After a great sleep from 22:00 the previous evening till about eight the next morning, we headed downstairs for breakfast at the hotel, where we filled up with pancakes, fruit and other delicious food. We may have overdid it, but it should give us plenty of energy for the hike today.
Levada do Moinho
The hike started in a small town, which took some windy, narrow roads to get there. The excitement of our Jeep rental car quickly diminished as we realised it's quite big and bulky, something you don't want on this island.
After a steep climb in the town, we were walking along the Levada, with a nice, gentle slope up the mountain.
Around every corner there was a new amazing view.
Or a waterfall, or something else to be delighted by.
At some point we came across a tunnel that you had to half-crawl through (well we did, because we're tall Dutch people).
The rewards was worth it though, the highlight of the hike, a nice waterfall.
After another half-hour we were at the end of the trail, where you had two options, either cross the water by wading through, or back-track a bit and walk a detour. Luckily my travel buddy, Onno had a towel with him so we chose the first option, and were the only ones to do so.
It took some planning, because the water was flowing so fast you could get swept away if not careful. Eventually we found a good spot to cross and continued the hike on the other side of the river.
We should have paid a bit more attention to the map, because after just 10 minutes we had to cross back again, to follow a lower Levada back to the town.
Eventually the valley opened up again and we were almost back at our starting point.
We randomly dropped our car at the beginning of the hike, as there was no official parking spot, but it turned out we dropped it right at the endpoint of the hike, nice!
We were done with the hike around 14:00, time for lunch. We googled "sandwich" and drove to the first suggestion. It did not disappoint, a huge Club Sandwich that was enough to fill us up for the rest of the day.
Ponta do Sol
Our hotel is located in "Ponta do Sol", a small town between two tunnels along the coast. One of it's main (and arguably only) highlights is the pier, which was used in the past to transport goods to/around the island.
You can still traverse the tunnels, though Google Maps and other navigation apps show it as closed. This because they are unmaintained and traveling through is at your own risk. (there tend to fall a lot of rocks at the entrances).
Luckily we had a rental car (Don't be gentle, it's a rental), so we did the thing and drove the old coastal road to our hotel. At the hotel we spent some time at the indoor pool and Turkish sauna to relax the muscles after the hike.
The sun was starting to set and it was time to go back outside and enjoy the views around the town.
At the pier of the town there was a building that used to be a prison, it's nice to just sit there for a while and enjoy the weather and views.
After dinner (a light salad, because of the Club Sandwich at lunchtime) it was time to head back to the hotel.
