Magical Madeira: Funchal from bird´s eye view
Hey there my Hive friends and followers!
First of all, I´m really sorry that it took me so long to come with another episode of my Magical Madeira photography series. As usually in my current situation, the real life got in the way. I´m yet to catch up on what I have missed here on Hive in the past week or so when I was back in my hometown, spending time with my family and friends over there but no worries, I will dedicate a great portion of the upcoming weekend to deal with the backlog. But back to Maderia now...
With a population of more than 100,000 people, Funchal is by far the largest city on Madeira and it´s also the capital of the island. It´s a really nice city and you can easily spend the whole day just wandering around the picturesque streets in the center, exploring the harbor or heading out to the more elevated neighborhoods nestled in the stunning hilly landscape.
I might take you on a proper tour around the city in some of my future posts but today, we will take a look at the city from an unusual perspective - from the bird´s eye view. That´s right. As I mentioned in my post about the Madeira seascape last week, the island is extremely mountainous and the capital city is not an exception. Therefore, a cable car operates above the city, connecting its lower and upper parts. The bottom station can be found in the Almirante Reis Park near the harbor and it goes all the way up the Monte neighborhood of the city. The total length of the line is almost 4 km and it takes approximately 15 minutes to complete the journey (one way).
There is an amazing botanical garden in Monte (one of the most famous and visited landmarks of the island actually) and we couldn´t miss out on it of course so we decided to take the cable car to get up there. After waiting for almost an hour in the long queue (hello peak season!), we finally hopped in the cabin and this is what we saw along the way up (and down).
I hope you enjoyed the pictures despite the somewhat meh quality caused by the annoying reflections but the cabin is made of glass and even though I tried really hard and went for all kinds of different angles, there was simply no way to avoid the reflections. Sorry about that. It also made me work pretty hard on the post processing, especially tuning up the contrast and saturation.
But yeah, the cable car ride was really fun. We actually bought the round trip so after visiting the botanical garden, we used the cable car again to get back to the downtown. The round trip was 18 EUR per person and I think it was really worth it. You can also get there by bus but after seeing all those crazy curves of the road from the cabin, I was really glad that we took the cable car because with my terrible motion sickness, I would most probably throw up in the bus :D
I hope that you learned something new about Madeira thanks to this post and I will see you guys in the next episode of my little photography series about this extraordinary Portuguese island ;)
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That's some nice scenery from the cabin. There are few places in Romania where you can actually admire the surroundings from the cabin because it usually is placed in boring places, lol :D
Really? Why would they build cable cars in boring places? :D Here in Funchal, it connects two very nice and interesting parts of the city. That´s why people want to go there :)
No idea. Just for saving people hike too much I guess but they could do it on some more beautiful places though
I see. People are lazy There is a little cable car here in Prague too. Really short one, just a few hundred meters, going up to the top of the Petrin Hill. But there is always a long queue in front of it. People wait for the cabin for up to one hour while it only takes like 20 minutes of walking to get where the cable car goes :) Like I said, people are lazy...
Yeah, a lot of people pick up the easiest way without even realizing that there is a quicker, cheaper and a lot more enjoyable way to reach a specific place. That's sad.
Hello, @phortun !
Just crossed by with your post! Madeira is undoubtedly one of the places (few ones) that I've visit, that was on my mind for ever! The unique nature and the beautiful landscapes that you can walk, especially the "levadas" that are everywhere in the more green part of the island, can make anyone mesmerized!
Thank you for sharing this experience with us!
Cheers
Oh man, like I already told your friend @pardinus, I need to come back again. We only had a few days on Madeira so we literally just scratched the surface as far as exploring the beauties of the island are concerned... I would totally hike along every single levada on the island! :D Thanks for stopping, greetings to beautiful Portugal!
Qué increíble vista mi amigo! Realmente quiero ir algún día a este lugar. Me hizo recordar a cuando estaba en Medellín (Colombia) en el metrocable viendo la ciudad y también capturar una foto con buena calidad desde ahí era imposible por los vidrios. Gracias por compartir esto con nosotros, estas fotos quedaron muy geniales! 🤗
Hola Evelyyyn! Thanks for stopping by :) Good that you wrote your comment in Spanish this time, it made me try really hard and I understood like 90% of the text without using the translator haha but unfortunately, I cannot reply back in Spanish as my written Spanish is really poor :D Yeah, I remember your trip to Colombia and I think you also took a cable car to get the Monserrate Hill in Bogota, didn´t you? We did that too, the view from up there was absolutely stunning :)
I'm glad you understood a lot! I was actually going to put it in English, but I inadvertently hit publish before I finished writing but I usually first write here in Spanish and then take it to the translator because my English is also poor :( ah yes, in Bogota at Cerro Monserrate too, it was spectacular the view there yes, but for some reason this view reminded me of Medellin. Greetings my friend! 🤗
Haha I thought so :) Now I wonder if you can already speak Polish better than English? :D
You are right, the hilly landscape of Funchal with all those little houses looks similar to Medellin but Funchal is much smaller :) Saludos!
That's a good question hahaha. We'll see if I can learn Polish very well with Olivia.
And yes with all the little houses it looks like Medellin. Maybe it reminded me of Medellin because I really want to go there to visit my sister 🤗
Maybe Olivia will speak 3 languages: Polish, Spanish and English :) That would be cool!
Oh I didn´t know that your sister lives in Medellin. Do you already know when you will see each other again? You must miss each other so bad! :(
Yes, maybe Olivia will, but I'm sure she will learn Spanish and Polish first hahaha.
And yes, my sister has more time living in Medellin than I have in Poland. For now we don't know when we will see each other, but hopefully it will be soon because we miss each other a lot 🥺.
I can imagine... Must be even harder for gemelas :(
You are right my friend
I have yet to ride that cable car! But with so many levadas waiting to be explored, I basically ignore cities there! ;) Cheers! !BEER
I know my friend! All those spectacular levadas... They will have to wait for my next visit :) Our time on Madeira was so desperately limited :( But Funchal is a really lovely city (town). It felt similar to Ponta Delgada from Sao Miguel, just bigger :)
It's always good to leave something unseen, so there's more reaosn to go back. And if you enjoy diving and huge beaches, put Porto Santo on the list too, it's just a ferry ride away!
I know! We heard so much about Porto Santo... I would also love to visit the Desertas Islands, we could see their silhouettes from our hotel :) Next time, Madeira, next time!
I think you need special permit to visit Desertas, Porto Santo is more accessible. Good reason to go back! 😉
Really? I asked out tour guide about it and he said you just need to figure out a boat that will take you there and make sure to leave before the sunset as it´s forbidden to stay there overnight. There is actually just one person living there permanently and that´s the guardian of the island... Sounds like an amazing job btw :)
I researched, and was confusing those islands with Selvagens, other islands also nearby that can only be visited for scientific purposes. So many desert islands, can't keep up! :))) Sorry for misleading you, here's a !BEER
No problem, thanks for the explanation. I heard of those too. But I think they are more often referred to as the Savage Islands. They are actually closer to the Canaries but belong to Madeira. Yeah, so many amazing volcanic islands to be explored in the North Atlantic :)
They probably are, selvagens is the portuguese word for savages! ;) Cheers! BEER
I thought so :) Cheers!
Wow!... Nice Madeira's views @phortun friend!...
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Thanks for checking them out! And thanks for your support as always ;) Saludos!
First of all the pictures taken from the cable car are great showing the city from above, secondly I was amazed when I read that the cable car route measures 4km (one way).
So far I haven't had the opportunity to experience crossing a city on top, hehe.
Especially such a big city with such a view.
Have a wonderful Sunday.
Thanks mate! We have already used cable cars in different cities and countries before but yeah, it´s always quite an adventure :) I really appreciated that the cabins were small with maximum six people in each so that everyone could enjoy the views. It was beautiful. And yeah, a pretty long ride! :)
I really enjoyed seeing the pictures from the cable car (Madeira is fabulous, including the view from the cable car) and look forward to the next post😉
This view is very wonderful and beautiful, the way we see, all the houses are built on the same map, due to which their beauty has increased. If they are being built, it is said to build identical houses.
I really enjoy deciphering your comments man, it´s fun :) Thanks for stopping by, always a pleasure.
Most welcome dear.
Looks amazing. I really need to go to Madeira next time i´m in Portugal. How long you guys gonna stay there?
Already back home, unfortunately. We could only stay for a few days. But yeah, the island is amazing. You might want to check out the post about the seascapes, I know how much you love the ocean ;)
The city is beautiful. Seeing from your post, it's peaceful and tranquil. The best view can be seen riding the cable cars. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your feedback, it was a pleasure to take you on this "aerial tour" of the city with me :)
Hey there, nice cityscape...
Will you be watching some Fiba World Cup basketball following days?
Hey Andy! Well, we didn´t qualify but I might still watch some games. Actually, I might even host some tipping challenge on this occasion here on my blog, thanks for reminding me :)
There it is...I knew you probably found a beach to chill in somewhere! I really like the roofs, not something we see here in Canada, only in the movies 😁. I like the birds eye view 😍, nice shots! Looks like a nice town so different from what ours look like also in the sense that the layout seems all willy-nilly where as here it's all organized like ticky tacky little boxes. It adds to the charm. Our cities are boring in style so is our architecture compare to Europe. I'm sure I'll get to see these differences for myself eventually. Anyhow, sounds like you had a good time visiting family, that's always a blessing. xox
Well, Madeira is anything but a typical beach destination, I wrote about it in my previous Madeira post. It´s an amazing remote subtropical volcanic island so it´s natural to expect stunning beaches all over the island but it´s not that case. Madeira is perfect for hiking and exploring all kinds of natural beauties but if you want to dip in the ocean, you either have to find one those very few beaches with direct access to the water or just jump off the cliff :D
I don´t have family over there. We picked this island as our honeymoon destination. A very short one actually as we are expecting a baby girl soon and there is just so much stuff to take care of before that (and after that too I guess). So no more traveling for us for... well.. who knows how long.
Thanks for stopping by though, I really appreciate your visit :)
OHHH that's great news, what a blessing! Congrats on your wedding and baby girl, must be exciting. I wish you the best of luck with both of these happy life changes/celebration. You are right, a lovely place for a honeymoon. It will put a damper on travelling, maybe you just need to shift how you travel, visit more homebound treasures you might otherwise not visit.
I suppose jumping off a cliff probably isn't ideal...haha
Hiking is still fun, harder in the heat tho.
Thank you for your kind wishes. Yeah, it will come with a lot of changes for us after more than a decade of nomadic minimalist lifestyle. But we will adapt somehow :)
It´s actually not that hot on Madeira. Usually around 25 C in summer and 20 C in winter. A lot of greenery all year round, big mountains, lakes, waterfalls... I think you would love it there ;)
remember I live in winterland, 25 is hot for us snow mexicans. You are right, I would love it anyway.
Looks really clear to me. The city is aesthetically pleasing and so clean, you captured a lot from this view...
Thanks! Glad to know that you like Funchal :)
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Je to zajímavé, "projet se" nad hlavním městem ostrova. Takových lanovek ve světě moc není.
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Hiya, @choogirl here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honourable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1978.
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Thank you guys! What a nice surprise :)
Photos and the publication itself, it's all fabulously beautiful and useful. The colors and shades of knowledge are really impressive. Thank you very much for your work. All the best to you.
Colors and shades of knowledge? What do you mean? Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
Good afternoon. I meant the beautiful colors of nature and the local landscape. The blue sky and the roofs of buildings, different colors add beauty to the photo. Thank you very much for your reply to my comment, I really appreciate it. Good luck to you and good mood 🙏
I see. Cool. Thanks for the explanation. Have a nice day :)
The beach looks fantastic 😎 🏖️
I don't know what it's like to be among the streets of Funchal but from this view from above the city looks a bit depressing 😕
Depressing? Really? Why? :D To me, Funchal seemed like a beautiful, clean city full of happy, smiling people :)
I don't know, looks like a grey city, maybe the people are happy and smiling but the city don't hahaha 🤷🏻♀️
Maybe it´s because it was cloudy in some of the photos. In my future posts about Funchal where I will also publish some street pictures, you will see how beautiful and colorful the city is ;)
Look at this one for example:
It´s not mine but a really nice shot. Cannot see anything grey there :)
Seems like you want to sell me a trip to Madeira 🤔🤣🤣🤣
Hahaha maybe? :D No, I´m just trying to defend this lovely place as you seem to get a wrong impression about it :)
🤔🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Madeira na dlani:)✨
Funšálek jako na dlani ;)
Wow 😍 beautiful place👍💚
It is. Thanks for swinging by :)
This city really looks good and amazing
I think I just need to visit Madeira someday in the future
I hope you will make it there indeed. It´s a charming island.
The place looks really nice.
It is nice. I hope you will make it there one day to see for yourself. Thanks for checking out the post!
Very cool way to see Madeira and photos came out really well considering you had to shoot through glass. The reflection is only apparent on a few of them.
Thanks man!
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