If you happen to be an early morning riser, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport can provide some excellent opportunities for budget traveling. Many of the cheaper European airlines offer early morning (5am - 8am) flights for great prices if you book them six weeks or so in advance. There are also direct flights to many places that you can’t fly directly to otherwise. You also have the added benefit of having almost the entire day remaining once you’ve arrive at your destination. Just remember that trains from the Amsterdam city center and the surrounding cities generally only run once an hour until they pick up more regular intervals around 5am. You may want to pay a few extra euro to book a cab in advance, especially if you are traveling with other people.
A View From Miradouros do Paredão. June 2024.
Now, I’m not the best morning person in the world but I’ve taken advantage of these flights several times, most recently with a Transavia flight to Madeira, Portugal. Madeira is the name of the island archipelago that is an autonomous region of Portugal and is also the name of the biggest island in the archipelago. The islands are off the western coast of Morocco, almost a straight shot west from Marrakesh. and as you can see, they are absolutely breathtaking.
A View From Miradouro de São Lourenço. June 2024.
FOOD BREAK! Being an island, Madeira is known for it’s excellent seafood. They also grow their own wheat and make a delicious flatbread called a bolo de caco. It looks like a giant English muffin but it is so much better. These can be served simply with a ton of garlic butter or made into sandwiches, the best of which is called the prego especial. These blew me away. I had at least five of them during the trip. Lettuce, tomatoes, aged ham, thinly sliced beef, cheese, and lots of garlic butter as a sauce. Incredible.
We also had some amazing octopus and fresh caught fish that seemed to have just hopped off the boat. And being that Madeira is still technically part of Portugal I had myself a Francesinha, an ungodly colossus of meat, cheese, bread, and beer gravy. Yes please.
We stayed in Funchal, the capital and largest city on the island. From the airport it is a quick 20 minute drive that gets really exciting when you turn off the highway and dive straight down the mountainside into the heart of the city. Driving in Madeira is definitely a wild and adrenaline-filled experience. Some of the inclines are at least 45 degrees, and driving through the clouds that ring the mountain tops only adds to the fun.
Along the ER101 Coastal Road at Sao Vicente. June 2024.
We generally split the days in Madeira wandering around Funchal and taking day-long road trips across the island (and once on the sea on a replica of the Santa Maria). This seemed to strike a nice balance and allowed us to freely see many of the viewpoints and small towns. Next time I’d really like to stay overnight in at least one of those small towns to get away from the “crowds” and enjoy the remoteness of the island. Places like Seixal and Porto Moniz would make excellent getaways from busy city life. But Funchal was a great base of operations, especially for a first-time visitor.
Ilheus da Ribeira and Janela from a beach between Sexial and Porto Moniz. June 2024.
TECH BREAK! Here are some photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S24 instead of my usual Sony A7C full frame camera. I think you can tell that while mobile photography has come a long way, the photos are still nowhere close to those that come from a proper camera. And my experience has been that the Galaxy S24 cameras are especially terrible (see below). I will definitely be going back to the Pixel Pro now that they have a reasonably sized version. The 5X camera on the Pixel Pros are simply amazing.
I know it’s comparing Food Lion apples to hand-picked Pacific Rose apples from New Zealand’s best orchards, but I’ve heard a few phone reviewers say that “traditional” photography is dead and that clearly isn’t true. Have a look at these and see if you can spot which was shot with the Sony A7C and which was shot with the Galaxy S24:
Ok, enough of that. Back to the good camera.
Visiting Madeira for the first time was an amazing experience. So much so that we’ve already booked a return trip during an EasyJet sale last month (Direct flights with 2 carry on bags in extra legroom seats for €120. Thanks EasyJet Plus :-D If you’re in the US, you can get direct flights from New York City too! Between the food, the friendly people, and the amazing natural beauty of the island, I’d highly recommend this wonder-filled island to anyone.
The Tail of Madeira. June 2024.
Highlights:
O Leque, Funchal. Best of the best Prego Especial. Great view of the square.
Revolucion Cocktail Bar, Funchal. Great cocktails and wonderful owner/operators
Santa Maria de Colombo, Funchal. Boat Tour on the replica of the Santa Maria. We didn’t see whales but it was great fun anyway.
Miradouros do Paredão. Great views for a short walk and almost completely void of other people.
Bar Praia da Laje, Seixal. Amazing bolo soaked in garlic butter. Great views. Food barbequed right in front of you. Amazing mussels.
Restaurante Baía do Bago, Porto da Cruz. Probably the best seafood from the trip. Also on the beach, also amazing views.
PR8 Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço. Popular hiking area along the “tail” of Madeira. The views are amazing and you can go down to a pebble beach if you feel like swimming.
Esmeralda Holidays Apartments, Funchal. Nice rooms in a great location. Had a bad smell in the entrance hallway but they let us check in at 10am and they were very friendly so that more than made up for it.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. I hope you enjoyed my photos!
