Day 119 : Madeirã to Lisbon

I took an easy Jet flight today which departed at 9.20am. One of the most horrible flight and for the 1st time felt discriminated on a flight.

Long story but mostly it was by 1 air stewardess and 1 steward. I was the only Asian on the flight and so I can only regard it as discrimination. When I asked for the names of those 2 with another staff (they were the only ones who didn't display a name tag), the other staff didn't want to tell me, even though it is my right, and asked me to ask the person directly. When I asked the person directly, she gave me a name, but refused me when I insisted on seeing her name tag.  What a let down to a nice trip out in Madeira.  

After disembarking, I caught a metro and headed straight to the "Living Lounge Hostel", and was entertained during the commute with train entertainment such as this guy playing with an accordion while carrying a dog.  

Living Lounge Hostel was very well located near the metro station and main square.  I also specifically chose this area because at least I wouldn't have to deal with climbing the hilly Lisbon which the city is famous for.  I was pleasantly surprised with the layout of the common area, which makes one feel like home.  My bed wasn't ready as it was still early, so I went out to explore Lisbon city.  

The streets were nice and quaint and what a beautiful square (Praca do Comercio)!

I next headed over to Time Out Market to grab lunch.  Located in the historic Mercado da Ribeira building, this iconic market situated near Cais do Sodré in Lisbon was transformed into a bustling food and cultural hub, showcasing a diverse array of culinary delights, featuring stalls from some of Lisbon's top chefs and eateries, along with cultural events, workshops, and live performances.

This place was super packed and really hard to find empty seats to get a meal.  Most stores also had very long queues. I did find one with not so long queues and ordered this - Bacalhau (cod fish) with tomato rice.

I probably won't come here again as it's difficult to have to queue at different stores for different food with this amount of crowd, and in my opinion, the food was just ok.  

I then headed back to the hostel to check in, passing through some quaint pretty spots and also picked up a Nata along the way.  

The bedroom I was assigned was pretty cool and featured an interesting ceiling light!

And then out I went again, as there's a lot of places I would like to check out in and around Lisbon and I needed to make the best of any available time.  Te intention is to check out a couple of Miradors before it gets dark and to get the lay of the land.

The first one is Miradouro da Graça

And then the walk to Miradouro da Senhora do Monte, cutting through cute neighbourhoods.

This is probably the best viewpoint in Lisbon, being the highest point in the neighbourhood and with the view of the sea and city panorama, as well as the castle!

And then the sun peeped through the clouds and you can constantly see planes suddenly appearing out of nowhere as they descend from those thick clouds at the top.

The other good thing about the hostel, they make dinners for the guests on a few nights at an affordable price.  

Look at this beautiful meal and served with wine too! Yum!

Day 118 : Sunset Cruise and Dolphin Spotting Madeirã

Another easy day as I was originally planning to go for the Pico Areiro to Pico Ruivo hike, but I left the transfer booking too late and it was full when I looked at it. 

It was probably a good thing because I later heard there are a lot of very steep up and down climbs, and my knees may just not be able to handle it. 

Had a leisurely lunch at the Sushi Funchal restaurant, this time with 3 others from the hostel - Philipp, Johan and Mark. It was much nicer to be sharing the meal, because at least I don't end up overeating when they served it for 1. 

By the time we were done for lunch, it was almost 3pm. I headed back to the hostel to pick up my swim gear and headed down to the harbour, where the sunset cruise will depart from. 

The waterfront area is bustling with activity today, with a number of law enforcement vehicles from the police, army, and even fire brigade putting on some kind of roadshow for the children to understand their work. 

Even the police dog got involved! 

The sunset cruise departs at 4.30pm, for a duration of 3 hours, as we sailed into the North Atlantic Ocean. 

Within half hour into the trip, we spotted 1 dolphin, which didn't stay around for too long. The boat crew said it's not common for the dolphins to be so close to shore. 

I moved to sit at the bow instead of in the centre of the deck and enjoyed the sea breeze. About 15 mins later, another dolphin showed up. I can't tell if it may had been the same dolphin, but as the dolphin was skirting on the front of the bow where I was sitting, I was probably the only one on the boat that saw it. 

It was moving so fast, and kept skirting left and right off the bow of the boat.. I would like to think it's doing it just for me to see 😊

We headed toward the towering cliffs of Cabo Girão, one of the highest cliff in the world at 589m high, and stopped in the bay to catch the sunset. 

Earlier in the week when I had been to Cabo Girão for the tour, I had a top down view. It was nice to be able to see close up the village at the bottom of Cabo Girão, which is only accessible via a cable car, as there are no roads access. 

It was also a good time for a swim, as it will be another half hour before the sun actually sets. 

Only 1 other guy and I chose to swim while the rest stayed on the boat 

The water is not warm but it's not too cold either. I was mentally prepared to be colder when I went in, so it was really nice and refreshing. The boat crew says it should be around 18°C. 

I stayed in the water for perhaps 10 mins and then headed back on the boat. It was tolerable at first when the sun was out, but when it briefly hid behind some clouds, it started getting chilly when the breeze came through. 

We were served a glass of wine while we waited for the sunset. We managed to catch a good part of it, until it went behind some very heavy clouds at the bottom. 

And then it was time to make our way back to shore, catching a view of the town of Funchal fully litted up from the sea. 

As it was the last night for most of the hostel group being together, we headed out for a last meal at a pizza place, before saying our goodbyes. 

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.