Portugal - Day 18
September 26, 2025: Excursion Day! We booked a full day 8 hour tour for today through Get Your Guide called “Madeira: Skywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal, and Fanal 4WD Tour.” We selected it because it would give us a tour of much of the island and was a small group tour. It was a little more “adventurous” than I expected. The ride to our first stop was “terrifying” for me. I have a fear of heights in certain situations and to get to Cabo Girão, we went up some very steep and tight road that were on the edge of the mountain. I literally closed my eyes or avoided looking out for much of the ride up. It reminded me of my first trip to Norway when we went to see Geirangerfjord. We drove up the mountain to Flydalsjuvet lookout in a bus on I was on the outside edge. I was terrified then too! Once we got up to Cabo Girão, the view was amazing. There was a glass bottom ledge where you could stand and look down 589 meters. Jimm did it, I did not. I just took pictures. There were tons of tourists there, so it is obviously included on many tours.
The next stop on the tour was the Ponta do Sol Pier. It was inaugurated in 1849. It is known for its architecture and its wide perfect round arch, which connects the coastal cliff to the pier. We stopped there on our way to Fanal’s Laurissilva Forest high in the misty mountains of Madeira’s northwest. This is considered one of the island’s most enchanting landscapes. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site with ancient laurel trees that twist into surreal shapes and their moss-covered branches. Usually there is a lot of fog here, but we were lucky and it was a bright sunny day for us. . The forest is home to trees that are hundreds of years old, as well as unique plants and bird species found nowhere else. On the way to next stop we went “off road” in the 4WD truck we were in down a very rough forest path which eventually led to the road to town.
For lunch, we stopped in Porto Moniz, which is home to some natural pools. It was lovely to just sit and have lunch overlooking the amazing ocean view with it’s rocks and pools. We walked around town for a bit but decided not to go in the pools since we plan to do that on Sunday at some natural pools near where we are staying.
Our two final stops were Seixal and Madeiras’s most famous black volcanic sand beach and then a quick stop to see São Vicente's waterfall. We did decide to go into the water at the black sand beach. Jimm took a full dip in the waters, I just walked along the beach. It reminded us so much of Big Island in Hawaii. We only had 30 minutes there, so we had to quickly dry off and meet up with our group. Then we headed to the view of the São Vicente waterfall for our photo opp before heading back to Funchal. It was actually a really great way to see many sides of the island of Madeira. The images above don’t do the island justice as it really is incredibly majestic. The mountains and views are absolutely breathtaking.
We ended the day having some leftovers from some of the dinners we’ve had since we got here so it was a pretty relaxing evening. We lucked out with another beautiful sunset.