Madeira, Portugal
November 2025
After travelling for about 14 hours, we finally arrived in Lisbon, Portugal. This was Hazel's first time to Europe and she was excited. She had managed to get some sleep on the red-eye flight, unlike her folks who really didn't sleep much.
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| Hazel enjoying the artwork in the Lisbon airport |
We quickly caught a car to our hotel and were off exploring the city. After walking around in circles in the very confusing shopping mall area looking, we found a lovely restaurant for dinner and explored a church just a few blocks away. Hazel even found a park with unique toys to play on for a few minutes.
We got up early the next morning to catch the last leg of the flights out to Madeira. Although technically an autonomous region of Portugal, Maderia is closer geographically to Morocco. The island has mild weather year-round and is known for its steep mountains, deep ravines and dramatic coastlines. It has been on our bucket list for years.
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| Madeira mountains |
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| Madeira coast |
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| Laura and Hazel on the eastern end of Madeira |
We were a bit surprised at the poor condition of the rental car, dents everywhere, but the rental agent didn't seem concerned at all and simply said "This is Madeira", a phrase we would hear often and even started using ourselves a little sarcastically when things were a bit unusual to us.
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| Near the start of the toboggan course. |
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| Hazel with the wicker toboggans in Funchal. |
We spent the day exploring Funchal, the capital city. We watched tourist cruise down the hill in wicker toboggans. The world-famous toboggan course is about 1.2 miles long and descends over 1,800'. We watched for a little while in the rain then headed for the Monte Palace tropical gardens and sculptures.
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| Hazel loved this owl statue at the Monte Palace |
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| Hazel having fun in the sculpture garden. |
The gardens were impressive and included dozens of beautiful sculptures spread amongst the unique flowers interspersed with ponds and waterfalls. There was also an art museum on site and a manmade cave of sorts in the basement of the art museum that contained thousands of crystals and mineral specimens. And, of course, there were koi, flamingos and swans.
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| View of one of the ponds at Monte Palace |
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| This artwork was made out of plastic forks, spoons and knives. |
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| There were flamingos in the gardens as well |
We spent a few hours in the gardens before heading off to Santana, a town on the northern coast of the island. Driving in Madeira took a bit of getting used to; the roads were very steep, narrow and curvy. Not to mention, people park anywhere they want, which is usually in the road since you're almost always surrounded by steep drop-offs and there's nowhere else to park. We even had a good laugh when Justin refused to follow the directions from the GPS saying "I'm staying on the road" when it directed us up a steep, but paved, roadway, rather than the main road at one point. Justin, a former racecar driver, is usually not one to balk at driving anywhere, so it was steep...and the car was underpowered.
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| Santana is known for these triangle cottages with thatch roofs. |
Along the route to Santana, we found a spot to pull off without being in the road, so we took it. It was the trailhead for Vereda do Ribeiro Frio that goes out to the lookout where you can see the tallest peaks on the island, Miradouro dos Balcoes. It was slightly muddy and Hazel was having fun jumping over the puddles. While at the lookout, Hazel kept jumping back and forth over a rather large puddle when she accidentally fell right in and splashed mud all over a woman at the lookout. My first reaction was to scold Hazel and apologize, but the lady just laughed out loud and said she enjoyed watching her have so much fun.
We finally made our way to Santana where we enjoyed dinner and found our guesthouse for the next couple of nights. We were still experiencing jetlag from the 8 hour time difference so we figured it would be a good morning to get up early and head to Pico do Arieiro to watch the sunrise. The mountain is above the clouds and the colors went from deep reds to pale yellows. We walked as far as we could on the peak-to-peak trail, which was closed about a mile from the trailhead. We were able to go through the section referred to as the stairway to heaven though and we marveled at the dramatic scenery.
Madeira has an extensive network of irrigation channels that crisscross the island. These historic waterways, referred to as levadas, were built in the 16th century to carry water from the island's wetter northern regions to the drier south where farming was concentrated. Carved into steep mountainsides and extending for hundreds of miles, these narrow waterways allowed farmers to irrigate crops and support settlements across challenging terrain. Over time, maintenance paths alongside the levadas became natural walking routes, and today they form an extensive network of scenic trails.
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| Hazel and Justin hiking along the edge of a levada on the Caldeirao do Inferno trail |
The Caldeirao do Inferno hike is a popular route along one of the levadas. We weren't exactly sure how far we would go or what we would see, but around each corner there were more impressive sights. We passed several waterfalls and hiked on the edge of sheer cliffs, first through heavy jungle with green walls before passing through four or five tunnels of varying lengths and the views opened up into a giant valley. Eventually we reached a very tall waterfall called the Caldeirao Verde.
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| Justin and Hazel at one of the many waterfalls along the trail |
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| Laura and Hazel hiking on the Caldeirao do Inferno trail. |
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| Hazel and Laura in one of the tunnels on the Caldeirao do Inferno trail. |
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| Justin and Hazel hiking on the Caldeirao do Inferno trail. |
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| Hazel and Laura at the Caldeirao Verde |
The trail was closed beyond the Caldeirao Verde waterfall so we returned the way we came with the roundtrip distance totaling about 10.5 miles. Being that the hike was along the levada, elevation gain was minimal, only clocking 230 feet over the entire distance. It didn't even phase Hazel, she was completely energized by the hike and was ready for more. Returning to Santana for the evening, we explored the town and found a little farmers market where one of the vendors gave Hazel a banana.
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| Hazel and Laura at a farmers market in Santana |
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| Justin and Hazel playing the partially set up Christmas village |
The following morning, we continued around the north side of the island en route to Porto Moniz, where we had booked our next hotel. Once again we were amazed by the scenery. There were waterfalls everywhere, the route carved through tunnel after tunnel. There were sheer cliffs down to the ocean and sea stacks everywhere. We stopped several times and even hiked portions of the old road that existed before all of the tunnels had been built.  |
| Typical section of roadway along the north coast, new road through the tunnel, old road on the cliff edge and waterfalls everywhere |
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| Justin exploring a section of old road that has since been replaced with a slightly straighter route. The upper bridge is the new road crossing from one tunnel to the next while the old road winds along the cliff edge. |
Along the way we passed through Seixal and stopped to play at the famous black sand beach. Hazel loved the soft sand and we build several sand sculptures before the tide took them away.
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| Hazel showing how dark the sand is |
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| Laura and Hazel starting a sand sculpture |
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| One of the interesting sea stacks we passed on the route to Porto Moniz |
Arriving in Porto Moniz, Hazel couldn't wait to go to the natural pools. The pools are volcanic rock formation connected with supplemental walls just above the ocean level, creating protected basins for swimming. The pools fill naturally with Atlantic seawater at high tide and are continually refreshed by waves that crash over the farthest out areas. Hazel took a couple steps in testing the temperature before rushing back out to inform me that there were fish in there! We explained that was part of the experience and encouraged her to put on her goggles to see them. The water was pretty cold and she wasn't sure about the fish, so mostly she wandered around taking pictures while Justin and I took the unique opportunity to swim.
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| Hazel checking out the fish in the natural pools in Porto Moniz |
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| The natural pools at Porto Moniz |
Justin looked up reviews and decided on a cute little burger joint for dinner. Although the walk was only about a quarter mile, you had to walk up several sets of stairs and very steep roads to get there. This was Justin's favorite restaurant of the trip.
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| Enjoying dinner at Villa 77 North in Porto Moniz |
Waking up early the following morning, we attempted to follow the GPS directions to the trailhead to meet up with our canyoneering group. After following the directions up ridiculously steep and curvy roads just to go back down again, we realized that the GPS would not take us through tunnels, which is where all of the modern and efficient roads are.
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| Justin and Hazel posing at the top of the canyon |
At the trailhead the group was extremely impressed that Hazel was an experienced canyoneer. It turned out she was far more efficient and comfortable on the rappels than much of the group. Although canyoneering was the one specific thing Hazel had wanted to do on this trip, she ended up not liking the cold water splashing in her face as much as she liked the idea of rappelling down waterfalls. Nonetheless, she was a good sport and enjoyed laughing at everyone else jumping into the cold pools and cheering eachother on.
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| Hazel was super excited to try rappelling down a waterfall |
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| Laura and Hazel navigating the slippery rock on one of several rappels |
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| Hazel was a bit unsure about swimming at the bottom of this rappel |
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| Justin and Hazel goofing off at the Cabo Girao lookout |
After the canyon, we toured around some new areas of the island. We stopped at Cabo Girao, one of the highest sea cliffs in the world before continuing on to Ribeira Brava, another black sand beach, and finally reaching Calheta for a spectacular sunset.
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| Justin, Hazel and Laura standing on the glass balcony above Cabo Girao |
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| Hazel never gets tired of the beach and she loved the soft black sand at Ribeira Brava |
Although there was a section of very nice black sand, a lot of the "beach" was pure rocks. It was interesting how they had tried to make the rocky section pleasant for sunbathing and relaxing by adding pathways and umbrellas.
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| Many of the umbrellas were being utilized by beachgoers |
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| Dinner in Calheta |
We spent the following morning in the Fanal Forest. This UNESCO World Heritage site is protected for its remarkable biodiversity and ancient trees. These twisted, moss-covered laurel trees are believed to be hundreds of years old. Because of the elevation, the forest is often shrouded in fog creating an eerie and mystical feel.
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| Hazel with the famous Fanal Witch Tree |
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| Hazel in the Fanal Forest |
We hiked around and explored the Fanal forest for a couple of hours before starting down the Paul da Serra trail (PR13) almost by accident. Without knowing the actual distance or even the exact route, we were able to piece together fun and scenic trails that lead all the way to the 25 Fontes waterfall.
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| Hazel on the PR13 trail near the Miradouro do Fanal |
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| Hazel making sure I'm listening to whatever wild story she was telling me today |
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| Justin checking out the views |
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| Laura and Hazel at the 25 Fontes Waterfall |
The last section of the trail was straight down hundreds (thousands?) of stairs that we would have to reascend after visiting the falls. As the stairs continued further and further down, Justin and I wondered how long it would take to get back up. We had already hiked several miles just this morning and that was stacked on top of the many miles we had already hiked each day of the trip. In the end, we decided that Justin should go ahead and try to hike or hitchhike the roadway back to our initial trailhead to retrieve the car while I stuck with Hazel and got her up all of the stairs to the closest trailhead available.
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| Hazel on the PR13 trail |
Hazel did amazing. We started up the stairs and when she started to get tired, we agreed that we would count out 200 more stairs, then stop for a snack. We counted out the stairs, starting over a few times when we lost count. We stopped briefly for a snack then counted a couple hundred more. As luck would have it, Hazel found a 10 euro note along the path, so that energized her even more as she talked about buying gifts with it. We chatted and climbed over 2,300' of elevation gain and actually arrived at the trailhead before Justin could retrieve the car.
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| Hazel and Laura at the trailhead waiting for Justin |
On the way back to Porto Moniz, we stopped at Ribeira da Janela to check out the funny looking sea stack and tunnel that lead out to it.
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| Hazel at the sea stack at Ribeira de Janela |
On our last morning in Porto Moniz, we walked around town checking out the Christmas decorations as well as another section of natural pools called the aquarium.
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| Hazel enjoying the Christmas decorations in Porto Moniz |
Even though we didn't have time to swim, Hazel stuck her feet in the water and we watched other people feed the fish and splash around in the unique pools.
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| Hazel sticking her feet in the aquarium |
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| Gentleman feeding the fish while standing in the aquarium |
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| Hazel enjoying the park on the way past |
After a scenic drive around the west end of the island, we arrived at Ponta Do Sol to hike the Rota da Banana, the Banana Route. We followed the waterways through several different plantations marveling at how they had terraced the land and created the concrete irrigation channels throughout the entire area, miles upon miles of channels.
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| Hazel and Justin checking out the bananas |
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| Hazel hiking along a vereda through a banana plantation |
We couldn't leave the area without finding the Levada do Moinho with its walk-behind, double waterfall. Information was inconsistent as to where to start or even which trail the waterfalls were on. Was it Levado Nova or Moinho? Was it the upper verada or the lower? Some reports showed the trail was closed, others just said one way was closed. We tried to plot the falls on the map and trace the levada back to a trailhead. We followed curvy, steep roads up, then down, looked at the map some more and eventually decided to try to find a place to park. Spray paint on a wall was directing us down a set of stairs to a levada, which we started to follow in the direction of the falls. We asked people that were coming back if this was the way, but we got more confusion than clarity. One lady mentioned something about stairs, others said they had turned around after several kilometers without reaching any waterfalls, some nodded and others couldn't even understand us. This trail was exposed, right along the edge of the cliff with limited or damaged fencing along most of it.
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| Hazel and Justin hiking along the Levada Nova |
We hiked just over three miles before reaching a concrete wall with water running down it. This was not the falls we were hoping for... but there were some stairs that went up and joined another levada at a higher level on the mountainside. We took the stairs and tried to continue further out in the same direction before reaching a section that was impassable. With no other choice, we turned around and started back passing the stairs but remaining on the higher levada this time. We passed a couple of signs indicating a trail closure, but they were facing the opposite direction of what we were traveling; we continued on. The trail started to curve around into a valley and I could see water running below us. Sure enough, the trail started to carve into the cliffside and soon we could see it leading behind the famous waterfalls and into the tunnel on the other side. We had found it!
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| Justin posing for a photo under the famous waterfalls on Levada Moinho |
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| Hazel and Justin dancing by the falls |
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| Laura and Hazel goofing off by behind the waterfall |
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| Hazel taking selfies and enjoying the neat area |
We took some time to enjoy the area and pose for funny pictures. We tiptoed through the waterfalls and just goofed off for a while before another couple showed up. We continued on through a tunnel on the far end of the falls and followed the levada the couple of miles back to town. Despite the troubles, Justin says this was definitely his favorite hike of the entire trip.
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| Justin and Hazel in the long tunnel following the waterfalls |
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| Justin and Hazel on an exposed portion of the levada |
We drove to Machico and checked into our hotel for the next two nights. In the morning, we headed out to hike to the farthest east end of the island, sometimes referred to as the dragons tail, the dramatic, rugged peninsula of Ponta de Sao Lourenco.
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| Laura, Hazel and Justin at the start of the hike |
We were impressed by the sheer dropoffs and unique rock layers. We stopped at all of the lookouts and continued on all the way to the end and up the steep hill to the final lookout.
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| Laura and Hazel at one of the lookouts on the Ponta de Sao Lourenco |
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| Justin and Hazel on the hike out to the end of the peninsula |
At one place, we followed stairs all the way down to the ocean, where Justin and Hazel took a swim. As we were leaving, a boat pulled up and asked us if we were going whale watching. Since we didn't really know that was an option, we had not signed up.
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| Pilot whales in Madeira |
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| Hazel and Laura on a whale watching tour in Madeira |
Eventually we moved on and the spotter, who was at a lookout back on the island, had indicated there was a group of bottlenose dolphins not very far away. We quickly found them and enjoyed learning a few of the differences between the two dolphin species. The boat captain offered to take us to a sheltered area to snorkel; we were already a bit chilly, so we declined and instead headed back to town for dinner.
At a rather fancy restaurant in downtown Machico, I watched as the food was delivered to another nearby table. Their meal was a steak served raw but on heated granite slab so they could cook it to their liking. Having never seen that before, we asked the server about it and decided to try it ourselves.
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| Dinner with the meat served raw but on a slab of heated granite |
After dinner, we wandered around the town and took some pictures at the colorful Machico sign made out of large, three-dimensional letters. Hazel wanted to do a unique pose on every letter.
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Hazel posing on the "C "in Machico
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On our way home, we spent two days in Lisbon. The first day we went downtown for the Christmas lights celebration, which was impressive. There was a Christmas market in the Praco Dom Pedro IV, we visited the Church of Saint Dominic, which was originally established in 1241 and had been rebuilt after earthquakes and a fire, we walked under the Arco da Rua Augusta, and took pictures at the Estatua Equestre de Dom Jose I. There were a couple of parks that Hazel played at and just wandering through the old streets was fun and interesting.
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| Justin and Hazel at a Christmas market in Lisbon |
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| Hazel and Justin at the Church of Saint Dominic |
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| Arco da Rua Augusta |
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| This was a fun light house that children were playing in |
Every street in the downtown vicinity had lights. Some had music with lights choreographed to the songs. It was a festive environment with everyone dancing and having fun.
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| Light display in downtown Lisbon |
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| Giant Christmas tree in the Praca do Comercio Lisbon |
The following morning, we headed for Sintra with its luxurious palaces, historic castles and the mysterious Quinta Da Regaleira, with its famous initiation well.
First stop was the Pena Palace. We took the tour and marveled at the luxury and learned about the various occupants and history of the palace. Justin's favorite was the green room with a unique style of artwork on the walls and ceiling.
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| Laura, Hazel and Justin at the Pena Palace |
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| Laura and Hazel on the balcony of Pena Palace |
We spent a couple hours exploring the gardens, visiting the cottage and the various other meditation houses, fountains and stables.
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| Justin and Hazel checking out a fountain at a prayer house |
Much like the levadas we saw on Madeira, there were water channels and irrigation pathways throughout the grounds.
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| Hazel with a unique tree in the Pena Palace gardens |
Eventually, we headed down the hill, under an old Moorish castle over to the Quinta Da Regaleira. We again explored the palace, along with the tiny chapel, the underground tunnels, grottoes, fountains and other symbolic structures. The most unique feature is definitely, the initiation well; it was a little eerie as we descended the stairs toward the inverted compass on the floor. The well is believed to have been used for Masonic initiation rites with symbols from Freemasonry and the Knights Templar throughout the estate.
