our partnership with boutique dos relógios has been wonderful! as well as allowing us to be closer to our portuguese customers and all the tourists who visit portugal, it also allows us to do lots of fun events at incredible places. this time we went to madeira. we had an incredible event, enjoy wonderful products and visited some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! as nothing can be left untold in the editorial, I'll give you a little preview.
THE EVENT
boutique dos relógios has several stores in madeira and the event took place at madeira shopping. we essentially invited our customers and, of course, the brand's best friends from madeira. we couldn't have been in better company. inspired by what nature gives us, we were in tune with the island as soon we arrived.
THE ISLAND
funchal, seixal, porto moniz, ... there are so many places to see, so many kilometers that it's best to rent a car before you go. what I loved most was the perfect shade of blue that surrounds the island. I can't explain it. every day I wake up and the atlantic ocean embraces us completely. but then there's still so much to see and discover. I'll show you a little of my 3-day itinerary, drawn up with the help of many madeira friends:
DAY 1
- get in touch with reality in the old part of funchal
- go for a swim at porto moniz pools, about 35 minutes from the center of funchal. the natural volcanic saltwater pools are the municipality's calling card, with crystal-clear water (always at a good temperature) bursting out of the lava rocks.
- seixal beach, my favorite highlight in all of madeira
- climb to cabo girão, glass floor view to the ocean
- at the end of the afternoon I recommend eating limpets at praia formosa, accompanied by a very cold coral beer. it was a sort of late afternoon snack, preparing the way for dinner to come
- for dinner, book at the casal da penha restaurant (funchal)
DAY 2
- climbing the hill and doing the typical descida nos carros de cestos (trolley descent). although I was scared, it was much safer than I expected. still, be careful. leave the car there and take a taxi to the cable car. it's a 2-in-1.
- take the cable car from funchal
- walk around the monte palace tropical garden
- climb up to the houses of santana, on the way we pass through the laurel forest and we recommend a prego em bolo de caco (at faísca, ribeiro frio), as well as seeing the trout ponds.
- as we didn't have time on day 1, we had to reserve this afternoon for poncha and we really needed the time because there wasn't just one. we went to serra de água, to the most epic place - taberna da poncha. we tasted a wide variety of ponchas, but our favorites were the regional poncha and the pescador poncha with ice (unlike the locals who drink it without ice).
- for dinner, there are trendy restaurants such as kampo, more typical options such as abrigo do pastor or vila cipriani in the belmond hotel.
Dia 3
finally, with little time left, we lost ourselves in games at rua de santa maria, tasted fruit and bought plants at the mercado dos lavradores (friday and saturday mornings are the most beautiful) and returned with the certainty that there was still a lot to see.
li furtado is the founder and creative director of CINCO. born in '82 in alentejo, portugal she graduated in geography from the university of coimbra. after working for 10 years as a consultant, she quit her job to follow her dream and love for fashion. with a creative and restless mind, she is driven by new ideas and her focus is to always have time to enjoy life with her family.
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