This gallery contains 27 photos.
Today was a day of exploration. It all started with a guided tour of the old town after breakfast. We made our way through the coast gate (i.e. the city gate closest to the sea), went on via the church … Continue reading
This gallery contains 15 photos.
With things turning more and more to normal, as the pandemic is now (slowly) coming to an end and Covid turning from a threat to just a nuisance (at least for most), it was time to get back to personal … Continue reading
Business travel is back … and got me to Hungary. And outside meetings, there obviously was plenty of time to explore.
During my last trip here, my colleagues had recommended, to make the trip up to Szentendre, a small town about 20km North-West of Budapest. The town features a well preserved and renovated city center – showing off its Baroque history. The city sits nicely next to a branch of the Danube river with a nice (pebble) beach. Perfect for a nice, sunny and warm Saturday afternoon.
Below some photos from Szentendre, as well as some from Budapest.
In Budapest, I retraced some of my previous trips – just to realize (to my disappointment) that many of the city’s attractions are currently under renovation (incl. the chain bridge, the citadel, parts of the castle, the Nyugati train station and the key portion of the M3 metro line) – well, it seems, the city is preparing itself for a restart.
This gallery contains 24 photos.
Today was the last day of the trip – a day at leisure and for own explorations around Funchal. I left the hotel (in the hotel zone) and made my way to port and on to the Forte de São … Continue reading
This gallery contains 20 photos.
We started the day with a visit of a vegetable and fruit farm in the Eastern part of Funchal – from here we made it on to an orchid nursery, to get an introduction to the plants and a tour … Continue reading
We left Porto Santo on the evening ferry, leaving shortly before sunset – with the arrival to Madeira obviously in the dark – and some good nighttime views of Funchal.
This gallery contains 20 photos.
We had close to another full day on Porto Santo, i.e. until our pick-up for the evening ferry at 17:00. I decided, to go out and have a bit of hike up to some higher elevation for some good views. … Continue reading
Today the weather got us once more – it was raining and raining hard (supposedly the previous proper rain had been back in April – so, imagine our chances here).
We nevertheless were picked up for a morning tour of the island. First heading out for the Pico Castelo Viewpoint (with the visibility bad enough, that most did not even bother leaving the bus). From here we continued the trip around Pico do Facho to the Mirodouro da Portela. We were now in moderate rain – with OK views of town (the wind nevertheless killed my umbrella).
The next stop was in Vila Baleira – the island capital – itself, where we did proceed by foot – looking at the statues, hearing explorer stories, checking out the church (which was open for a church event some time later) – and culminating in a visit of the house of Christopher Columbus (well – his vacation home, he supposedly stayed in for some weeks – to use the island’s climate for the benefit of his sick wife).
We left town for a visit of a weird combination of bird zoo and park – the Quinta das Palmeiras. En-route we had a stop, to check out one of the traditional windmills on the islands – Moinho das Lombas.
A trip around the golf course and the Pico de Ana Ferreira got us to Ponta da Calheta (the South-Western most end of the island, I had already been to yesterday) – before making it back to the hotel.
The rest of the day was at leisure – without big activities for me – except for a quick bath in the Atlantic ocean (water temperature: ~21°C; air temperature: ~19°C).
We made it from the small port straight to the hotel – with the rest of day at leisure. I made it immediately out for a walk along the beach to the the South-Western most point of the island – Ponta da Calheta. From here it was back and on to Vila Baleira, the island’s capital for a walk around town.
By now we had explored Madeira quiet a bit – it was about time for a change. That change was to come – by ferry.
We left Calheta in the early morning, to make our way back to Funchal and to the Porto Santo ferry – for the 2.5 hour / ~80km trip to Porto Santo.
The way out was a bit of a review of some parts of the trip so far – Funchal, the Christ statue, the airport and of course Ponta de São Lourenço (now from a different angle).
