We left Funchal after the wine tasting – and made our way to Porto Moniz – a trip literally to the other side of the island – straight to the North Coast on the island’s West side – a drive of a good 60km, done in less than 1,5 hours.

Most prominent feature of Porto Moniz are the Natural Swimming Pools, which are the remains of volcanic activity (plus a bit of human help, to transform the natural pools into a safe environment) – water is sea water – and with waves flowing over the pool walls there is constant flow of fresh (sea) water.