Grumpy in Madeira

It’s the last day for Sis and Tony. 

We went to a place called Garajau. It is known for the statue of Christ the King. It’s quite an imposing statue of Christ with his arms open, facing the Atlantic ocean. It’s located on the East coast towards the airport. 

It was inaugurated in 1927. It is rumored to face the famous statue in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil but not confirmed.

If you have legs like a mountain goat, you can take the path down to the point. You’ll take some stunning photos there.

Note: The statue is currently cordoned off, as part of his head fell off in a storm.  There is a cable car down to the Pria (beach) where there is a lovely restaurant. 

The area is also a partial nature reserve.

From there we went to Santana.

Santana is known for the little colourful pointy thatched houses. Some are open to view how they used to live in these houses. Others sell plants, craft work products, and even Poncha. 

There is also a Farmers Market on a Saturday.

Other places of interest on that side of the island include, The Madeira Theme Park. It has the triangle houses, gardens, and traditional grocery shops. Artisans work with wool, embroidery, and wickerwork. They also bake traditional Santana bread. There is also a kiddies area with animal petting. Also worth a visit is Faial where there is a big carting site and Soa Jorge. There is some great Lavada walks.

We got showered and changed early and were back out around 4pm. Tonight we’re having dinner in Camara de Lobos village. It translates to Chamber of Wolves. Not wolves as in hairy four legged ones with teeth. Instead, they are Sea Lions, who are known as Sea Wolves.

Camara de Lobos is a fishing village. It is famous for the catching of the black Scabbard fish and its colourful fishing boats.

It is also known for recycling and hanging the decorations made, above the cobbled streets.

This seal is made from recycled wheelie bins. Brilliant.

Winston Churchill loved the place, he used to stay here and paint. There is a Hotel and Bar named after him also a Restaurant with fantastic views over the harbour.

The place we had dinner was called Casa Farol. It’s situated right in the village. The food is very good.

They serve a range of dishes from Steak to Fish of the day. You can also enjoy octopus (Polvo) rice, Picadinho’s, and cataplanas.

You must try the Nakita. It’s part wine, part beer and part ice cream. I had a mate (Bugs) over. He loves his beer and wine and is partial to ice cream. He had six Nakita’s. He loved them but went a strange shade of green hahaha.

We all went for the fish platter, three different filleted fish. Also Prawns and Squid too. Delicious!!! 

There are lots of bars and restaurants around the village and on the harbour.

So with it being Sis and Tony’s last night we spread our euro’s evenly amongst quite a few of them.

It was a great last night.