so the third day in Madeira, Tevia and Chrissie weren't up for a hike, so I decided to venture off on my own into the mountains of Madeira to see what kind of solo adventure I could have. The woman at the tourist agency told me to take a bus to this little town in the east of the island and from there I would find a few good levada walks. So I headed out in search for a trail head. On the bus there was a group of older Germans that all looked dressed for a hike, passing around a guide book. I asked them what hike they planned on doing and they showed me the guide book which described a nice levada walk that began at the town I was headed to. Forty five minutes or so later we got dropped off at this little village, more like a convenient store on the side of the road, in the middle of the lush green mountains with terraced farms extending in every which way. I saw a little levada on the other side of the road with a path next to it that headed up more into the farm land. I said bye to the Germans, who were taking a bathroom break at the convenient store and headed off on my own down the path. Within 5 minutes the path forked and seemed to be going basically through people's properties so I wasn't exactly sure what to do. Doubting myself for even wanting to go hiking by myself without a guide, I turned back on the path to see if I could just follow the Germans. Right then, a nice French couple was walking up the path and asked me if it was the right way, I said I wasn't sure but then we all consulted their guide book and determined that in fact the path winded up by peoples little shacks on the side of the mountains. I let them go first, seeing as I am a slow walker, and get a little ways ahead of me before starting again.
So basically the hike was amazing!! I honestly felt like I was in the Sound of Music, weaving through farms, and gardens, and cliffs, and views of the sea, and ahhh I was in heaven. Every time the path looked confusing the French couple would wait up for me to let me know where to go, and then we would set off separately again. Halfway through, the path came upon a little cafe where I sat with some other hikers and got a coffee while overlooking the lush rainforesty valley of eastern Madeira. The blue skies came out, and I passed a wonderful four hours taking pictures and meandering down the path occasionally running into other hikers along the way. This was suchhhh a goooood dayyy I can't even explain how happy I was, I really haven't felt that positive in such a long time. There is something truly liberating about being somewhere by yourself and knowing that really no one else in the world knows exactly where you are. It was just pure freedom and my soul was filled. It was also really cool thinking that I was only 20 and hiking in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on some island. The hike was perfect and it ended at a road overlooking the ocean, and me and the French couple took the bus back down to town where I caught up with Chrissie and Tevia for dinner. Blissss.
The next morning we flew out of Madeira and I was so sad to go. The whole time had been perfect and I had done almost everything I had wanted to do there. Madeira is truly amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. I have never seen a place so breathtaking and just utterly unbelievable. It is a different world honestly.... I can't wait to go back!
Next was LISBON!! Immediately charming city built on seven hills overlooking a harbor and with yellow cable cars just like San Francisco. The first day we randomly ran into this guy from the hostel in Lagos which turned out to be great cause he lived in Lisbon half the time and took us on a full day tour of the city, complete with an all you can eat Chinese buffet, chillen at a sunny cafe overlooking the water, and wine and dinner at his apartment in the old town. Could you want anything more? No. That night we went out in Barrio Alto which is Lisbon's Malasaña. I have to say that Malasaña has some definite competition because Barrio Alto was wild. Everyone was out on the streets drinking and it was completely packed with the coolest people dancing and talking and yea it was sick.
The next day we got up and headed to Sintra. A little fairytale village right outside of Lisbon that was highly recommended to us by basically everyone. Once again we stepped into another world, colorful castles, misty mountain tops, a rainy haze overlooking the pastures outside of the city. I don't even know how all these crazy, amazing places exist in one country. Like I said, Portugal is awesome. We managed to sneak into a castle without paying (success) and wandered around the grounds for a few hours, got some food, bought a necklace, and then headed back to Lisbon for the night. That evening we did another Barrio Alto tour and ended up meeting some lovely Portuguese guys who were hilarious and we pretty much spent the whole night with them laughing and joking and wishing we could move to Lisbon forever. Our last day in Lisbon was a cold, rainy day so we slept for most of the morning and then got up to take a famous cable car route around the city. It was wonderful wonderful and really everything was so great.
In the early morning we flew back to Madrid after 10 days of an amazing adventure. Chrissie, Tevia, and I, despite our many differences managed to travel well together and I feel like I got so much closer to them throughout all our misadventures. Portugal was a boost to my spirit and got me even more excited for the things to come this summer!!! Well yea.. thats it for now, maybe I will write more later on today but I am actually headed to the PRADO on this rainy Spain afternoon.
Love youuuu,
Chelsea
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