Madeira Island Trip

I've wanted to visit Madeira for a long time, but for some reason I've treated this island like a beautiful picture from the Internet for a long time. Green mountains, the ocean, waterfalls, roads over cliffs, small houses among the slopes – it all looked so perfect that I was even a little afraid to be disappointed when I met. In my head, Madeira existed somewhere between a postcard and an advertisement for an expensive hotel, and I know perfectly well that real travel is usually arranged quite differently: it's raining somewhere, you're wet somewhere, you've taken a wrong turn somewhere, and your hair after a trip looks like you've spent several hours in fighting the hurricane.

But Madeira surprised me almost immediately, I came to the island without the desire to make some grandiose list of attractions and decided to just give myself time to feel this place. I wanted to look at the ocean, walk among the greenery, drive along mountain roads, stop where it's beautiful, and not worry if the next point of the route suddenly has to be canceled. And, as it turned out, this approach turned out to be the most correct one for Madeira, because this island absolutely does not want to go through the points.

The first acquaintance with Madeira

Madeira Airport

The first thing that really struck me was the relief of the island. I'm used to the fact that islands are usually associated with beaches, palm trees, and a fairly understandable logic of relaxation: the sea, a sunbed, a cafe, and the sea again. In Madeira, everything is completely different, because here in just a few minutes you can find yourself among mountains, fog and dense greenery, and then see the ocean again.

I was driving along the road and kept turning my head in different directions because I couldn't choose where to look. There are mountains on the left, the ocean on the right, another bend ahead, and suddenly a completely different landscape opens up behind it, which you want to photograph immediately. At one point, I even asked to stop, although just five minutes ago I myself said that we would no longer stop every five minutes, but Madeira was clearly not going to make my life easier. Each new turn looked like the island was specifically testing how quickly I could change my plans.

The ocean, which is constantly nearby

It seems to me that the ocean has become the main feeling of my trip. In Madeira, it is not perceived as a separate part of the holiday, which you need to specifically go to, because it is constantly present somewhere nearby: it is visible between houses, appears around a bend, makes noise below the road and suddenly opens up with a huge blue stripe between the green slopes.

I could just sit on the shore and look at the water, even if I had a completely different route planned. On a normal trip, I probably would have started to get nervous about the lost time, but here I gradually stopped looking at the clock. I liked that feeling. In Madeira, for the first time in a long time, I did not feel the need to constantly rush somewhere. I just sat and looked at the ocean, and he went about his business quite calmly, not caring about my schedule.

The Green Madeira

But most of all I was surprised by the greenery, I expected to see a beautiful island, but I had no idea how saturated it would be in color. Everything here seems to grow in several directions at once: plants hang from the slopes, moss covers the rocks, the trees are so dense that sometimes it seems as if the road passes through a real green tunnel.

I especially liked the feeling of humidity after the rain. Small drops may remain on clothes, the road becomes shiny, the leaves look even brighter, and a light fog appears around. And that's when I finally realized that Madeira doesn't look like a classic sunny island at all. The weather can change here in just a few minutes, and at first it's a little annoying, especially when you've just done your hair and gone out to take pictures. Then you get used to it and begin to perceive the rain as part of the local character. After all, if Madeira was always perfectly sunny, where would all this incredible greenery come from?

Mountain roads and my little adventure

I decided to take a car and explore the island on my own, although later I wondered several times why it seemed like a good idea at all. The roads in Madeira are very beautiful, but some of them make you pay more attention not only to the landscape, but also to where exactly you are going. The ascents, descents, turns, narrow sections and slopes around me periodically forced me to hold the steering wheel tighter and treat local drivers with great respect.

The funniest thing happened was when I saw an incredibly beautiful view and realized that I couldn't stop right there. That is, the brain said, "What a beauty, you need to take pictures," and common sense replied, "Very beautiful beauty, but first let's get to a place where we can park properly."

As a result, I drove past stunning landscapes several times, then turned around and tried to find a suitable place to stop. And, of course, that's when the beautiful light disappeared. Travel in general has an amazing ability to turn on the perfect sunlight exactly at the moment when you are not where you were going to take pictures.

Waterfalls and the feeling of real nature

Waterfalls became one of the most pleasant discoveries. I've seen photos of Madeira waterfalls before the trip, but they feel completely different in person. Especially when you walk along a wet path, water is rushing around, streams are falling from the mountain, and there are dense greenery nearby. At such moments, Madeira seems very far from the usual Europe.

As I walked along, I thought that if I had been brought here with my eyes closed and asked to guess the country, I would most likely have named something completely different. I liked that feeling of surprise. It's like you're on a European trip, and after a while you start to feel like you're somewhere in a tropical forest.

The most beautiful thing here is not the sights

After a few days, I realized one simple thing: the main attraction of Madeira for me is Madeira itself. It sounds a bit corny, but I can't explain my impressions any other way. I liked not only specific waterfalls, roads or viewing platforms, but the combination of the ocean, mountains, greenery, fog and small houses, which was constantly changing before my eyes.

You can drive along a completely ordinary road and suddenly see the ocean far below. You can stop at a small cafe and discover a stunning view behind it. You can go outside in the morning after the rain and realize that the air smells completely different. It was from such little things that I got the feeling of Madeira.

A small setback

Of course, my traditional travel failure wasn't complete either. One day I decided to go out for a walk, looked up at the sky and thought that it definitely wasn't going to rain. After a while, the cloud literally came to meet me, and I got such a small shower that after a few minutes I looked like I had specifically decided to check the water resistance of my own clothes.

The funny thing was that people in jackets were passing by, and I immediately realized which of us had really studied the climate of Madeira before the trip. I hid under a small canopy and laughed at myself, because literally in the morning I told how important it is to be prepared for changeable weather. Madeira just decided to put my knowledge to the test. And I don't think I passed the exam.

Evening on the island

I especially enjoyed going back to the ocean in the evening. After a whole day of driving, walking and constant stops, I would sit down somewhere by the water and just watch the light gradually change. The ocean was getting darker, the mountains were turning into silhouettes, and the first lights were coming on on the coast.

At such moments, I absolutely did not want to open the card and think about the next day. I just sat there and remembered everything I had seen. And the more I remembered, the more I realized that the highlights were completely unplanned. The very turn where I happened to see the ocean. The road through the green mountains. The rain that caught me completely unprepared. Coffee after a long walk. The sound of waves, the fog that suddenly covered the mountainside. And the feeling that there is a place around me that is not trying to please the tourist at all, but that's why I like it even more.

Why do I want to go back

When it was time to leave, I suddenly felt that I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the island at all. Although I saw a lot of beautiful things, I didn't feel like I had "closed" Madeira and now I could safely tick off this trip. On the contrary, it seemed to me that I was just beginning to understand her.

Perhaps this is the peculiarity of such places. You arrive with certain expectations, and then the island gradually shows you a completely different side of itself. I didn't like Madeira because you can make a perfect collection of photos here. I liked it because you always want to stop here, look around and forget a little about the fact that you actually have a route.

I left with the feeling that I would definitely come back. And next time, I want to do everything a little differently: plan less, stop more often, sit by the ocean longer and not get upset because of the rain. Although, to be honest, I know myself. Most likely, I'll make up a detailed route again, take a car, put a few points on the map, and then I'll see another beautiful turn and say: "Okay, let's stop here too." Because Madeira is just like that.: she seems to be alone – a small island in the middle of the Atlantic, but every time you look in the other direction, it seems that you have a completely new place in front of you. And that's probably why I still remember this trip not as a sightseeing trip, but as an introduction to one big, incredibly green and slightly unpredictable place that one day just took over and I liked it.