Madeira 2024 #12 | My impression of Madeira and Lisbon
Madeira
Madeira didn't convince me to come back so soon. It's a beautiful place and left me marvelled. No question about this! And I speak only for myself here, and this is always a very subjective judgement eventually. My thoughts that make me doubt a (soon) return to Madeira:
- I'm not an activity holiday person. And Madeira is especially fun if you're active and want to be out and about in nature a lot. Being ill puts an additional damper on that.
- A car was very worthwhile to be here and there. Driving is generally so-so for me. Madeira's roads - uff, just by being the front-seat passenger, I didn't want to be the driver at all. Just the imagination discouraged me so much that I wouldn't know how to get around Madeira other than being driven. And this is quite restrictive.
Those were my two negative points which obviously carry some weight. Nonetheless, the holiday in Madeira was actually pretty relaxed. As I said, the landscape and scenery - wonderful. And that even includes the roads, especially the motorways. The construction of the roads, with their high stilts and winding roads, must be the fulfilment of every child who has built toy roads on the ground. Roads in the air!
Culinary-wise, you'd find some delights to try there. I remember a tomato soup which is a lot savoury than I remember the one in Germany. It was so good!
The climate was fascinating: within 20 minutes we were able to change from our summer outfits into rainproof autumn outfits. We quickly noticed the change in altitude by the change in temperature. The recommended onion look is absolutely justified here, as long as you move through different altitudes (which happens quickly).
The towns of Camacha and Calheta were chosen based on possible hiking routes. They didn't offer that much by themselves.
Lisbon
In contrast to Madeira, I would like to see Lisbon again when I get the chance. It's a pretty city, even if some of the corners were dirty. There are dozens of cafés where you can sit and relax, the streets and alleys are romantic and make you want to see more. I saw too little in these 3.5 rainy days to have a final opinion. My first impression is: quite nice there.
(Click on the image to see it as a whole)
Miscellaneous
One final tip: We flew to Madeira via TAP Air Portugal and most flights go via Lisbon or Porto. Therefore, we decided to stay in Lisbon for a few days. At first we wanted to do it with an open jaw flight, but at that time the only option were more expensive economy seats. However, TAP Air Portugal actually offers multi-day layovers, thus, a normal return flight can be booked and no open jaw flight is necessary. Booking status: end of January 2024.
This is it, the end of the insights into my trip to Madeira and Lisbon. It was a pleasure – obrigada!
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#1: Intro | #2: São Lourenço | #3: A curtain and learning exposure | #4: The blue of Porto Moniz | #5: Cliff | #6: Green hangings | #7: moody mist | #8: On the roads of Camacha | #9: On the roads of Calheta | #10: The house on the big hill | #11: Colourful row of houses in Lisbon | #12: My impression of Madeira and Lisbon
Camera + lens: Sony alpha 99 + Minolta AF 100 mm Macro f/2.8 (only photo 4/roads at height); iPhone 13 Mini
