Day 2 – Madeira: Levada Nova & Kampo
Stelios & I had high hopes of getting up early with at 7:30am alarm set this morning but he didn’t even move when it went off so I hit snooze and we slept in until 8:30. We got dressed for our first hike and headed downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast was good, but the “fresh squeezed” orange juice sadly did not compare to Mallorca’s. By 9:30am we were on the road to Levada Nova. In Madeira a “Levada” means an irrigation channel or aqueduct, and today they are also popular scenic hiking paths where you walk along side the irrigation channel. Today’s hike was easy, only 2.5 miles but a nice hike to start the trip as we had harder ones planned ahead.
The drive to the Levada starting point reminded us of Sicily with the ocean in sight as we zipped around the highway and went through lots of tunnels going through the mountains to get to our destination. At one point the road became so narrow and steep we were both praying no other cars would come downhill. Stelios successfully maneuvered the car up the steep incline and we found a spot to park off the side of the road. The Levada walk was a perfect way to immerse ourselves in the nature of Madeira and we were the only ones on the trail. We walked over a sketchy bridge, passed by a waterfall, saw many types of flowers and agriculture, crouched through a cave, and even saw a cow grazing. The Levada path ended going into someone’s backyard so we stopped for a water break before turning around and going back the way we came to the car. Overall I think the irrigation channels are very impressive and it’s wild to think that these are all over the island. I wonder how long it took them to build this system.
After the Levada walk, we drove to Cascata dos Anjos which is a popular waterfall in Madeira. We parked and walked about 5 minutes up to the waterfall, it was pretty and nice for a quick picture but that was it. Not something I would drive out of the way just to see, but it happened to be on our way back.
We decided to stop in Ponta do Sol at a restaurant called “The Old Pharmacy” that served Portuguese tapas so we could enjoy some lite bites. We ordered the grilled shrimp, Alheira truffles, chorizo, oso buco tacos, and brownie for dessert. All of the tapas were incredible but my favorite were the tacos and Stelios liked the Alheira truffles best.
After lunch we drove back to the hotel, showered and hit the spa in time for our 3pm couples massage. The massage was outdoors and I dozed off listening to the sounds of the ocean. After the massage we laid out for an hour and jumped in the ocean which felt super refreshing.
By 5:30pm it was time to get ready for dinner. We had booked a “dinner with locals” experience which we were both really looking forward to. The confirmation email said to arrive at 6:55pm but we were running a few minutes behind. We power walked to dinner and arrived at 7pm but the building appeared closed so I called the phone number listed in the confirmation email on WhatsApp and a woman answered saying that the experience had been cancelled because there wasn’t enough people who signed up (they needed a minimum of 6) and that I should have gotten a cancellation email (I did not). What a bummer. On the plus side, she gave us two dinner recommendations that were nearby – Kampo and Aqua. We decided to go with Kampo, known for their specialty meat dishes and it did not disappoint.
We ordered the bread, beef tartar with mushroom, oxtail ravioli with truffle and foi gras mousse, and shared the ox belly entree with mushroom and truffle mashed potatoes. Just WOW. What an incredible dinner experience. My favorite was the oxtail ravioli – not a traditional Italian ravioli like you would think, but my mouth was exploding with flavor every bite I took. Every trip we’ve been on there is usually 1 restaurant that we fall in love with and want to dine at a second time before we leave – I think that Kampo might be it.
We finished dinner around 9pm and walked down by the water to watch the concert and fireworks. Tonight was the final Saturday of the “Atlantic festival” in Madeira, but it didn’t start until 10pm and I didn’t feel like just standing around for an hour so we continued walking around town to kill time. We decided to have some churros for dessert, and while they looked appetizing unfortunately they were quite bland, especially compared to the churros we had in Spain. Stelios also decided to give poncha a second try but came to the conclusion that it simply tastes bad.
After dessert we walked back to the waterfront but there were so many people I couldn’t see the stage #shortgirlprobs. I saw some kids sneak through the fence and go up onto the bleachers to see the stage so I quickly followed them and Stelios was right behind me. We snuck through just in time before security got there to prevent other people from going through and grabbed 2 front row seats on the highest bleacher. A literal elevated experience. The concert was cute and included a mix of a woman singing in Portuguese, kids performing traditional dancing, a group of boys in karate outfits did some breakdancing, and the final number was a combined choreographed dance. A little after 10:30pm they announced the fireworks would be starting. What a show it was! It was probably the largest fireworks display I have ever seen and they had the fireworks going off in patterns that timed perfectly with the music that was playing – incredible. By 11pm the show ended and the crowd dispersed. One of the side gates that enclosed the bleachers had been removed at this point to allow more people to exit the park so we didn’t even have to sneak out. Success! We walked 30 minutes back to our hotel, showered, and were in bed by midnight. A full day 2 in Madeira, Goodnight!
