Madeira is a place where you can really find everything. Cycling, hiking, doing nothing at the beach, partying, canoying, whatever.

I came here mainly to go to the mountains and I didn’t really have a plan of what I wanted to see. In fact, my whole plan for this trip was completely turned upside down and I involuntarily entered this trip and also a new phase of my life, alone. And only now I can say in retrospect that it was really a ride, both in terms of external experiences, but mostly in terms of internal ones. Nevertheless, here I just want to summarize my hiking experience in Madeira.

Curral das Freiras Hike

The first hike on the island was among the most challenging. It started just above Nuns Valley and was very steep. After the first hard part (which took us for about 3 hours) e joined the main road to Pico Ruivo. I thought we were just going for a short hike, so I took almost no water. I was really impressed by the scenery and I was totally blown away by the silence and the omnipresent fog. And the super fast swallows too! The way back led us through an eucalyptus forest, which was even more massive than the one I saw for the first time in Geres National Park in Portugal the year before. In the evening I rented Daniel’s car and headed towards Arco de Calheta. The accommodation there was absolutely amazing. I had a whole huge villa with a pool for myself there. And the owners were so nice to me! The gentle owner even made me dinner, excellent coffee and generally took such nice care of me. He felt a bit sorry for me for being there alone and at the time I was still feeling sorry for myself too. But I tried to enjoy the place, accept the feeling and the situation in and not think about being alone.

Levada das 25 Fontes (Rabacal)

From the Arco de Calheta I went to one of the most famous Levadas, 25 Fontes. It was pretty crowded, but it was a beautiful and easy hike. I saw the biggest waterfall of my life and also completely randomly met former work colleagues. Lots of negative thoughts were coming all the time into my head, but I kind of knew it was just a phase, so I just let them go. I watched couples in love and felt sad and thought that I am lonely but now I know that it was just a filter in my head. I was actually seeing ONLY couples because I wanted to see them.

25 fontes (waterfalls)The next day I went exploring the local tunnels. There are a lot of them in Madeira! A lot of them are very wet, so it’s good to have a raincoat. Unfortunately I forgot my flashlight, but luckily it was pretty easy to get through with my cell phone. On this hike I met Tiago and it was the start of a great friendship that kind of defined what my stay in Madeira would look like, and it also made me realise so many things that I would otherwise only get to for so long.

FANAL

The next day I stayed overnight in Porto Moniz, where are some amazing natural pools, which I write about in my article about the Madeira coast. On the first day, I went on a hike from Porto Moniz that led to Fanal. The Fanal forest in Madeira is a magical place. The Fanal area is a small plateau filled with wet and marshy lush green meadows perfect for grazing cattle. It is full of ancient native laurel trees that have grown to sometimes bizarre shapes (thanks to the specific microclimate and frequent northerly winds). A beautiful place, but I myself was still unable to enjoy the beauty as it deserved. After Fanal, I went to Seixal to enjoy the beach and the beautiful waterfalls in the evening.

LEVADA DA SERRA

We got to this levada from a plateau that is full of wind mills. We listened to a lot of different songs, mostly psytrance. I saw probably the most waterfalls in one place, and I finally started to get to the point of enjoying the beauty of this island a little bit. We stopped on the top of the mountain for about an hour and were just quietly sitting, flowing and enjoying the beauty of the present moment. At that moment Tiago shared a quote that stuck in my mind: “Happiness is only real when shared”. And in that moment I felt suddenly sad, but I also realized that I didn’t have to be alone and feel happy alone. All I needed was to get past this painful phase and start appreciating the beauty of the days again. The weather changed about 4 times on this hike. As we walked towards there, there was fog everywhere and we couldn’t even see in front of us or below us. On the way back it cleared up beautifully and we could see the clouds below us. At that moment I remembered again the quote Steven told me that “behind every cloud there is a sun” and it really is true! In general, I find that I saw a lot of the metaphors I was looking for on the island this month.

BAREFOOT WATERFALL

I met Hector thanks to this hike in Sao Vicente. Such a pure soul! We climbed a wonderful waterfall barefoot and it was also for me officialy the first hike that I did barefoot! Later we meditated, listened to the water flow,observed the nature around us and ate figs. Hector is from Guadelope and even though we only saw each other 3 times, we were able to connect in a very interesting way. Like a sister and brother. I felt that he is so much like me. He was telling me about his illness, healing with natural oils and connection to the natura in general. We talked also about Guadelope and how i tis to live there. I didn’t even know that Guadelope exists! Now I know though and will come for sure to visit one day. I don’t know if the universe heard us, but after we talked about Lyme disease for a few hours, I got a tick too. And as soon as I found out, I saw Hector from my balcony on the street. I quickly went down and we laughed together and tried to get some Samureja Montana oil that cured him of Lyme disease. What connected Hector and I incredibly was that we both have pretty significant ADHD and confusion that comes randomly during casual life situations. I really enjoyed watching someone who was just as confused as me, if not more so.

I met Hector again in Funchal with his friend Jeremy. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and discovered that neither of us likes Italian food :D. Then we went to play and sing in the park and it was lovely. Gentle flow. We didn’t really know what to play but it was a nice Goodbye. Jeremy then went off into the mountains and God knows where he is now. Hector went to France to see his brother.

When I was driving from Sao Vicente to Santana to the mountain cottage,  my car broke down. It started to smell and smoke and it was really scary. At first I thought it was something outside, but it wasn’t. Luckily, out of the blue, Nuno drove by, and thanks to him, I had a wonderful experience on the island and he became my guide for a few days. Nuno rescued me, and brought me to the cottage by his van. Before that we sat down for beer, wine and chicken hearts. He kept telling me things and it was so nice how proud he was of his native Madeira and how much he loved this place. We connected very wel through talks about relationships, incompability and about the fact, that sometimes we just have to let go and accept ourselves as we are.

MIND TRAVELLING (Caminho dos Cedros & Santana Cottage)

This cottage and this trip will always remain in my memories because I will forever associate it with the most powerful psychedelic experience of my life. I went through a forgiveness ceremony with myself. My ego completely dissolved and suddenly it didn’t exist at all. I felt connected to the earth and all of nature around me. I felt connected to every particle that exists in the world and also to every person, every object, just everything and everyone I had seen in my life so far. The universe spoke to me and through the endless tears, strong emotions and pain, it let me experience what I had been suppressing so strongly. I was alone. Just me alone, connected to the universe. And it was beautiful. I could feel the plants charging me and giving me all the energy I needed. Charging me with its strength. And I also got the space to feel the pain. Loss. I wished that everyone in the world could know and see what I saw. I finally understand what others mean when they say we are all “one”. It sounds really crazy, but it’s true. And I’m so incredibly grateful that I was able to see it. When I woke up the next day, I felt that something changed in me. I remember that before this trip I was saying that I need that „something big happens“ and I felt that this experience definitely started this „big thing“. I sat in the stillness and silence and just took in myself, the beauty of the place and just being present. 100%.

One of the short hikes that I did was after we flew with Nuno over Port Cruz (Levada dos Balcoes). What an experience! We went together to the beautiful viewpoint of Miraduro dos Balcoes. Nuno told me lots of stories about Madeira, showing me these little birds that he tried to call with a special whistle. Then he also complained about the guides bringing food to the viewpoint. That it was making the birds sick. That was true. They didn’t look very healthy. Nuno apologised several times for talking too much. He said his ex-wife told him he talked all the time too. But I didn’t mind at all. I was glad to have a companion and to learn so many new things about Madeira.

Pico do Arierio to Pico Ruivo

I did this probably the most famous and one of the best hikes in Madeira after about 3 hours of sleep. Luckily I hadn’t been drinking alcohol so I didn’t feel hangover.

First we drove to Pico do Arierio for sunrise and on the way I saw perhaps the most beautiful moon in my life. It was so clearly visible and big. It was shining on the road. When we were almost on the mountain, we saw it setting and it was really HUUUGE.

The sunrise was beautiful, and I didn’t mind that there were a lot of people there. I felt good and full of energy and excitement for what the day would bring. We strenghtened ourselves with some psychedelics and headed out. We sang along the way and were just again endlessly amazed by the beauty around us. The weather changed again a few times during the hike, but it was beautiful. We often just sat and were meditating in the middle of the mountains. I realized that I would not see such beauty again for some time so I tried kind of „save“ it for later. I was happy and full of gratitude. In the evening after the hike, I went to a party on the coast where I danced for about 4 hours by myself and it was GREAT. But I’ll write about the party, Funchal and people in general elsewhere.

 

ENCUMEADA – PICO GRANDE

The last hike of the month was from Encumeada to Pico Grande. It was also the longest hike that I did on Madeira, 25 kilometers. It was one of the nicest though, because we hiked along the side of the cliff the whole time and were able to take in the spectacular views. The highlight of this hike was the Pico Grande rock, which made me feel incredibly grateful, happy and peaceful. But not that ecstatic dopamine happiness. Rather, I felt such a lightness and stability. No big emotional swings. And I can say with complete peace of mind that I have NEVER felt this way in my life. I have never felt so connected to myself and so much strength in the fact that I am the creator of my life and that only I decide what I welcome into it and what I don’t. And for the first time in my life, I felt happy just being me. Alone with myself with nothing and no one else. And for the first time, I felt that with this inner strength, my life can be so different and truly full of love. For the first time I felt that i tis all in my hands to fight my anxieties and that there might be way how to fix them. But it will take time and it is completely fine like that.

And that’s it for hikes! More about coast, towns, beaches etc here: COASTAL MADEIRA