10.05.2024

After our last breakfast in the vineyard, we changed hotels again today, the last on our Madeira tour. First we went up, by car of course, to Cabo Girao, the highest cliff in Europe, 589 m above the Atlantic. You have to buy a ticket to be able to look through the glass floor at the Skywalk. Below is the turquoise Atlantic, on the beach there are gardens where the plants are well arranged. This is a tourist attraction, where the same people come by bus. A big compliment to the bus drivers, because even by car there are many inclines and bends that are a challenge. We then went to the Christ the Redeemer statue to collect our blessing for the journey. This statue is older than the one in Rio, about 14 m high, but not visible from far away. Then we went on to the east, where a volcanic landscape, barren with few plants, was our main hiking destination today - the Sao Lorenzo peninsula. A bizarre volcanic landscape, well visited and the paths were partly paved and secured where necessary! The sun and wind were particularly good today, so the peeling was free. The views of the turquoise, clear water and the individual rocks in the water are always great. There hasn't been an eruption here for a long time, but the lava flows are still clearly visible. After almost 3 hours of hiking, we were back at the car and the path up into the mountains was super steep. It almost looked like there was only lush green here and then suddenly, after a bend, we were in the little town of Santa da Serra and this blue house was our hotel for the next 4 nights. The fox really whistles here and after the heat of hiking, it's a contrast.