Tour of Madeira - day 2
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Sat 9 Oct 2010 14:29
There are lots of small seaside towns dotted along the south coast, most of which have now become very sleepy due to the time of year. Also today the weather was at best hit and miss, we have had everything from torrential downpours to glorious sunshine within minutes of each other. Driving along the coast road was stunning, when we could see, and we eventually arrived at our first stop, a small fishing village which we had been told served the best fish on the island. When we arrived the fishing fleet was clearly in as there were hundreds of men just hanging around the streets with apparently nothing to do. The whole place was unfortunately reminiscent of a small version of Fleetwood and we left fairly soon after a quick coffee stop.
We wound our way up and down the mountains for the next couple of hours and as we went along the coast the weather got worse and the towns got smaller and more deserted. The nicest place we went to was actually the last place and the one we nearly missed out as we had some jobs to do on the boat before we set off again on the next leg of our journey. Machico was the place we were supposed to go for the festival and procession. The festival has been running for a week and there have been different events each day. There were loads of stalls set up selling BBQ'd meats and the local breads stuffed with chorizo or garlic butter.
This is a picture of the marina where we are staying - the first day was really sunny and John told me the sunrise looked fabulous reflecting off the rocks - he told me this afterwards so I didn't see it and he didn't take any photos either! SInce then the weather has been mixed to say the least and it hasn't happened again.