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Today we're going on a roundtrip. The bus picks us up by the hotel at 8.35, and first stop is Pico Do Areeiro, 1818 m, close to the Island's highest peak (Pico Do Ruivo 1861 m).
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With height the vegetation changes, and near the top there are no trees. On the top there's fog (clouds). There's a strong wind and it is bitterly cold - not pleasant for the optimists wearing shorts.
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Madeira part IV.

Eric
2005-12-08 20:15:44

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Today we're going on a roundtrip. The bus picks us up by the hotel at 8.35, and first stop is Pico Do Areeiro, 1818 m, close to the Island's highest peak (Pico Do Ruivo 1861 m).

With height the vegetation changes, and near the top there are no trees. On the top there's fog (clouds). There's a strong wind and it is bitterly cold - not pleasant for the optimists wearing shorts.

As you cannot see a thing because of the fog there's nothing better to do than visit the restaurant and taste a "poncha", a sugarcane brandy with honey and lemon. It is a fair sized drink, potent and good. I believe that after 5 or 6 you'll be fluent in Portuguese! After 15 minutes the fog suddenly clears and everybody rushes out to admire the view over the rugged and wild mountains.

The trip continues to the North coast and West towards Porto Moniz, a town on the Northwestern tip. The coastline is wild, and after an Atlantic journey of many hundred kilometres huge waves hammer themselves to foam against the steep cliffs. The weather is brilliant, the hairpin bends countless. From time to time we stop to admire a view, and lunch is at a vineyard near Santana. Everything is green and lush, and flowers are in abundance. Up and down we wind from valley to mountaintop.

The last part of the road before Porto Moniz is the "donkey-path", a narrow road with a vertical fall to the sea on one side and a high vertical cliff on the other. Two cars cannot pass each other except at certain points, and if you want a carwash just stop below one of the waterfalls that hit the road from far above. The road was made by lowering men from the cliff top. Hanging from a rope they hacked and blasted this shelf. Fortunately the road is now one-way, because the EU has funded a new and better road, and I suspect the donkey-path was chosen for show. Show or not, it works. Especially the passengers in the right side get value for money ...