Exploring beyond Sofia
Menu
  • Bulgaria
    • Ecopaths
    • One place – two seasons
    • Southwest region
      • Blagoevgrad region
      • Kyustendil region
      • Pernik region
      • Sofia region
    • Thracian – Rhodope region
      • Gabrovo region
      • Haskovo region
      • Kardzhali region
      • Lovech region
      • Pazardzhik region
      • Plovdiv region
      • Smolyan region
      • Stara Zagora region
    • Danube region
      • Pleven region
      • Silistra region
      • Vidin region
      • Vratsa region
    • Black Sea region
      • Burgas region
      • Dobrich region
      • Shumen region
      • Varna region
  • Abroad
    • France
      • Lyon
      • Strasbourg
      • Toulouse
    • Germany
    • Hungary
      • Budapest
    • Iceland
    • Italy
      • Florence
      • Genoа
      • Milan
      • Pisa
      • Siena
      • Turin
      • Venice
      • Verona
    • Netherlands
    • Portugal
      • Aveiro
      • Azores
      • Braga
      • Cascais
      • Coimbra
      • Évora
      • Guimaraes
      • Lisbon
      • Madeira
      • Óbidos
      • Porto
      • Sintra
    • Romania
    • Seychelles
    • Spain
      • Barcelona
      • Valencia
    • United Kingdom
      • Aberdeen
      • Edinburgh
  • Guests
  • About me
    • About me
    • Contacts
    • Collaboration
    • Blog life events
  • Български
Exploring beyond Sofia
  • Bulgaria
    • Ecopaths
    • One place – two seasons
    • Southwest region
      • Blagoevgrad region
      • Kyustendil region
      • Pernik region
      • Sofia region
    • Thracian – Rhodope region
      • Gabrovo region
      • Haskovo region
      • Kardzhali region
      • Lovech region
      • Pazardzhik region
      • Plovdiv region
      • Smolyan region
      • Stara Zagora region
    • Danube region
      • Pleven region
      • Silistra region
      • Vidin region
      • Vratsa region
    • Black Sea region
      • Burgas region
      • Dobrich region
      • Shumen region
      • Varna region
  • Abroad
    • France
      • Lyon
      • Strasbourg
      • Toulouse
    • Germany
    • Hungary
      • Budapest
    • Iceland
    • Italy
      • Florence
      • Genoа
      • Milan
      • Pisa
      • Siena
      • Turin
      • Venice
      • Verona
    • Netherlands
    • Portugal
      • Aveiro
      • Azores
      • Braga
      • Cascais
      • Coimbra
      • Évora
      • Guimaraes
      • Lisbon
      • Madeira
      • Óbidos
      • Porto
      • Sintra
    • Romania
    • Seychelles
    • Spain
      • Barcelona
      • Valencia
    • United Kingdom
      • Aberdeen
      • Edinburgh
  • Guests
  • About me
    • About me
    • Contacts
    • Collaboration
    • Blog life events
  • Български
Abroad, Madeira, Portugal

Madeira – Day Three

posted by Dario
Jul 12, 2022 247 0 0
Share

The adventure of being a Portuguese #Madeira 3

Let’s dive into our final day adventure in Madeira: an island full of majestic natural landmarks, beautiful mountain trails, and spectacular omnidirectional panoramic views of paradise. Today, we will focus on less popular places, which in one way or another are separated from the tourist hotspots on the island, but don’t fall behind in beauty or uniqueness.

Miradouro da Garganta Funda

Garganta Funda Waterfall is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Madeira. Located in Ponta do Pargo on the west coast, it is a bit off the beaten track, but definitely worth a visit –  especially during the winter season when water actually flows from the waterfall (I visited in November). You should keep in mind that during the dry summer months there is a possibility that water will not flow.

Garganta Funda Waterfall

The height of the Garganta Funda waterfall is 140 meters, which is quite impressive! Along with the beautiful views of the rocky walls and the great overall experience here, it has become one of my favorite places in Madeira. But what makes this place even more special is that if you continue on the trail for another 5 minutes, you will reach impressive cliffs with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean.

гледка към Атлантическия океан - юг
гледка към Атлантическия океан - север

Natural pools in Porto Moniz

Porto Moniz is a charming little town located in the northwestern part of Madeira. This place is isolated from the rest of the island and the town survives only as a fishing port, specializing in whaling. But the main focus of this place is certainly the natural swimming pools, which CNN listed as one of the 52 best beaches in the world in 2018.

The village of Porto Moniz

These natural swimming pools have been formed over thousands of years by the cooling of volcanic lava. They form small pools that fill with clear, flowing, salty ocean waters. The landscape around the pools is unique due to the panoramic view that one has over the beach and the rocks (The place reminded me a lot of the hot volcanic basins in the Azores, which you can read more about here).

Натурални басейни в Porto Moniz
крайбрежието на село Porto Moniz

The recreation area is approximately 3217 m2, while the swimming area is 3800 m2 with a depth of 2 meters, which stores about 7600 m3 of seawater. The average annual water temperature is between 20 and 21ºC. In addition, the beach has parking, changing rooms and bathrooms with lockers, a bar that is open during the summer months, first aid station, sunbeds and umbrellas for rent. The pools are open all year round from 9 am to 5 pm in winter and from 9 am to 7 pm in summer. The charges are symbolic.

A view from the coastline of Porto Moniz

Teleférico das Achadas da Cruz

It is time to talk about our most extreme experience in Madeira. We were made aware of it  by chance after seeing a worn-out billboard on the side of the road that advertised the cable car of Achadas da Cruz. The Achadas da Cruz cable car will take you down the slope of a huge rock with a 500-meter drop to the coast, which is located in the most isolated place of Madeira, the village of Fajá da Quebrada Nova.

The Achadas da Cruz cable car

Nestled on the northwest coast of the island, the small area here was once home to hundreds of residents who took care of their livestock and crops. Today, many of the small, traditional homes have been uninhabited for years, making them a unique and unusual place to visit.

You may ask what is so extreme about all of this? Well, this is the steepest cable car in Europe, with a slope of 98% to start with.

Кабинковият лифт Achadas da Cru отгоре
Кабинковият лифт Achadas da Cru отдолу

Once you reach the bottom of the hill, you will find yourself at the northern end of the coast with a photogenic bay with pebbles and rocks. You can go south on a nice path that takes you through the village and the rest of the beach area, along  stunning views of the high cliffs.

селото Fajá da Quebrada Nova
Разходка из селото Fajá da Quebrada Nova

During the walk here, we found that several plots are still cultivated by locals, with vineyards and garden products for local consumption. However, many of the gardens seemed abandoned. All this showed a different light of Madeira: more authentic and untouched by mass tourism. After the walk south, the return trip can be on the same path to the cabin lift or through the ecopath, which is located next to the lift, and lasts 2:00 hours and is 4.5 km long.

A view over the village of Fajá da Quebrada Nova

Paradise Madeira, that’s what I will call this place. After spending three amazing days here, full of adventures, amazing and unique views, and created a bunch of memories. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to discover the beauties of the island and I strongly recommend lovers of this type of tourism to seriously consider Madeira as their next destination. It may be a small piece of land, but it has an abundance of charm and beauty, eagerly awaiting to be seen by real adventurers.

Thank you for being part of this adventure. I hope you enjoyed the series of materials and that I was able to ignite your desire to visit Madeira one day. If you want us to experience this adventure together again, we can go back and look again at:

Madeira – Day one

Madeira – Day two

Share

Previous

Madeira - Day Two

Next

7 Charming hidden gems in Lisbon

About me

Travel Blogger

Dario Dionisi



If you want to know something more about me – my soul is a traveler, my origin is Italian and my true essence is a faithful friend. I am always open to new ideas and will be very happy if you want to contact me at dario@beyondsofia.com

Subscribe

Be with me in every adventure!

* indicates required

legenddario

Dario • Exploring beyond Sofia
At the very lowest point on earth lies a natural w At the very lowest point on earth lies a natural wonder replete with a unique ecosystem, breathtaking desert views, and mineral treasures that have been attracting visitors for thousands of years: The Dead Sea. 

Located in the desert between Jordan and Israel, it is also the world’s deepest hypersaline lake. Although the high salinity of the water makes it almost impossible to dive.

#Jordan #sea #lake
Jordan’s Photo Dump 🇯🇴 #Jordan #album #A Jordan’s Photo Dump 🇯🇴 

#Jordan #album #Asia
Wadi Rum is recognised globally as an iconic deser Wadi Rum is recognised globally as an iconic desert landscape, renowned for its spectacular series of sandstone mountains and valleys, natural arches, and the range of narrow gorges, towering cliffs, massive landslides, and dramatic cavernous weathering forms displayed. 

Key attributes of the aesthetic values of this place include the diversity and sheer size of its landforms, together with the mosaic of colours, vistas into both narrow canyons and very large wadis, and the scale of the cliffs. 

The desert displays, in a protected setting, an exceptional combination of landforms resulting from drainage incision, severe weathering by salt, biological and other processes, and the undermining of steep sandstone cliffs by these weathering processes, together with the world’s most spectacular networks of honeycomb weathering features.

#Jordan #desert #nature
Situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and Situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and inhabited since prehistoric times you will find one of the new seven wonders of the world- Petra. 🇯🇴 

Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites, where ancient Eastern traditions blend with Hellenistic architecture.

#Petra #Jordan #worldheritage
Jordan’s Landscapes 🇯🇴 #planetearth #nat Jordan’s Landscapes 🇯🇴 

#planetearth #nature #asia
Welcome to #Jordan 🇯🇴 Jordan is the root o Welcome to #Jordan 🇯🇴 

Jordan is the root of civilization, and route to authenticity;
Its skies shine with the light of beauty, pride and endless opportunity.

#middleeast #asia
Smells like an adventure 🌬️ The infinite fie Smells like an adventure 🌬️

The infinite fields of #Tuscany hides so many touristic gems just like #SanGimignano

#Italy
The inspirational masterpiece ⚜️ #Italy #Flor The inspirational masterpiece ⚜️

#Italy #Florence #museum
#Siena the little #Tuscany jewel in #Italy💎 #Siena the little #Tuscany jewel in #Italy💎
Load more Follow me
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

You Might Also Like

Aberdeen, Abroad, Guests, United Kingdom
Feb 28, 2017

Adventure: Elia Hristova in Aberdeen

4 Years on the Scottish North Sea Coast If you were to ask me how much I knew about Scotland before landing at the...

Read More
0 0
Abroad, Braga, Portugal
May 4, 2021

Holy Braga

The adventure of being Portuguese #Braga Walking around northern Portugal, I had in mind several cities that I had...

Read More
0 0

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Copyrights © 2023 Exploring beyond Sofia. All Rights Reserved
Back top
 

Loading Comments...