Day 117 : Valley of Nuns

Starting the day late today after a late night out, and also since there isn't any major plans other than a half day tour to the Valley of Nuns later in the afternoon. 

So I joined the other guys from the hostel for lunch at a local Funchal restaurant and ordered the touristy local item on the menu - Scabbard aka Michael Jackson fish with bananas. 

The texture of the fish is really nice, and the bananas used are Madeirã bananas which are not exported. I was surprised when I bit into them as they are super sweet. 

I was picked up not long after by the tour company at 2pm, and Philipp decided to also join me on the tour. 

The 1st stop being Miradouro Pico dos Barcelos with an almost 360° view. 

Weather looked fairly nice, however as we drove up towards our next stop, Miradouro Eira do Serrado, it started getting really foggy. 

There was also some rain as we got off the bus, but as we walked towards the viewpoint, the clouds just opened up for us and we were able to see to the Valley of Nuns below.

From where we are to the valley is about a 750m drop, and about 1,000m above sea level

And within a couple minutes we even had a rainbow! The driver was telling us he had some people on his tours that got really emotional when they saw rainbows while in Madeirã because it was their first time seeing one.

Such simple things that we sometimes take for granted 🙏

And just as we finished our photo taking, it started getting foggy again. 

It's called Valley of Nuns because back in 1566, Madeirã was attacked by pirates and to protect the precious church jewels, they followed the mountain stream from the fishing village Câmara De Lobos into the valley, while the men fight the pirates. 

We drove down towards the town in the valley Curral Das Freiras, with the view of the cliffs towering over us. 

The old monastery where the Nuns used to live is still standing. 

The town is also famous for products made from chestnut. Such as chestnut liquor, chestnut cheesecake (Quijada) etc

Philipp and I sat down and shared a Quijada, which tasted a lot better than the one I had on the West tour, as it's less sweet. 

We got back by about 5pm, and then headed out with the rest of the group for dinner, followed by drinks at a different bar (Bar Number 2)

The DJ was literally playing songs for our group for the night, with different song requests made by the group (including German and Dutch songs) especially since we were the largest one hanging around. 

I find it funny how the DJ selects playlist by choosing MTVs from YouTube 🤣😂

 

It was in the same bar, I met a local from Madeirã whom told us he had volunteered himself to go Ukraine to fight the war. For me it's unimaginable why someone would sacrifice themselves to fight for someone else war, and I salute them for their courage.