Our second day-trip started with Camacha, the town of wickerwork. But don't expect to find a village full of shops or laboratories selling wickerworks, you'll be disappointed. There is only a touristy shop (in front of which you'll find a row of tourist busses) in the entire village, so the place is not of much interest. It was a cloudy day and a little bit cold too, so we continued our drive and reached Santo da Serra. Here the weather was better and there was a mild temperature. We decided it was a good place to stop for lunch.

We visited the beautiful local park, whose paths are lined with white and velvet hortensia shrubs and camelias. The park has also some animals like deers, horses and goats, which were a real attraction for Shaila. She likes very much flowser, so she was very happy to walk among all these gardens full of beautiful flowers.

We had lunch at the Estalagem A Quinta, a hotel just before the village. The costoletas de vaca were delicious, but the wine was very expensive!. After lunch we headed to Machico. From Santo da Serra there are two possible routes, the 207 and the 212. The last one is the most scenic one (after the golf course take the left road). Just before Machico, a wonderful miradouro dominates the Machico bay and the village.

Before stopping in Machico we continued along the 109 to the eastern tip of Madeira. Unfortunately, you cannot reach the tip with the car, because the road ends at Baia d'Abra. About 1 Km before, take the detour on the left. A pebbled road will take you to an astounding viewpoint, where you can enjoy the wild scenery of the north coast and the high cliffs of Ponta do Castelo. The view at Baia d'Abra is terrific too. Here the dry and arid landscape is completely different from the luxurious nature of the rest of the island.

We went back to Machico just in time for Shaila's snack. Here she was rewarded by a giant ice cream. Machico is probably the most historically interesting town on the island, as this was the landing point of the first discoverers of Madeira. We had dinner at home, were we enjoyed the pastelarias we bought at an old pastry shop in Machico.

Stefano Dighero Genova - ITALY