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Baia d'Abra, Brocken's Spectre, Cristian Rinaldo Airport, elephant, Faial, Funchal Airport, Glory, Hibiscus, Islas Desertas, levada, Machico, Madeira, Monk Seals, Pico d'Arieiro, Ponta da Sao Laurenco, porta da Cruz, Radar station, Ribeiro Frio, Santana, trout farm, Wordpress
Madeira 7. Saturday 19th November. A grand tour of the East of the island, certainly my favourite organised day.
We set off along the new roads towards and past the airport, which has recently had it runway extended – by building over the sea. I managed to get a shot of how it works as we whizzed past.
We were soon passing Machico, said by Lina to be the second largest town on the island, Wikipedia says third. Whatever – at some 22,000 its population is only about 8% of that of Funchal. It does boast one of only two yellow sandy beaches in Madeira – sand imported since the island only produces black volcanic stuff.
On to the easternmost accessible part of the island, the Ponta de Sâo Laurenço and the Baia d’Abra.
For the second time in the week we observed a photoshoot going on. Madeira’s a good wheeze!The tour continued.
After lunch in a very nice restaurant back near Faial, I had a little wander,
before we moved on to Ribeiro Frio, where the main point of interest is a trout farm – though it looked as if there was some great walking to be had from there as well.
It was grey and overcast at this last stop, so as we then climbed and climbed to the Pico D’Arieiro we feared that there would be no views because of the cloud cover. No need to have worried.
Remember I said something previously about no elephants on Madeira?
But this was the best of all. A ‘glory’! A phenomenon that can occur when you have the sun behind you and cloud below you. Amazing and wonderful, (and much clearer than it seems in this photo, as I think the camera probably had problems focussing on the cloud). There was in fact a very clear second rainbow around the first. The whole thing was just spectacular. (It may or may not have been a Brocken’s Spectre, when you see your own silhouette against the rainbow, but I think that in that case your silhouette is dead centre. I think this was the shadow of a radio mast which was behind me and slightly to my right.)
(Here I am looking at it – photo again by Charlie.)
On the way back, this time we stopped near Machico, and got a better view of the town, and of the extreme tip of the island where we had been in the morning. And of the artificial sandy beach.
Finally, back past that airport, where I snatched these two photos through the windows of the coach.
Nothing was laid on for the last day. But I had plans…
susanpoozan said:
Wonderful cliffs, fabulous views, such a pleasure to scroll slowly through your post.
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Musiewild said:
Thank you Susan. It was a grand day.
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tootlepedal said:
The cloud effect is a wondrous thing when you see it in real life. I have seen two occurrences. This does seem to have been a good day out.
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Musiewild said:
I’ll hope to see another to catch up with you.
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Deb said:
Loved your elephant!! 🙂 also really like the little cottages
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Musiewild said:
Elephants are one of my favourite animals. And this was the largest I had ever seen!
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Deb said:
Lol !
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Olive Simpson said:
Great pictures – and what a spooky sight that must be! The golden beaches remind me of the Canaries – but Madeira seem slightly more lush in vegetation. Many thanks for sharing. XX
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Musiewild said:
The only Canary (?) I’ve been to is La Palma, where the two sides, east and west, were very different, due to different climatic conditions. Yes, Madeira was like the more lush side of that island, which I believe is not typical of the Canaries as a whole.
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maryhutton2 said:
Stunning views – so glad you had such an exceptionally picturesque day. What were you doing standing so close to the edge to take the Glory.
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Musiewild said:
Because I had to to see it properly. It was a slope up to the edge, and the edge would have covered it otherwise. Someone else, with whom you would sympathise, was unable to get close enough to take a good photo apparently. But I wasn’t that close – there was a good yard between me at the edge. I know – near enough!
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Lavinia Ross said:
Beautiful photos, Musiewild, especially that Brocken’s Spectre / Sun Glory and elephant head rock. What a wonderful tour this has been!
I like the cat drinking out of the mini levada. One of mine insists on drinking out of the shower stall.
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Musiewild said:
They’ll drink any water but that nice fresh stuff you provide them with.
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Christine said:
Magnifique journée en effet. Mmm les photos de Porta da Cruz, Faial, les fleurs. Dommage que les maisons typiques n’aient pas été maintenues.
L’éléphant est incroyable !
Le summum est bien sûr cette “glorieuse” 😉 mer de nuages !
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Musiewild said:
You do in fact see a few of those triangular houses in the areas around Santana, but they are in a pretty bad state. I loved seeing the huge ‘elephant’, but yes, the glory was the peak experience of the day.
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