For today's excursion we wanted to drive on the mountain roads in the West of Madeira. About the motorway it went to Funchal and then right through a steep valley into the mountains.

Somewhat laborious our little Nissan Juke tormented up the sometimes very steep roads. But compared with the rental car, with whom we were on the mainland road, it was still quite sporty ahead. Bald hatten wir die Abzweigung zur Passstraße erreicht und standen kurze Zeit später vor einer Straßensperre 🙁 So ein Ärger. Since the selection of roads on Madeira but is quite low, we beat back the already successfully tested route along the north coast a.

In Sao Vicente we decided spontaneously, pay the volcanic caves to visit. When we reached the visitor parking lot, We were very relieved. No coaches awaited us, obwohl in Funchal gerade wieder vier neue Kreuzfahrtschiffe angekommen waren 🙂 So lernten wir in den nächsten eineinhalb Stunden eine Menge über die Entstehung der Inseln in dem kleinen Museum, which was located right next to the entrance to the caves. The half-hour walk through the Gotten itself was nice, aber nicht besonders spektakulär 🙂

Passing Porto Moniz we were driving on a small road along the west coast. Quite accidentally we discovered a really incredible vantage point. Before us, the coast was almost 600 Meter ab! From the top of the houses and gardens in the valley looked like miniature toys. With a small cable car (made in Germany :-)) could go down at an angle of 170 ° to the sea. Alone at the sight turned my stomach to. Keine zehn Pferde würde mich in diese winzige Gondel bringen 🙂 So tranken wir lieber einen entspannten Kaffee direkt am Abgrund und überließen das Gondelfahren den anderen.

The West of Madeira is traffic-technically not yet well connected to the rest of the island. On top of the ridge we found in the villages many empty houses, which would probably urgently want a skilled and motivated craftsmen. In part, it looked here but kind of bleak. This impression was unfortunately additionally reinforced by the gathering clouds.

We reached the port before the rain. According to the weather forecast it would probably also the next days are uncomfortable. Let's see, what will really happen. Wettervorhersagen sind ja bekanntlich ähnlich zuverlässig wie „Kaffeesatz lesen“ 🙂