Looking up to Monte

Cacti are used to create a fence below the cars.

Inside the base station

Close up of the cactus fence

When I saw this telephérique, I said "I bet that was built by Austrians" and sure enough it was. See Rancho for another by Doppelmayr

Me at ease. Teleférico in the background

Looking to the harbour with AIDAaura moored there

Looking towards Monte

Scaffold monkeys?

In 2016 August there was an extensive wildfire here. Six weeks later Frank Ardley took this view from the telephérico. The hillside is totally bare. On the left we can see things like fridges scattered on the ground. Follow the maps link and look at Google StreetView to see the lush vegetation that was there before.

Looking down to Ribeira Quinta Grande

Teleférico down cliff

looking towards Funchal

espetada is meat on a long skewer. It is brought to your table on the skewer and hung up. In this restaurant they have holes in the table and in the tablecloth to take the stand. Also visible in this picture is another Madeiran speciality milho frito - fried cornmeal cubes

looking down to the villas. The location means that the HPB site may be cool and in cloud when it is sunny in Funchal

the view from our bedroom window. Stayed in this unlikely article for all of four days until some mean-minded person said image removed - not in the UK, this article doesn't need photographs anyway.

from the clubhouse

HPB have created a path with an artificially tidy levada passing through the site. The real Levada do Norte runs nearby.

These tiny lizards scuttle over all the baclonies

HPB site at Encosta Cabo Girao

Japanese garden

Lilies grow in profusion beneath these dramatic tree ferns

top of Japanese garden

Chinese warriors

Is this the Budai

Stepping stones

Roger in silhouette

Roger in the style of Caravaggio

Looking down through the garden towards Funchal

Nymphs in alcoves

azulheos

The tallest vase in the world according to the 1992 Guinness Book of Records. 5345 mm high. Now beaten by a clay pot in Taiwan.

Aberdeen Sandra also went to Madeira see bottom of this page and other pages.

There seem to be very few dogs in Madeira and most of those we saw were asleep

Canna lilies

Spot the frogs! Who definitely knew the croaking chorus!

Crocosmia

Ancient olive tree and lavender

spare cars in the top station of the cable car

Cabo Girão from Monte

looking down from Foguete into the valley of Ribeira João Gomes with the harbour in the distance. (Image ripped off from 2867523635_f03a5bfd94.jpg found somewhere on the web.) Another view with location details

The farmer who tilled this field (by hand!) has done so within inches of a 500 metre sheer drop!

In this image (ripped off from Funchal_from_CabG.jpg found somewhere on the web) and taken at an earlier date, there seems to be some sort of edging to the field but in my pictures there is absolutely nothing!

looking to tunnel portal

looking east across the valley

See how the pine trees bend in the prevailing north east wind

Terracing up the mountainside

There is so little flat land that farmers terrace as far up the mountains as they can

pipe bringing Levada do Norte down

Wild gorse is common in the mountains. See Ulex Europaeus

Levada do Norte

The cafe at Encumeada

Roger

looking east

Roger with wind turbines behind

After the vertiginous climb up the mountains, the flat bleakness of Paúl de Serra is strangely disconcerting. Even the car looks suprised.

wind turbines looking east. See how the tops of the peaks peep over the edge of the plateau. The highest peak in the distance is the Pico Ruivo, 1862 metres and this plateau levels off at 1500 metres

Compare this picture with our one of the Paúl de Serra seen from Pico Arieiro.

Strange cacti - botanists please identify

More wind turbines

The straight road on Paúl de Serra is probably the only road which is straight for over a mile on the island

looking down from car park

Water management system? and cattle

cow resting with gorse

Looking towards Calheta? Is the smoke the sugar factory?

Woodland plant in the shade on the levada walk

The levada walk

Waterfall

Roger

Roger in silhouette

Ferns under the waterfalls

The levada path at Rabacal is wide and shaded by ancient laurel

same as link but with cloud

Capela de Nossa Senhora do Loreto. More Senhoras

Escola Basica e Secundaria da Ponta do Sol

We ate espada (several pages on madeiraisland.com), in English known as black scabbardfish (which they serve with banana!) in the seafood cafe on the rocks. The food was excellent, as are the views.

Various bridges in the British Isles are described as a "bridge over the Atlantic": see geograph.org.uk or the most famous one Clachan Bridge near Oban. This one could also claim the title

View from the cafe terrace looking west

looking up the valley

touring the caves

Roger on right

Our shadows, thrown by the spotlights, began to resemble primitive cave paintings

Roger on left

Ferns growing under the spotlights

lapilli is a generic term so it is no surprise that this stuff looks nothing like the pretty white balls we found on Fuerteventura

approach to

grounds of

Roger hidden by the Pride of Maderia plants

Nossa Senhora da Saúde. More Senhoras

Domestic details - there are few supermarkets. All Madeirans seem to grow food and flowers, whether it is in a few fields or in pots on the steps.

This combination of palms and misty peaks is typical of the north coast.

in Laranjal, seen from Lameiros

Restoration of the Chapel of Our Lady of Fátima. Apparently this hill is called the Pico da Cova. More Senhoras

The road along the north coast is now mostly through tunnels. Read how the arid thirsty Canarians looked enviously on this abundance of water

Whereas the sea on the south coast was quite calm, the power of the Atlantic is obvious on the north coast. It could almost be a different ocean.

looking back into the village (Image ripped off from somewhere on the web.)

(Image ripped off from somewhere on the web.) Not actually sure of location but looks like the old road from São Vicente to Seixal

This was our only rainy day, but we were glad to find out what it is like in the north when wet Atlantic weather closes in.

See the banks of nasturtiums cascading down the cliff

fishing boat

cafes

sunset

Roger was not pleased when the waiter grabbed his camera - probably worried that he would drop it

View over Funchal

Strange structure - we thought it might be a takoff runway for the "mad German hang gliders" described to us by a local taxi driver.

Flowering shrub on side of path - botanists please identify

Altitude?

Tree with small blue birds by the miradouro

Branches inspired by chinese brushstoke painting

Roger on top of the miradouro

The photographer photographed

The small blue birds were hopping about looking for crumbs - (ornothologists please identify)

Rock plants - (botanists please identify)

Camellia portrait