Visiting Fanal Forest was something to be excited about! Ever since I stumbled upon it online, I instantly knew it was a place I had to explore. After breakfast in the hotel, we packed our suitcases and headed towards yet another adventure! Fanal Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a captivating variety of plants and trees. It is a true haven for nature lovers. Walking among the ancient trees covered in moss feels almost like walking in a mystical realm.
The reason for its fairytale-like allure is the mist that transfers the forest into a magical place to explore. Unfortunately, we didn’t experience the forest in its full foggy glory, but we still enjoyed walking along the century-old trees!
When we were planning this trip, we knew that surfing would be at the top of the list of things we wanted to do. Both of us had never experienced it before, so we made sure to book a beginner lesson in Seixal.
Arriving a few hours ahead of schedule, we walked around the beach, soaking in the atmosphere of the place where we would soon ride the waves. By the time we changed into our wetsuits, the weather had turned pleasant and with the sun shining, we started our lesson!
Our instructor was a nice, young lad who later told us that he had never left the island. You could see that surfing was his passion, and so for the next three hours, he spent teaching us what he loved the most. I must say that I enjoyed surfing very much. I enjoyed the sun, the warm water and the crazy waves, though I wasn’t really good at it. Dominik loved it.
Changing back to our clothes was something I wasn’t a big fan of. The salt in my hair was unpleasant and the sand all over my body was difficult to wash away under the public cold showers. But I guess that’s part of the experience, right? After our surfing lesson, we had a quick lunch at the nearby restaurant and then we continued our adventure on the island.
My love for hiking is something that I discovered after we moved to Ireland. Before that, I hated it. I didn’t care about the beauty of nature and the idea of walking up and down the hills wasn’t exciting to me at all. Now, when I found my appreciation for nature and a passion for photography, hiking is one of my favourite things to do while travelling. I wouldn’t miss hiking in Madeira for the world.
Levada das 25 Fontes is a trail that was recommended to us by the lad who worked at the car rental company. He suggested taking a quick shortcut through a 1km long (and very dark) tunnel that would make our hike a bit easier. Naturally, we decided to trust him and took the shortcut.
The trail takes you through the mountains, along the Levadas, up to a beautiful waterfall. It offers a break-taking view of the valley and a nice, relaxing walk that I and Dominik immensely enjoyed. The highlight of our hike was undoubtedly the tunnel. I must admit, I would have been more hesitant if we were anywhere else but Madeira. Walking through the pitch black tunnel and using only a camera light was eerie, but everything went smoothly and we reached the other side without an issue. (Looking back though, I realized that if we were in a horror movie, this wouldn’t probably end up happy for us!)
The waterfall at the end of the trail was a beautiful reward. We stayed there for a while to snap a few photos and then, as the sun was setting down, we headed back to our car and to our next accommodation.
