Madeira - Day 11 - booking a levada walk

After all the walking yesterday my only agenda today was to book a levada walk. The levadas are the canals that are used to move water from the rainier Northern side of the island to the drier southern side. They are also used as pathways through the countryside. I had seen a recommended booking office on one of my wanderings and went looking for it.

I live in a relatively modern area of the city, up the hill. The lower areas have the narrow streets of the old town and some areas with older mansion like homes, with gardens around. Then of course there is the commercial centre and the hotel area.

The booking office for Flora Travel was on the edge of the old town, on a square populated with University students as the school is on the opposite side of the square. By the time I got there it was 1pm and the sign on the door said it would reopen at 2:30. There goes my plan of heading straight home and lying in the sun all afternoon.

I found a number of art galleries in the area.

I spoke to one artist, from Germany, who had been invited to Madeira to participate in the door painting project. He met another painter here, married and decided to stay.

There is a poster of  the painted doors.

But it doesn't include all of them.

I walked up a street behind the fortress

To a lookout area

with a church

that had shell motifs over,

and on,

its doors.

Headed back past the fort. This boat was freshly painted and I think every tourist who passed it took a picture.

The sign was still there so I ordered lunch at the restaurant next door - scabbard fish and a glass of wine, under a Heineken umbrella, surrounded by Portuguese students.

The door was open by the time I finished lunch and I booked a half day walk in the Mimosa Valley for tomorrow. I will actually have to set my alarm for the first time as they are picking me up at the bottom of my road at 8am.