SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello and welcome to the Travel Lounge Podcast. I'm Ed Finn, and today we're heading to one of my favourite recent discoveries, Madeira, the island of Eternal Spring. And of course, I went there with Sarah, Slattery, the travel expert. We recently spent four days on the island. We packed an incredible amount into the four days. Rather than talking generally about Madeira, we're going to kind of take it through exactly what we did, where we went, what we ate, and some of the experiences that really stood out for us. Sarah, we'd been planning this for about two years, I think, was it?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Honest to God, I can't believe we finally got there. We've been kept we we're always talking about going, but uh God, it was worth the wait, wasn't it? It was stunning. Absolutely stunning.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

It was like the this paradise waiting for us. But yeah, it was absolutely incredible. For me, I mean, it was just that the diversity as well, like from whale watching to ancient forests, the volcanics, wimbots, gardens, the toboggans and fantastic. But I mean, amazing. So I suppose what we do is we can just kind of get into it, I suppose, because really we packed so much in, didn't we?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Really did. Honest to God. I didn't think we we could f really do that much. And as you said, the variety of what we did. And also I think I think what might surprise a lot of people is, you know, there is a bit of a perception out there that it's kind of for an older generation who like gardens and you know, quiet life and uh nice scenery. But actually, me, you're talking about me, yeah. Well, pretty much, but uh well, uh in fairness now, I think you enjoy the nightlife now as well. But uh there were I that really surprised me that there was like lots of places, cool places to go, a re a lot of young people kind of into their fitness and health and adventure and tourism and yeah, the the mixed crowd I was very surprised with, and as you said, uh how much there was to see and do. Absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Yeah, I mean I suppose it'd be great to start off with one of the most iconic things there, really. The the to the famous toboggan ride. Now we had a great guide, of course, Gracia Lopez, award-winning local guide. I think she said, Sarah, she'd been working as a guide for 38 years. She must have started young. That day was fab. So let's just go through that day. I mean, you were very excited about the the toboggan ride, weren't you?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Yeah. Yeah, and fairness, she was great. She brought us straight there, right? The really amazing top tip. Get there before nine o'clock because before all the tour buses arrive, Grasser brought us straight there, and we were literally the first in the queue. In fact, so much so we were on before I was still trying to get my camera out. It was amazing. We didn't queue at all. And anyone I when I posted on Instagram, people were like, we queued for hours, so definitely get there first. It's a really kind of iconic thing to do in Madeira. It's a tradition that's going on for hundreds of years. I think the first car in Madeira was like 1904 or something. So for years, people, this is how people got down the mountain on these kind of wicker toboggans. They've um now it's it's a tourist attraction and uh it's good a good bit of fun, isn't it? Just something kind of different to do.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

No, brilliant. And I mean, as you said, you can get different sizes of the wicker baskets. I mean, obviously it was for originally transporting stuff. It was nine kilometres, imagine the original one. It's two kilometres now. What I thought it was hilarious. You thought you were going to go over the side or something like the other way when it goes over on the side and the cars are coming and everything. I mean, it's a bit hair-raising, but at the same time, not really too much at all. And listen, there's a fast track as well, isn't there?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, like for for people who it you know, especially if you're on a cruise ship or something and you're visiting for the day, you can actually pay double. I think it's it was it twenty per person or something, and then you could pay forty per person to skip the queue. Which I mean, if if you're going with friends or there's two of you, you know, it's it's it's nice, it's kind of handy, saves you two hours, could save you an hour or two queuing. So obviously, uh you know, it depends on how many is in the group, but I thought it was it's a good one to know because it is one of those things, it's a shame not to do it when you're a Madeira. It's just as it's you know, it's just one of the things to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

And then, I mean, and it's up as well on Monte, so we'll be chatting about the garden in a bit as well, which is right beside it. Grassa brought us as well to the famous painted doors, the Rua de Santa Maria. Wasn't that fabulous? It was like an open air, big, long, windy, gorgeous, narrow street of artists that painted all these doors. Now you took a few photographs, I won't say how many, because it took us about fourteen hours to get through it.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

But anyway, it was uh they don't even like any of them.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

You love a good door, Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

I do actually. I do. And you know, it's funny when we arrived in Funchal the first day, which I thought a beautiful city, really gorgeous to walk around the cobblestone streets and all the the mosaic tiles and everything. And I thought that was the town, and I thought that was it. And then when we met Grassa, and in fairness, I'd say a lot of people could very easily mistake the kind of newer parts of the town and not even realise there's an older part at all. And she brought us this uh which was originally a kind of uh an old sort of run down part of the town, and it's an amazing idea to rejuvenate an area that's run down by getting local artists to paint different paintings and all these doors, and it's really now it's a gorgeous tourist attraction. Um and if you get there early in the morning before all the people are putting out their restaurant stalls and their shops, you can see it perfectly. And then by lunchtime and dinner time, the whole the the the street, it's a really, really narrow street, has all gorgeous, lovely little restaurants and bars, and it's kind of two very different kind of atmospheres, isn't there? The early morning before anyone there, and then later on. So I'd say actually go there twice, go to the water. Yeah, it's transformed completely.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

And then and we went there uh after one of our dinners as well. Do you remember? And we had to Lust Vintage, that was a great spot too.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah, yeah. Drag me in there.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah, of course, kicking and screaming. Madeira wine Sarah, right? Blandy's. Now we've all done copious amounts of wine tours over the years and wine tastings. The Madeira wine is really interesting, isn't it? And I mean Blandy's wine lodges. I loved the fact that it was right in the centre of town, down just down past the avenue of Jacaranda Trees. Stunning place, wasn't it? And really, Rita, as a Vedo, she gave us a great tour, and wasn't it lovely? I mean, I learned a lot about it. And the fortified wine, it really is a very different strong, absolutely strong. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah, well, it's great. Uh it's lovely, and like as you said, it's nice that it's in the centre. Really, really nice to do the wine tasting afterwards as well. You get the tour and the wine tasting. And I can't remember the cost now, but it was very, very reasonable.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Yeah, 25 for the with the cheese tasting as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah, like very good to just pop in when you're in in town. I'd say definitely do that. And especially if you're into your wine, is that it's it's very distinctive, isn't it? It's it's very different to it kind of reminded me of port a bit. It's probably something I shouldn't say.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

No, no, that's exactly what it is. It's very like that. And again, I mean dating back to us was 80, the 11, right? The Blandy family, they seem to own all of Madeira, but anyway, seven generations. But what was lovely as well, the one Malmsey or they call it Mumsy, that one, the kind of sweet Madeira wine, that's lovely with dessert or kind of chocolate or cheese. So it's kind of nice for that occasion. But the dry ones as well, like the Cerchial and the Verdellos and the well, they were also like quite surprising because they weren't all, you know, too heavy. But again, I suppose they she told us all about you know how when they were transporting this wine from Madeira to all the different colonies, you know, over the years, how the travel and the heat and how it became this sort of an interesting kind of quality. But a very good great place to go, and as I said, by the way, they have a shop at the airport after you clear customs and emigration. So when you come in, when you cut when you go through all your bag check and clearance, you can actually buy the wine just at the gate, so you can actually take the wine home in your hand luggage, which I thought was very nice as well. A nice little tip.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

That's a good tip. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Now, the food Sarah was pretty incredible, wasn't it? We had some amazing food experiences.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

We were really treated now, I have to say. The first night, actually, I loved the three house.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Um and it's the type of place we we were really lucky we had the seat right at the the chef's table or the seat at the end. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

The usual long kind of counter there where you can sit up and you're looking right at Maurizio and Frederica at the kitchen.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

It was amazing. And the food, that ceviche, I'm not even a big ceviche person, but it was definitely the best I've ever tasted. It was incredible. But also, I think for people who are not, you know, who may be not as adventurous, they have a very they have a a an a la carte menu with loads of different options. It's just a really, really nice place, really, really good food, and they have a kind of an outdoor balcony that you can sit out, and they have an amazing rooftop bar. Let's not forget there we went there afterwards. That was cool as well. So the whole I'd say I think they have accommodation there too, actually.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Well they do, yeah. I was looking at them, I was looking at the prices, and some of the rates are very good. I mean, because it's three floors, they I think that's one of the best rooftop bars I've been in. Real, the real deal. And the cocktails were fantastic as well. But yeah, I would fly to the treehouse to Madeira just to have dinner here, I swear to God, because I I think it was really one of the best meals I've had. And remember the amberjack, the beautiful white amberjack fish again, kind of stunning with the sauces, but everything was just so good, just lovely stuff I hadn't had before, but delicious. And uh as you said, you can stay there as well. So that's definitely a great spot. Now, the other one, of course, Aqua was a great one. We were sitting at the bar there as well, getting great food. Then we were very fancy. We went to the Nini Design Centre, which is actually designed by one of the world's top designers, and it's right down in the harbour, and in fact, for beautiful, romantic, a romantic evening overlooking the harbour and beautiful shots back at Madeira. And again, that was fine dining, but that was absolutely stunning food as well, I have to say.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Fine dining, but really, really good. In fact, kind of Michelin star. You'd wonder why they didn't have one that's really, really good. Oh, yeah, brilliant. Um then I enjoyed the gardens we went to as well. The Jardin uh Magnolia is that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Uh we'll have all these the palace, the the Monte Palace Gardens as well. That one was incredible.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

But the the restaurant, do you remember the Jardin the Gardens we went to that evening where it was kind of colonial building? Yes. Um that was gorgeous as well. Like, I suppose that was what was so nice about it. There were so many different kinds of dining experiences. Last night, you know, then you can obviously eat out in in one of the local kind of small little bars in that old town as well. Like you don't have to go find dining if you don't want to. There's just a great mix for for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Yeah, because we had a gorgeous lunch, beautiful pizza lunch with salad and chips. I mean, you know, because sometimes you just want that after having a lot of fun. That was brilliant, so really loved that. The other one is the Palero Gardens where I went as well. Miguel Cardoso, the head gardener there. I did this lovely tour with him. Again, there's a five-star hotel there that was formerly one of the houses for Blandie. There's a lovely chapel there. But those gardens were incredible. I saw stuff in those gardens and plants I'd never seen before, and it was stunning stuff, really, really nice. Now the other thing, Sarah, that I loved as well, and you were saying that you've done it before and you didn't ever get to spot them, but the whale watching was a fabulous morning, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Oh my god. I have got been whale watching in Iceland, in South Africa. We went literally drove uh out of our way to get to Hermanas for the whale watching, stayed a night there and everything, uh, which is very famous, as you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah, I know you're absolutely for whale watching.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

And uh I've I think I've probably gone whale watching about seven or eight times and I've never seen a whale. So I was so excited that I actually saw whales. Now there were the smaller pilot ones, but they were so close to you, and there was so many of them. I mean there was there must have been fifteen or more. There was there were just so many. It was amazing, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Absolutely, and they're so yeah, they're so kind of gregarious. But that you're right, yeah, they grow to about the short finned pilot whales, they grow to about twenty-four feet in length. But what was fabulous was to see them with their little babies as well, the young whales, and they were f jumping and following and like they were great. Um Rosa does sete assayus, the company we went with, but they spot them and they spend ages like finding them, so they were able to kind of direct us to where the whales were, whatever s equipment they use. But that was brilliant. But those those whales and the male ones, which are very big, it was really cool. You could almost touch them.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

They really caught, actually, really. Sure, one of them swam under the boat. You remember that?

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

I thought we were gonna go topple over, but they're very friendly whales.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, yeah, no, we were gone. And you can also swim with I mean, a lot of people then jumped overboard because you can actually if you if you meet dolphins, you can swim with the dolphins as well as part of that. But uh if that if they don't do that, they actually refund some of your money, I think, or whatever, which I thought was really nice as well, because some people had paid extra. But that was an absolute the rib boat going out there, and you get to see beautiful the coast all along Madeira as well, which I thought was gorgeous. So yeah, and people said the water was really warm and lovely, so that was great. What did you think about Discovery Island, the Jeep Tour with Victor? Wasn't that fantastic?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

That was amazing as well. I totally would say to anybody who just like is is going to Madeira and staying in Fun Shah, where most people stay, like the capital, I'd say just get out of the city and go to the North Coast because it's so different, it's so dramatic. And not only is it so dramatic, but in in as a as a whole, but within twenty minutes, you remember one minute we were in that that finale forest which looked like the mist you couldn't see at the end of your nose, the most eerie kind of magical.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Yeah, and it was like a movie scene. It was like a central movie. Yeah, incredible.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

And then literally we drove fifteen minutes down the road and we were they were it was twenty-eight degrees and sunny, and people were I had to borrow uh Victor's jacket when we were in that forest or it was so cold. And twenty minutes ten minutes down the road we were in twenty-eight degrees um at the natural pools in Porto Bonese. And like it's it's amazing how different it the landscape, the climate, it's it's um yeah, it's it's quite uh it's extraordinary, really. But I'd say to people, definitely do an island tour and exp explore the n north coast. Those rock pools are amazing, and like they were three euro in or something for the day, like for nothing.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Yeah. Um Porto Monise, I think is the room where we were. And the hotels there, I mean, one of the hotels we actually looked at, you it was the most beautiful room with your own standalone back, beautiful balcony overlooking the whole bay and the pools. And I think it was something like two hundred and something a night. I mean, I would stay there for two nights, no problem. What was the name of the the hotel Aqua Something?

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Aqua Natura, Aqua Natura. Amazing, gorgeous. And we had so too.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

And we had a great, we had one of the delicacies there. We had the grilled skewered meat that they do on the barbecue. So that was a great sun. That was fab, and that's another delicacy with the vegetables, and again, the nice kind of chips and stuff. That was another kind of must-do. That was delicious as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

And the little beer tastings in the beer house was nice there as well. It's all part of it. I think that's called a beer house, but it's part it's a restaurant, and and um nice, I suppose, change from the wine and that. It was it was just a really nice lunch, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

And there's a gorgeous black sand beach, Sexy Al Beach. I again I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

That one, that one, one of Europe's top beaches in 2022, gorgeous.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

And like compared to the black sand you see in Tenerife or some of the other the islands, like it this is so pretty, isn't it? It's so such a gorgeous beach. Absolutely. Like I would never have kind of said black sand beaches are that nice, but this one is particularly nice. There's a little waterfall beside us, and it's just yeah, it's stunning.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

But that's what struck me the whole time, Sarah. Which I kind of felt like, you know, you keep thinking if there was ever a Garden of Eden or like you'd expect Adam and Eve to pop around the corner. It was it was that you said like waterfalls, lush, birds of paradise everywhere. And of course, the Star Wars, the acolyte series, that beautiful rock, that incredible rock um that we were that we were at as well, just near where the Port of Manice was. That was incredible. I mean, everybody goes there because they said that's filmed in the first series, the first opening uh scene. And that is got like it's like something out of another planet, off another planet, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 15:49

You could be stopping, literally, you could be drop you're literally stopping every ten minutes. There's uh there seems to be always something to see. I mean, you didn't even mention the other big gardens, the Monte Palace, uh which were incredible.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

They are the ones we were talking about earlier that are up near where you get the tobacco. Yeah, like they have everything from Japanese to that like the waterfalls. That is that is, I suppose, spot you would imagine, one of the best gardens you'll ever be in your life, too.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, I'd say Popi is the best I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I loved it as well. And you can get a lovely old kind of classic car shuttle from there back down, guys, and there's a great cafe at the top that you can relax in and have a lovely drink, and again, very, very affordable. And that little shuttle, sir, that was a little bit of a lifesaver, wasn't it, after all the hours that we were in the garden as well. Yeah. Which was brilliant. Now, something that you did, right? And I know that you're very close to heaven, the stairway to heaven. You you love getting up early, I maybe not so much, but you went off at like the crack of dawn and you did something that you really wanted to do. I mean, that those pictures were some something else. Tell us about the that that trip that you did, the sunrise experience.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Well, Madeira, like, as well as gardens, uh, which a lot of people will be familiar with, it's actually really famous for its hikes. Uh so I think that's what's bringing in a lot of young people now. It's really there it's it's actually a hiker's paradise. Now, I'm definitely not a hiker, but I do love a good sunrise. And um I got up there's a sunrise particular uh point, Pico to Aereo, it's called, and it's it's basically if if you kind of Google it, you might have seen or I'll have everything on the website anyway, the travel expert that I hear Ed, I'm sure you have it on yours as well. Yeah. But there's this kind of sunrise point that you actually feel you're above the clouds. Well, you are actually above the clouds. So it has this kind of incredible blanket of cloud, it's really quite dramatic. It's actually even really dramatic before the sunrise comes up at all. It's just to see that kind of twilight starting. It's it's an unbelievable sight. People gather around. And what's great about it is if you get a tour, um we uh you can actually drive right to the point. So you can literally just park and walk in like five minutes and you're there. So you don't need to be a hiker to do it. And if the sunrise is honestly probably the best sunrise now, up there up with Monument Valley, which I go on and on about as being one of my favourite travel experiences of all time. It was incredible. And then after that, there's a hike point from there that goes, it's and it's called a stairway to heaven walk. It's all it's this kind of narrow walkway with steps up and down is all I can really say to describe it. Now you can walk you can spend the whole day to go over to the other side of the mountain that's like ten kilometres or more. But I just did the short one. Now it sounds really short when it's two point eight kilometers or something. Because you're up and down and up and down and at such a high altitude, it is actually kind of tough enough, but it probably just takes about an hour and an hour and fifteen minutes. But I would say definitely push yourself to do it. It's not uh like it's literally probably just over half an hour out and a half an hour back. So if anybody's nervous of heights or not being able, you can always just do it and come back at any time. But I would say the scenery is absolutely out of this world. Incredible. So I would suggest doing the sunrise hike or sunrise viewing and the hike together on a tour. Some people try and do it on their own, but the car park to do it on your own is miles away, so you're gonna have this massive walk-in before you even start. So I'd say definitely you can get a public bus there as well. The public buses go from Funchal really early in the morning, I think they start at 6 a.m. in order to meet the sunrise. But you need just just don't try and do it on your own because uh don't try and drive. I said the public bus will bring you to that meeting point, or a tour will bring you to that meeting point. If you are doing it by bus, maybe you have to pre-book the hike because they limit the number of people who actually do it because obviously it's a really, really narrow path. So you need to pre-book the hike in in in advance. So that's why I think you're better to go on a guide. I had the most gorgeous guide, Geronimo, absolutely such a sweetheart. 68, I think, or 67, he told me he was, absolutely put me to shame. He the what he wasn't even remotely out of breath, and I'm there having to stop every 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

He was brilliant, but uh well you were you were about 1,800 metres above sea level, I think. So probably that's well, thanks for that.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Yeah, so don't worry.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

And I mean, it looked like I mean the sea of clouds, as they call it, with the sun, red sun on the clouds. It was just it's like something that it's it really was something else to see the pictures. Like it's stunning stuff, absolutely incredible. Now the other thing I love as well, which I think this is the great thing about Madeira, there's so many lovely activities. I loved the cable car as well, from the bottom where we were, which was near the painted street Santa Rua Santa Maria. Sarah insisted that we we upgraded to a glass bottom cable car, which meant that we were put into a very fancy kind of business class section with the sofa and everything. But it was only 10 euro to upgrade to that. But that is the top tip, and wow, like that is a great it's quite a long one. I mean it's about 19 minutes, but it's a fantastic way to go up. You can go up and down because you can walk there. But that was fab as well, wasn't it? I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Great way to get up to the gardens, the Monte Palace, or the um the Toboggan goes straight up there. Yeah, so it's great, yeah. No, really, really fantastic. In fact, there's lots of cable cars in Madeira because it is pretty much it's quite hilly everywhere. You can get cable cars down to the beach as well, the different beaches around Fonchal. So, you know, it's it's it's it's a nice way to get up and get around.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Absolutely. Now, just in terms of as well, of course, like accommodation, there's a huge variety, Sarah, right? Isn't there? And I mean, from a lot of people that go from Ireland, they like to stake down by where this was where the b the seafront is, from the the sort of Savoys and the Pent uh the pestanas. But there's a massive range of accommodation. I mean, we were actually in a boutique hotel, which was kind of in the centre of Funchal, so like it's in the Se it's Esse, the Se area called after the Cathedral, which was right beside the hotel. That had a fabulous rooftop bar, actually, which I thought was one of the best things of. of the place. Now it's a little small indoor pool, but nothing that you'd be shouting home about because if you want a nice pool pool and a balcony, you know, you should stay in some of the other properties. But there's loads of of uh of options there, isn't there?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah, like it's it's it's something that I didn't really realise about Madeira until we were there. Um like that the the the f I just thought Funchal was Funchal. Like but the the the actual there's like a kind of hotel zone or tourist zone where there's a big sort of Lido with um outdoor bathing swimming pool and there's a whole waterfront promenade with shops, hotels, restaurants and that's probably about thirty, forty minutes walk from Funchal Centre or five minutes in a taxi. If you're looking for a sort of a sun type holiday, a beach tile holiday, I think you're better off to probably stay out there. Or whereas if you're looking for a city break, you know, you can stay right in the centre like ours, a say hotel. So it depends on the type of holiday you're looking for and just bear that in mind. There's restaurants and bars in both areas and you can easily hop in a taxi between one of the others or if you like walking you could walk in in about thirty minutes. The other thing which I think we mentioned earlier about that lovely hotel, the Aquonatura, uh what could be a nice idea would be to spend maybe three or four nights in Funchal Centre and then maybe two nights up there, you know, up at the the the the pools on the north coast. So that's another good alternative. It depends on the type of holiday you want and how long you have. Just bear in mind that Funchal Centre and the kind of main tourist area where the hotels with the big outdoor pools and things like that will is a little bit away.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

And in fact that the Treehouse Hotel by the way which is four star that we chatted about earlier where we had the lovely Meal Memoricious restaurant there. They have a lovely outdoor pool as well and that's only 300 metres from the beach. The other one as well that are we'd another fabulous driver Miguel who took us around the views by a B A I A adults only that's another nice one. Again it has a lovely pool it's one and a half kilometers from the beach and if you like adult only something a little bit quieter that seems to have good good kind of prices it has a spas era two swimming pools. But as I said there's loads of of things to do. Now the other thing as well if you wanted a real beach holiday Porto Santo is the other island part of the arc archipelago that has a nine kilometre golden sandy beach and a lot of people actually go there by ferry it's two hours from from Madeira or you can actually fly from Lisbon to Porto Santo and you could fly back from you know if you did it on the way out you could fly back direct from Madeira to Dublin. But just that a lot of the locals go there and it's a if you want a real beach holiday almost like something Caribbean we didn't get to do it this time but a lot of the locals and Grassa as well our guy told us it's an incredible beach holiday. If you want that total beach holiday with not you know with not a whole lot else to do and great food that's a that's another option of course as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah which is no I'd actually love to go back and see that.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

I can't wait to go back. I'm definitely going to go back next year because it's the type of place that you can scratch the surface on really it is just so beautiful and as I said the island of eternal spring so it's a fantastic one to do. So for you Sarah what were the what were the kind of highlights would you say what what did you love most?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Well I I did really loved that sunrise hike and the walk. I thought that was amazing. Yeah the one I wasn't on of course yeah yeah no no I get it yeah you look I know exactly though yeah yeah it was just so different and uh it was just I I suppose it had been on my bucket list for for a long time so I was so glad to do it. But I I really loved the tour around the North Coast. I loved the different scenery all the time. I love that one minute you're at the beach the next minute you're in that incredible forest. Like I I just love I that I really would say to people, you know, definitely book a tour. I mean I loved the whale watching course too because it's all but I think for something something unique I would say and j and something just very to Madeira I'd say the North Coast tour and one of the hikes, you know, if if you can do it, I would say, you know, that's probably what I would I mean there's so many there's so many highlights out I thought Monty Palace gardens were incredible. You know I really did.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Totally yeah no it is is it is it is a super absolutely super sensory destination that j like from the mountains the gardens the wine I mean the wine festival we went to Sarah we were paying three euros for glasses of wine to remember like guys the wine festival which is just over was on September absolutely brilliant to go to with entertainment every night they take over the whole park area there. The other thing as well we spoke about earlier the Bote and the Copacabana nightclubs are fantastic. One of the best nightclubs I've been into what was it lush vintage the the music the pubs there's a great scene there as well and to like you know it's not just there's there's the really that that's where there's a lot of younger people but I mean casino there as well so there's just so many sides to it which you know really appeal to so many people and the food and the markets like those markets oh my god even talked about the market that was famous the fish market is like wow it's a the black scabbard fish with the big eyes and the chocolates we had the Belgian chocolates with the passion fruits from Madeira. I mean $250 for a gorgeous coffee and two chocolates like so affordable. There were so many nice memories it was wonderful. Yeah I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah Sarah you've got where is the you've got loads of great stuff up and you've got great deals on your uh we're up on the travel expert.ie yeah I actually have right now I have a great I have a post with 10 different travel deals so people can check them again a good variety of hotels and dates and durations and then I'm gonna have a full Madeira guide coming next probably next month now at this stage with tips you know lots of things to top things to do where to stay that will be out in October so keep an eye on the website for that one.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Sarah that's fantastic and again it was well worth the way to spend uh a four days with you on the island of eternal springs Sarah thank you so much yeah we're still talking anyway which is great yeah yeah okay folks thanks Samillion for checking into the travel lounge today thank you Sarah thanks a lot bye okay folks if you enjoyed this episode of the travel lounge please follow us wherever you get your podcasts and find us on Instagram at traveling with ed and at the travel expert for lots more travel inspiration tips and adventures. A big thanks to Marissa Mendes from Visit Madeira and Carlos Oliveira from Visit Portugal and a very special thanks to our wonderful driver Miguel I can't wait to get back to Madeira again soon and if you'd like our list of the top things to do in Madeira just drop us an email to ed at edfin.media until next time when we'll be discussing Christmas markets happy travels