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Morocco and Portugal 2023
  • Darren and Janet

Morocco and Portugal 2023

A 63-day adventure by Darren and Janet Read more
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  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    1Sideways sliding action (sadly couldn't get a photo of us)
    Cablecar, looking up the mountainMonte GardensMonte GardensOn the cable car, looking back over FunchalCarreiros do Monte start point2Oliver ready to slideUs being pulled in a slow sectionSome other people enjoying the ride!More cool street art1Footage of a random family, courtesy of Bek

    Teleferico up, Carreiros down

    April 11, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We made an early start today to ride the cable car (Teleferico) up the mountain behind Funchal. The cruise ship passengers usually do it in the morning, so we avoided the last 2 days when there were 2 ships in, with a total of 7,500 passengers. Today there is only 1 ship of less than 200.

    The journey up the mountain is 3km, and there there are a number of gardens, churches and a palace that can be viewed at the top.

    The fun way to come down is by wicker basket sled (Carreiros do Monte). The small village of Monte, perched in the hills overlooking Funchal, was formerly a health resort for Europe's high society, so what began as a method of transport in the late 1800's for the elite, is now purely for tourism.
    Standing on the back of the sled, 2 white-uniformed drivers (Carreiros), wearing straw boaters and rubber soled shoes, steer the baskets along the narrow winding streets 2km downhill, at up to 40kmh.

    After our slide down the hill we caught the local bus back to the city centre, walked along the promenade, and visited the supermarket to buy supplies for dinner.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    1Fanal Forest in the mist
    6Cabo Girão Viewpoint, view down through the glass platform... 589m down1Cabo Girão Viewpoint, view to the east1Cloud rolling in, near Paul da Serra1Above the clouds, Encumeada3Fanal Forest, cloud rolling in1Fanal Forest, not as atmospheric without the cloudRibeira da Janella, view along the north coastPorto Moniz, view from our apartment2Levada walk on the way to a cache... not the finest example!

    Cliffs and Clouds

    April 12, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We're leaving Funchal today and heading to the north west corner of the island to Porto Moniz.

    We contacted a taxi driver a few days ago who specialises in transfers for tourists and agreed a price for the journey, including stops on the way. To drive direct takes one hour, so we hired him for 4 hours with 3 stops.

    First stop was the Cabo Girão Viewpoint, famous for its suspended glass platform. At 589m it's claimed as the highest sea cliff in Europe and the 2nd highest in the world (but both claims are in dispute!)

    We then ascended the central mountain range close to the highest point of the island, where we were above the clouds for much of the journey.

    On the northern side of the island we stopped at the Fanal Forest, an old growth laurel forest - it's at 1500m altitude and often shrouded in cloud, giving it a mystical appearance... but the cloud blows in quickly and disappears just as fast. Laurel forests were once spread throughout Europe, but today are practically extinct, so the Madeira Islands laurel forest was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, covering an area of 150 square kilometres.

    We arrived at Porto Moniz at 2pm, had some lunch on the foreshore and a trip to the supermarket. Oliver and I then went for a caching walk, and had an impromptu Levada walk.

    A levada is an irrigation channel or aqueduct specific to Madeira. They were originally constructed of stone and later concrete to irrigate the sugarcane fields, and usually have a walking path next to it. There are more than 2,170 kilometres of levadas - not bad for an island 57km long and 22km wide.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    Porto Moniz, low clouds coming in
    1Archadas da Cruz, village at the bottom1Archadas da Cruz cable down... but no car runningView east from Porto Santo, entrance to one of the island's 286 tunnels on the rightPorto Moniz natural sea poolsPorto Moniz, the other natural sea poolsPorto Moniz natural sea pools, bit fresh for a swim todayPorto Moniz natural sea pools

    The teleferico that wasn't

    April 13, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Our plan today was to catch the cablecar from nearby Achadas da Cruz, down the cliff to sea level to a village that has no inhabitants, but the farmers still visit regularly to tend their crops. ,

    The cable car has a length of 600 meters and a slope of 98%, starting at 451 meters and ending by the sea... one of the steepest around and a must see for us.... except that when we arrived it was closed for maintenance 😞

    Our taxi driver claimed he didn't know it was closed, despite it being closed all week and him specialising in tourist transfers in the area (as well us asking at the start of the trip if it was open)... so that was 50 euro not well spent! 

    He gave us the option of walking down and up instead, a path about five kilometers long, which was once used by local farmers to transport their crops. We declined.

    The afternoon was raining off and on, so in between showers we grabbed a few caches and made another visit to the supermarket, before cooking dinner in.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    2Second cache was next to the pink house, toward the top of the hill
    On the way down to the first cache of the day2View from first cache2Found the path up the mountain!2Coffee and pastel de nata, overlooking Porto Moniz...and the path down11Waves crashing into the natural sea pools

    Caching up and down the mountain

    April 14, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The weather is cool and overcast again today, so our plan to swim in the natural sea baths was put on hold.

    We solved a puzzle cache this morning so we set out on a mission! It was located beyond the end of a walking path, about 700m from our apartment. After some searching we found that one and was walking back to town past the school got chatting to the caretaker (it's currently school holidays), so we had a look around their indoor football stadium and 6 lane swimming pool... and he motioned that there is a walking path up the mountain (his English was as good as our Portuguese 😁).

    We set off up the path (toward a cache that we aborted the search for 2 nights ago when we ran out of footpath), and kept going up until we reached our destination. And, as luck would have it, a local cafe was just up the road. After a steak sandwich, coffee and Portuguese tart, we headed back down the walking path toward the coast.

    Still too cold for a swim, we walked around the town for a while, and had dinner in.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    Sexial Beach
    1Machico, 2 beaches, airport in the backgroundWatching planes landing at CR Airport2Another lookout to watch landings1Porto da Cruz from cache vantage pointTraditional house, Santana2Glass viewpoint, GuindasteSexial Beach and township

    North Coast

    April 15, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Time to leave Porto Moniz and travel across the north coast from west to east.

    We engaged the same taxi driver to pick us up and give us a tour of the north coast, narrowly avoiding a road block as the São Vicente Car Rally was starting on the public roads this morning.

    We stopped at the black sand beach of Sexial, voted in the top 3 beaches in Europe in 2022 - not for the quality the beach (because the blank sand turns to black mud after going in the water), but because of the setting.

    We stopped briefly to see some traditional Madeiran triangle houses in Santana. They are made of straw and wood because they were both abundant materials in the early days, and the high pitched roof assisted to keep the rainwater running off.

    Another glass viewpoint visited at Guindaste, this one vying for the world's shortest? 😂

    Porto Da Cruz is home to a rum distillery, so while Bek and Jake sampled their wares, Oliver and I climbed the nearby viewpoint for a cache and watched the many surfers in the bay.

    Two more viewing areas were visited before arriving in Machico, both with views of the airport. We stayed a while and watched a number of planes take off and land - the airport is certainly busier that we thought it would be!

    After settling into our accommodation, we headed to the city centre for a late lunch and a walk around the beach front, which is split into two by a breakwater. One end is a pebble covered surf beach, the other a sandy swimming beach in a protected end of the bay. It is one of the few sandy beaches of Madeira, with sand imported from North Africa. The sand imports were quite controversial, as the sand was taken from Western Sahara, a Non-Self Governing Territory which has been largely occupied by Morocco since 1975.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    Machico, old town streets deserted on a Sunday
    Machico, looking northMachico walking near the fort, quiet todayMachico, view from the west of town3Found this old house with furniture, family photos and the key still in the door2Machico, view from our apartment, last cache was at the isolated white building in the distanceVereda = path, Levada = waterway (literally, taken)Crabs on the steps, Machico foreshoreMachico beach

    Meandering in Machico

    April 16, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Free day in Machico today, and the weather is warm and clear, so we thought we do some of the walking tracks around town.

    As we discovered in Porto Moniz, there are walking tracks throughout each town, but they don't appear on any maps, so it's a bit of trial and error to get the right one.

    We began near our apartment on the western side of town, with a track that crosses the main highway and heads toward the airport. It got very steep, very quickly, so we found another path down, back towards to centre of town.

    After some meandering we realised we were only a few hundred metres from one last cache (there's always just one more 🤣), so we trekked up the hill to the east to claim it.

    We found a series of levadas and roads down to the beach to join Bek and Jake for alfresco lunch near the fort, then headed back uphill to our accommodation for a quiet afternoon.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    6The name change in 2018 wasn't unanimous... they even had protests!
    EasyJet landing, plenty of others ready to take off (no airbridges at Funchal)BA turns around at the end of the runway after landing2On our way with Edelweiss Air

    Aeroporto da Madeira

    April 17, 2023 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We have an afternoon flight to Zurich, and only 6km to travel to the airport, so we had breakfast on the terrace before making our way to the airport late morning.

    The road from Machico to the airport travels under the runway, between the supporting pylons - the runway extension completed in 2000 was built on a platform, partly over the ocean, supported by 180 columns, each about 70 m tall. The terminal itself is mostly underground.

    We already had plenty of time to kill, but that was made worse by our plane from Zurich being an hour late leaving, so we were then scheduled to depart Funchal at 5.50pm.

    The airport is constantly busy, averaging 84 aircraft movements a day, and handling over 4 million passengers a year. Fortunately the departure lounge is on the top level and has an outdoor viewing area which overlooks the runway!

    By the time our departure time came around the original flight plan had expired, so we had another delay on the tarmac, finally taking off at 6.15pm.

    We arrived Zurich at 10.50pm and were thankful that we booked an airport hotel, so we were in the room by 11.45pm (the bloke in front of us at reception didn't have a booking... and both hotels in this area are fully booked with a conference this week, so he may have been in for a long night!)    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    1
    1The River Limmat flows through Zurich1Funicular to the university2Zurich is tram central!1Funicular behind airport precinct1Zurich central train station1Lake Zurich, start of the River Limmat

    No time to zzz in Zurich

    April 18, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We only have one day in Zurich, so caught the train to the city this morning. This was our first lesson in what an expensive city this is - return train tickets were $22 each (for a 24 hour pass anywhere around the city).

    We walked across the many bridges in the city, up and down the funicular to the university, and around the old town streets, stopping for lunch and a few caches on the way. (Lunch from a street caravan was a burger, pesto pasta and 2 cappuccinos... $57. Ouch!)

    We noticed plenty of Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Maserati's in the streets, and had a quick look in the Tesla dealership in the heart of the city.

    We caught the train back to our airport hotel late afternoon and went for a walk around the park behind the airport, home to the shortest funicular in Switzerland with a length of 78.5 metres and a rise of just 23 metres!    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    Arriving Zurich Airport
    1Watching some planes take off before we departSuper quiet at Changi this morning

    Zurich Flughafen

    April 19, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Only one activity today, a flight to Singapore.

    The nice thing about an airport hotel, it's just a walk to the terminal.

    We departed a few minutes late at 11.55am, but arrived Singapore on time at 5.50 am... to 30 degrees and humid!

    Changi Airport is as quiet as a mouse, we were off the plane and had our bags in hand by 6.15 am, ready to catch the train to the city...    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    Night swim
    Boat Quay, the old and the newMarina Bay Sands, visible from everywhere!High rises, with high rise gardensClarke QuayMall's Balls, deconstructed

    Steamy Singapore

    April 20, 2023 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    We caught the train from the airport to the city, arriving at our hotel at 8am... a little too early to check in, so we dropped our bags and went for a walk in the local area.

    We found the nearest supermarket, had some morning tea, and found a few caches before heading back to check-in at 11.30am.

    Neither of us slept much on the flight, so we had an afternoon nap before going for another walk along the river late afternoon.

    It was very hot walking around, 32 degrees and super humid, so we had a bite of tea and went back to the hotel for a swim before bedtime.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    People's Park Complex
    2View from the cache over ChinatownRetrieving the cache... it takes you to all the best places 🤣🤣Chinatown, far busier than last time we were here.Hawker Chan's hawker stall was closed for the day1Michelin star worthy Soya Sauce Chicken RiceQueue for one of the Chinatown restaurants

    Chinatown by night

    April 21, 2023 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We woke up to a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain, so had a bit of a late morning... so late it became afternoon until we left the hotel.

    We went in search of a cache on the rooftop around one of the landmark Chinatown skyline buildings, we also visited when last in Singapore (February 2020, just as Covid broke out).

    The building is known as the People's Park Complex, a 31-storey mostly residential development straight out of the 1970's. Happily we found the convoluted route to the rooftop and the cache considerably quicker than last time!

    Dinner was also a flashback, treating Oliver to dinner at a Michelin star restaurant again... admittedly the Cheapest Michelin-starred meal in the world, Hawker Chan - famous for his Soya Sauce Chicken Rice. His hawker stall had closed for the day, so we went around the corner to his shopfront, where 75% of the menu was sold out, but the signature dish still available. Sadly the serve was no where near the size of last time 😕 (here's the flashback - https://findpenguins.com/4ar8jyvngbq0y/footprin… )

    Another visit to the supermarket and another night swim rounded the day out nicely.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    Palm Valley Lawns
    1Children's Garden. We were barred entry because we didn't have any children with us!The waterfall provided a welcome cool offMonitor lizard, Singapore Botanic GardensSquirrel, Singapore Botanic GardensOtter Pond... no otters spotted todayFragrant GardenMarina Bay Sands, view from lunchMerlion, Fullerton Hotel and skylineThe Thinker, Fullerton Bay Hotel

    Botanic Gardens and the Bay

    April 22, 2023 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We took the other method to avoid the heat today and was on the train to the Botanic Gardens just after 8am.

    Singapore Botanic Gardens is the only tropical garden to be recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's immaculately maintained and in addition to the 10,000 plant species, is also home to otters, monitor lizards, squirrels, monkeys and numerous bird species (we saw the last 4, but no sign of the otters today).

    We walked the length of the park from south to north, and caught the underground back to the bay area.

    After lunch in a cafe in the Esplanade complex with views of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, we walked back to our hotel via the Merlion, Fullerton Hotel and stumbled across Rodin's sculpture, The Thinker outside the Fullerton Bay Hotel. Turns out Rodin encouraged wide distribution of his art, authorising 23 copies of his work in marble and in bronze during his life and sanctioning the Rodin Museum to create posthumous editions (55 have so far been created). So there are many versions of The Thinker exhibited throughout the world!

    Afternoon swim and dinner at Chinatown again, once the sun had gone down.    Read more

  • Darren and JanetMorocco and Portugal 2023Darren and Janet
    1Sri Veeramakaliamman TemplePlenty of gold shops open on Sunday morning

    Little India, and away

    April 23, 2023 in Singapore ⋅ 🌧 31 °C

    Another early morning, this time for a quick visit to Little India before we check out and fly home.

    Little India is the meeting point of the local Indian community. It is a snapshot of the sights, sounds and smells of the culture, and was particularly busy around the shrine this morning. Of course our main activity was caching, so we visited the popular (and some less popular) areas of the city within a city.

    We caught the train to the airport early afternoon in readiness for our overnight flight home.

    Cache count for the trip: 627    Read more

    Trip end
    April 24, 2023
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