Day Trip to Narnia

We'd booked a morning tour with a small group, to the 'curral of the nuns'. I'd been there before, but wanted H to see the olace for herself. 

We started by climbing the hill out of Funchal to the hilltop and viewpoint called the Pico dos Barcelos, from where there is a 360 degree view of Funchal and environs. At this point, the sky was blue and vision clear. Further up the twisty road, the mist and cloud rolled in. Behind the hotel and the tacky tourist shop at the Eira do Serrado, a path leads out to overlook the hidden village in the volcano crater below: the curral of the nuns. 

Why nuns? A couple of centuries ago, while the coast of Madeira was under frequent attack from pirates, the nuns of the Santa Clara convent in Funchal retreated inland, to the crater-village, and established a house of prayer there. It's now a museum, complete with a display of chestnut-flour machinery. Chestnut flour, liqueur, and other products are a major industry in the village. I tried the liqueur, which is similar to  Kahlua.  We had coffee and chestnut buns in a cafe with a couple of other women, and I bought some blue-and-white Portuguese ceramic ware 

Our guide was very knowledgeable and pointed out every church, every statue of a nun, every remnant of the old road, but he wasn't great at taking photos! He posted on top of a rock, far too far away from us. However, he did manage to convey the Narnia or Brigadoon quality of the curral, 55O metres below the viewpoint. Pity the poor Man from Manchester on our tour, who'd come out wearing only shorts, singlet and flip-flops!