holiday - it was just so relaxing, with a profusion of wild daisies and ever-changing views as we contoured the hillsides, sometimes heading into forested valleys, at others southwards towards the sea.
You could walk down to Funchal, but it's pretty steep, so we took the cable car instead, which departs from just outside the hotel and takes you right down to the old quarter by the sea. After three days of walking, it made a pleasant change to spend the day strolling through Funchal's streets lined with colonial houses, gazing up every now and again to the mountains which form an amphitheatre around the capital. We called into the wine museum (a must if you like Madeira's fortified wine), and also visited the cathedral, the bustling fruit market and the English church before returning to the hotel by cable car to do as the other visitors and relax in the gardens and take a dip in the indoor pool.