Hannah had a two week fall break from kindergarden the first two weeks of October. Sometimes by the beginning of October the weather here starts to turn rainy, foggy, and cold. Then it is typical that people plan a warm sunny vacation during the two week break. This year we have had abnormal weather until the end of October. So we didn't really need a warm sunny getaway, but it was already booked so of course we happy went!
John has a coworker who's wife is from Madeira and he had mentioned a few times to John how nice the island is. So after looking at some pictures and researching if there was enough to keep the kids entertained we decided it would be our Fall 2018 vacation destination. We almost always book through Homeaway because hotel rooms and kids just usually don't work out. There are a few really nice family friendly resorts on the island, but they cost more than we wanted to spend for this vacation. Our accommodation ended up being very nice. It was a whole house, the renter lived on the ground floor, and we had the top two floors. The kids couldn't get over the fact that we had four bathrooms! The apartment was about 10-15 minutes uphill (steep uphill) from Funchal which made for beautiful ocean views.
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| Enjoying lunch on our terrace. |
We also rented a car for the week since we knew we wanted to really explore the island. We found it very beneficial having the car. There were bus stops everywhere and one right by our accommodation, but we weren't sure how reliable they were. Plus, with kids having your own car is just easier! We didn't have an exact plan of what we wanted to see, mostly just do some easy hikes, drive across the middle of the island, and eat plenty of good food!
We arrived very late Saturday evening, but the weather on Sunday looked pretty good so we decided to attempt a short hike on Sunday morning. This hike was on the East side of the Island at the Ponta de Sao Lourenco. We hiked only about 3 km, but there was several more km to get all the way out to the point. We didn't want to push our luck with the kids so we settled for a few km before turning around.
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| This was a very popular hike on the North East tip of the Island. |
Most everyday our afternoons consisted of driving down to the town, wandering around a bit, eating ice cream, and then finding dinner. The first afternoon we actually also decided to take the cable car up from the center of town. This cable car takes you to the village of Monte, which isn't too high up, but a fun experience none the less.
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| Taking the gondola up the mountain. |
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| This is where the gondola started. There was a nice waterfront area and skate park. |
The second day was actually my birthday, so I got to do a few special things. The first was going on a longer trail run. Our apartment was actually on the edge of the forest that leads up into the mountains, so I was able to go running right from our apartment on nice (but steep) trails. In the afternoon we went into town and John entertained the kids by looking at all the ships and crabs while I had a 30 minute amazing back massage. Then I got to choose where we went for dinner. We went to the restaurant "The Snug Madeira", which is known for craft beer and burgers. I actually had the nachos which were very tasty.
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| Near the Snug Madeira Restaurant was a street where all of the doors were beautifully painted. |
Tuesday was our big adventure day. On the Northwest corner of the Island there are some natural pools. Basically pools of water right next to the ocean that were formed naturally and have since been maintained. You pay to enter the pools and then you enjoy swimming in the calm salt water while the waves crash around you. I was actually quite impressive and a really neat experience. We were lucky to have beautiful weather for this day as well.
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| We love Madeira. |
After the pools we drove through the middle of the Island. There is a road that crosses most of the Island at a pretty high elevation. Unfortunately we were in the cloud for most of the drive.
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| One view from the high road through the middle of the Island. |
This road also led to the famous Waterfalls hike. We knew we wouldn't be able to do the whole hike with the kids but we did hike from the parking lot to a small restaurant/hotel, Rabacal. The hike was beautiful and the restaurant was really neat. The outside tables were made out of logs and the whole place had a very rustic feel to it. The sangria and sandwich was also very tasty.
On Wednesday we actually had the lady who rents the house, and lives on the bottom level, watch the kids. We wanted to get in a good trail run and she had offered to watch the kids.
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| This kids walked with the land lady and two dogs (she does this everyday) up to the forest to play. |
We did a trail run that was a loop and the highest point was the peak Pico Areeiro, the third highest in Madeira. The signage wasn't quite what we were expecting, and are quite thankful that we ended up going the right direction. We had found a generic description and map of the hike that was helpful, but left us guessing if we were headed the right direction from time to time.
In the afternoon we went to the cliff walk. It is a glass overlook from the highest cliff in Europe. It was pretty cool, but not as scary as I thought it would be for the kids.
Our last full day on the Island was Friday. We did more kid friendly things this day. The first place we went to was the Madeira Theme park. It wasn't a big roller coaster park, instead it was a park explaining Madeira's history. But it was designed for kids and I would say for younger kids. We did a boot ride, train ride, and a simulator ride. Our kids enjoyed it and a few hours was enough time for us to experience it.
In the afternoon before dinner we went to the big park in the town center. Unfortunately they were renovating the play equipment, but there was still a huge grassy area to run around in.
All in all we really enjoyed our time in Madeira. It is quite a rugged landscape, but we loved it!
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| All of this food/drink for 27 francs, and is was all fresh and very tasty. |
