Well, I have problems with the internet and accessing my site, lagottocattleya. When I am finally in, I soon get thrown out again. And I am home, not in our summer house where I always have trouble with it. This has continued for a week, and I am struggling. So, finally here are my thoughts:
Bathing on the north coast of Madeira is spectacular. Natural pools and lava – open sea. 15 years ago, they were totally natural, but today there are hundreds of tourists and the pools are modelled after it.
In fact these are now the most famous sea pools in Europe, and a joy to visit. Seen from the road above, Porto Moniz doesn’t look like much…but I can assure you it is well worth an hour or two for a cooling swim.
This week Egidio wants us to focus on the woods – and that suits me perfectly well. Hopefully you too! I walk in my forest every day, but maybe not every day in Madeira…
So, I will pick some lovely Madeira memories from June, that hopefully will add to the mystery of this green island.
The Laurissilva forest is a 20 million years old subtropical rainforest – a UNESCO world heritage,
covering about 20 % of the island. Most of the species here are endemic to Macronesia.
There are many interesting living beings in this forest woods – plants, mushrooms, lichen, birds and insects. Madeiran Chaffinches are spoiled with food from the hikers…
Madre de louro is a mushroom that grows on lager trees in Laurissilva. ”Madre de louro”, or ”Mother Laurel” is said to be good for the blood and work against rheumatism. It was even used as an insecticide.
There is something special about dense forests with high humidity. The scent, the quietness. And, I can hear the water as it trickles along the mossy stones. In Madeira the levadas add to this soothing sound – sometimes they are fast flowing, sometimes only a slow, hardly noticeable flow. And I know how good this is for my well being. Forest bathing in its true sense – and it’s no surprise that it’s origin is Japanese!
I have always loved hiking, and hopefully I will be able to keep it up even if it has become more difficult as I age. The best thing with hiking is the possibility of being alone in and with nature, for reflection and for restoring myself. Sometimes we meet a fellow hiker or two. We nod and say a soft ”hello” as we meet. I guess many of us feel the same about hiking, so talking is unnecessary.
We heard from someone in the city though, that since Covid, the levadas can even feel crowded in places…luckily we did not have to face that. This island is a hikers’ heaven and haven.
Thank you, Egidio for this beautiful challenge, and our guest host last week, Stupidity Hole, asked us to share quiet hours. You gave us more quiet times with your beautiful galleries. I hope you will join us again this week in forest bathing. Don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag when creating your post so we can easily find it in the Reader.
Next week, Tina will send us another challenge. It will go live at noon EST in the USA. Tune in to find out more about the challenge then. Please see this page to learn more about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history. Stay well.
A levada is an irrigation channel or aqueduct specific to the Portuguese Atlantic region of Madeira. In the 16th century the Portuguese started building levadas to carry water to the agricultural regions in the south. Over 2,170 km (1,350 mi) of levadas were built and later provided a network of walking paths.
Due to the dangerously mountainous landscape, building levadas was often tasked to criminals and convicts from continental Portugal. Today levadas supply water and also provide hydro-electric power.
These are some scenes from a lovely levada along the south coast of Madeira. We walked this city border levada first, and later in the week returned to our favourite mountain levada. They are totally different. Ready? Let’s go!
We jumped off the local bus at Estreito de Camara de Lobos. The walk starts in a vineyard. We were grateful for the shadow!
The whole walk presented splendid views over the landscapes and the ocean.
Every now and then we met a local farmer on the path.
And – curious little friends peeping out for a closer look at us.
This is a very mountainous landscape, and the levada was sometimes redirected to another path because of overhanging cliffs and stones.
Workers in the heat of the day, a singing levada, fruits and berries among the flowers. And…lizards en masse!
Paths can provide easy and relaxing walks through the countryside, while others are narrow, crumbling ledges where a slip could result in injury or death. We walked the most dangerous ones in the 1980’s – today we would not take the risk.
Children played with the water of course – this little guy had built a boat for the levada – and as we passed him, we found his shoes too.
Animals are kept in little sheds – palheiros – I feel so sorry for them. Living in the mountains means not many places for grazing, and they could also slip and fall. I was so happy to find this beautiful goat in a massive field of lush grass! But, look closely at his horns – they are tied together.
Welcome back to Madeira, and something new to us – a rundown area had been neatly decorated by talented local artists. Rua de Santa Maria in downtown Funchal. We had walked here before, but this year we did with open eyes, savouring the varied door paintings.
They made the area shine! The street came alive with tourists visiting the galleries, the little restaurants and cafees. No tourists in my pictures though…
Colourful,
scary or fun – we found all sorts of painted doors. And sometimes we got a glimpse of the inside too –
– or what might be on the inside…
A walk to be recommended if you ever visit Funchal. There were many more doors than these, and I saw the whole menue vividly painted on one restaurant door!
We welcome Beth to her first Stormy session with Lens-Artists!
What does stormy look like to you? For stormy weather, Beth wants us to think about rain, blizzards, sleet, snow, hail, wind, dark clouds, angry seas, lightening, a storm rolling in, or people out in the weather. Another option would be to show stormy feelings or stormy situations. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to her original post. We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
This is a tricky challenge for me – living in the southernmost part of Sweden we seldom see really stormy weather. So, here’s my take:
Seeing storms from afar, slowly sailing up, that is the closest I can come to this challenge. In heavy rain I seldom go out, only watch from my window. And I like watching it – Mother Nature rules.
I can also watch storms unfolding from my house or my car – and still stay dry.
Alaska cruising – in really unhappy conditions – but dry and happy on the boat!
Iceland is much more weather beaten than Sweden, being an island and situated further north.
Iceland again – I don’t remember the year, but I do remember that fast disappearing road. Icy, windy and cold. It took us some time to drive through to the other side of the island.
Last week I really enjoyed your beautiful responses to Sofia’s Mellow challenge. I learned that the the word could be used in so many ways I had never heard of before.
Hope to see you – and be sure to look for Anne’s challenge next Saturday, June 21 at noon Eastern Time.
I am revisiting the trainride to Tibet in 2009 – and sending some pictures from the train for Thursday Thoughts.
Mezmerising landscapes every day – and – going to bed for the night? We didn’t want to miss a single thing. Today I found some pictures with human connection. Nomads with Jaks grazing the slopes. A peaceful sight.
The Chinese built the railway on the permafrost, and also the existing roads. We saw mostly trucks in endless lines on those roads.
Something that maybe was built to stop snow and sand blowing onto the railway?
Meandering rivers and roads, and everywhere that enigmatic light,
and the magnificent cloudscapes over the floating, colourful landscape.
See the tiny road running close to the railway? I can only imagine the distance to those mountains…
I hope you enjoyed this piece of the Tibetan Plateau too. I do think there will be a number III next Thursday – and you are welcome to travel with me!
In 2009 we travelled by railroad to Tibet from China. A grand adventure on the Tibetan Plateau.
It is the world’s highest and largest plateau above sea level with an area of 2.500.000 square kilometres. The average elevation is more than 4.500 meters (14800 ft)
I have gone back to look at my old photos from the train – a train that never stopped and only let us take photos from where we sat. All four of us were glued to the windows those few days.
The landscape was breathtakingly beautiful, vast and wild – and I tried to capture it all with my simple, little Canon camera.
I am so grateful to have these memories, and despite the old camera, I will post some more pictures next Thursday as well.
Leya 
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