2020 was a very difficult year for everyone, and for me as well. Being robbed of the possibility to travel whenever you would feel like escaping from your daily routine made a lot of people turn to other things to occupy their time and to also rethink their values and re-evaluate their lives.
I’ve always been an outdoor person, so during this time I started to feel how much I miss nature and crave to go in a forest, climb a mountain and breathe some fresh air. I was born in the Alps and my family was not a wealthy one, so I couldn’t afford to travel, but I always had nature to escape to. I used to climb mountains, swim in lakes, run on green grass and live harmoniously in nature.
Growing up, of course, I had to do what everybody does, get a job, move to a big city, but this came with the price of losing touch with the thing that was omnipresent when I was a child, nature. Eventually I met someone and we started to travel a lot, so I came in touch with my adventurous side once more. At least a little bit.
During 2020 I started thinking about this again, and I realised that even though I was travelling almost every year, it was not enough to just take holiday for 2-4 weeks per year and just briefly see what a country has to offer in a few days, so, I came up with a plan.
I wanted to make a change, so, in summer 2021, I decided to change the way I travelled, push myself a bit out of my comfort zone and I packed my stuff and left for Madeira. I didn’t just leave to settle in a different place, but I came up with this new plan to discover the world by living in different countries, to stay in each of them for a few months, to have the time to interact with local people, to understand how they live, their struggles, what makes that country unique and I wanted to do that by avoiding the places you see advertised everywhere. My plan is to bike, hike, take a boat, a bus, a train, anything that would allow me to discover the heart of a country and live like the locals do.
DISCOVERING MADEIRA AND MY FIRST ADVENTURE THERE
So, in September I took a plane from Lisbon and embarked on this new journey. During my time there I met so many amazing people, I’ve slept a few nights under the stars and discovered what makes this island unique.
My first adventure in Madeira was an island crossing. I wanted to go across the island from North to South, so I started my adventure somewhere close to Santana. This place is really famous for having preserved some traditional houses. They are not in use anymore, but only displayed as part of a museum. In any case, I was there for a different reason, to cross the island, so I started my hike with quite a big ascent, by following one levada, Levada de Santana.
Now you may be wondering what a levada is. In short, they are man made channels used to transport water from the northern part of the island to the side for agricultural purposes. They are 100% not powered by energy, only by gravity and you find them wherever you go.
I followed this levada for a few kilometers and then I headed for the highest peak of Madeira, Pico Ruivo.
There I set up my tent, somewhere hidden between a rock and some bushes. These nights are my favourite kind – making a small fire, having a cup of tea and eating my dinner under the sky full of stars.
But the morning was not bad either. I saw the most magical sunrise, the sun coming out shy between the mountain peaks and misty clouds. Then I followed one of the most popular trails on the island and one of the most spectacular ones. It’s called Pico Ruivo to Pico Areeiro and it stretches between the highest peaks of Madeira. You always walk between the clouds and you see jaw dropping views on every step. From Pico Areeiro to Funchal, only a small hike down and with this ended my first journey in Madeira.
DISCOVERING TRADITION IN MADEIRA AND LEARNING ABOUT PONCHA
But hiking and discovering the nature of Madeira was not the only thing that I did on the flower island. I soon learned how to make poncha, the national drink of Madeira. This drink has an interesting history. It was used in the past as a way to treat diseases, but also to warm up fishermen during the cold nights. The original recipe includes lime juice, honey and sugar cane rum and it originated in a fisher village called Camara de Lobos.
Nowadays you have a lot of variations where different fruits are used to make this drink in different flavours and also a little bit less alcohol to make it easier to drink also on warm summer days. The guys from Poncha de Sao Vicente were the ones that taught me all the secrets of poncha and I can say that it is one of the best ponchas on the islands. And Nikitas as well. If you don’t know what Nikitas are, you should definitely order one when you are in Madeira. It will be a nice surprise.
LEVADA DO NORTE
After some ponchas I felt again the urge to make something more adventurous. I knew how to warm up, I only needed another plan to discover more of the gorgeous landscape of the island. So I went on to climb the cliffs of the island in 24h, I got sort of stranded on a plateau trying to avoid some hunters and I followed one of the longest and most important levadas on the island: Levada do Norte.
Seeing them everywhere, I always wondered where these little channels start, so I decided to follow my favourite levada from the end to where it starts. It was a hell of an adventure. I went along it for 3 days, hiking narrow alleys next to hundreds of metres of cliffs through high peaks and hollow valleys. The last day was the most challenging as I had to go through more than 20 dark long tunnels which were a little bit challenging as they are not made for tall people like me and I had to fight a bit of my claustrophobic feelings.
I didn’t know what to expect at the end of the levada, so I was surprised to see that the spring it’s actually a waterfall which, together with other small waterfalls and streams joining along the way to create a bigger one. This was my last adventure in Madeira. After 3 months of discovering this island and its people, it was time to say goodbye and discover another amazing place.
LEAVING MADEIRA AND STARTING A NEW JOURNEY
Winter is not my favourite season, so I was considering a place where I could run away from cold and rain and it came to my mind that there are more islands in the Atlantic ocean and that some of them have pretty good weather all year long. This and the fact that I wanted to meet a friend that I hadn’t seen in 2 year was how I decided to come to the Canary islands.
My project of travelling the world slowly includes another aspect. I want to create a community around it and decide together where I go next, so for my next destination after the canaries I will rely on my instagram and youtube community to decide. My goal is to show you through my lens places you always wanted to see or discover your own world in my way and with your help. Going back to the Canary islands, I want to do exactly the same thing. I want to meet the locals, understand how it is to live here and see the untraveled roads, the least explored corners of each island and see what makes each island unique.
At the moment of writing this article, I am in Fuerteventura, preparing for my first adventure. I can already see that it’s very contrasting to Madeira. It feels like I am on Mars or on the Moon and I cannot wait to climb the volcanos and meet the famous goats that I’ve heard roam everywhere.
