Today was an all-day excursion day – with (in retrospect – and in my humble oppionion) a rather strange combination of activities and visits.

From Santana we made it to the Miradouro do Guindaste, for a coastal view, before continuing up the valley of the cold river (Ribeiro Frio). We stopped at the entrance to the Levada dos Balcões for a short walk to the Balcões viewpoint – with impressive views down the valley and out to the coast.

After the walk it was time, to learn a bit about trouts at the nearby trout farm – of course there was also the opportunity to try some smoked trout (reminder to myself: bring horseradish next time) – and to get to try a new kind of poncha – the fisherman’s poncha (less honey, more lemon).

It now was back to the bus and uphill again – this time making our way to the top of Pico do Areeiro (at 1818m above sea level) – one of the mountains, we had already seen during the hike yesterday. Weather was less favorable today with essentially no views.

We were continuing East now – for the town of Santo António Da Serra and walk / tour of the park of Quinta do Santo.

The stop in Camacha was rather short – as the basketry, that was included in the trip itinerary, was closed due to Covid. After shortly checking out Camacha’s church, we continued to Caniço with a stop at the statue of Christ – Cristo Rei – and a bit of a Rio feeling. With that we had hit the South Coast again – with views towards Funchal.

We finished the day, as it had started – with a view point (Miradouro da Portela) out towards the North Coast near Machico.