The views are only part of the fun
Discover all that Madeira has to offer 

The Madeira experience

The Madeira experience is no longer only for the newly wed or for the nearly dead. The Madeira Island has the most amazing nature. The mountains reaches to the sky like rocky monuments, the highest top 1860 m above the sea level, surrounded by the greenest forest, the old laurel trees with the history back to the time before the last ice ages. This woods, now a World Heritage called Laurisilva, gave the name to this subtropical Portuguese island, Madeira. The volcano soil is rich and give a harvest with an enormous variety of fruits and vegetables the whole year. Here grow bananas, mangos, custard apples, citrus fruits, passion fruits, figs and even dates alongside sugar canes, corn, sweet potatoes and a list of other vegetables.

This Pearl of the Atlantic, also called the flower island, shows flowers and flowering trees the whole year, but in the spring time it is breath taking, both regarding scents and colours. Jacarandas, frangipani, wisteria and bougainvillea compete with the birds of paradise and orchids. This is a floating botanical garden.The sea water temperature oscillates from 17ºC in the coldest February month to 24ºC in the end of the summer. The blue Atlantic Sea is thousands of meters deep, and sperm whales, dolphins and the big sea turtles are seen near the coast.This island of a little less than 60 km long and a little more than 20 km at its widest has a construction of more than 1800 km of waterways or levadas, an irrigation system leading water to and irrigating the plantations. These provide walks that are breath taking in its beauty, however running almost flat. Madeira is sea, mountains and sky. Here you can do diving, swimming, whale watching, surfing, deep sea fishing and coastering the whole year. You can do bird watching, golfing, canyoning, levada walks, forest hikes, mountain biking, mountain walks, mountain climbing or ultra trail if you want to come in a better physical shape. We have also good condition for paragliding. And in the end a fantastic rest in your romantic recidence.

Main terrace

You will get to the main terrace from the library. This is a fantastic place in the afternoon and night. Natália will get you chairs and table. Enjoy your wine, listen to the waves and look at the friendly peasants walking by. If you take the stairs up to the terrace above the chapel, please mind your head, you will get the most fantastic view of the North Coast, the sea and the mountains.

Garden and Porch

The garden is not big but cozy. You can sit at the table next to the stairs, this is specially good with grilling. Enjoy the tiles, hand painted for Casa das Videiras. Casa das Videiras means the house of the wine stock. All the panels of Azulejos talks about wine harvest, wine making and drinking. The two dogs in the taverna, Tassen and Bjorn, are the owners dogs.

Chapel

This oratory has an alter from the north of Portugal, Villa de Foz Côa. It is uniquely decorated with XVIII Century Chinese plates hung up among the plaster frames in the ceiling. You find here some nice religious images, some older and some newer.

Library

In the library you have hundreds of old and some newer books in different languages: English, Norwegian, Swedish, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Latin. Some books are more than 200 years old. On the chest and on the Norse shelf you have Old Norwegian wooden works from the owner’s family. The painting above the door is a Swedish 19th century door decoration; the tapestry is a copy of the medieval Wine Season tapestry. You will also find a painting of the Casa das Videiras before the last restoration. The furniture is old, but recently restored with sheep skin.

Lounges

Coming into the left part of the house, you find some sculptures made by J. Rego. To the left there is a holder for making tapestry. The painting I bought on the street in Calcutta when I was working in India many years ago. The sofa on the right is a typical Portuguese “conversadeira” with the sofa, mirror and book cupboard. The big cup board in front is made of the Madeira wood “Til”. It comes from the cake shop, Confeiteria Felizberta in Funchal, owned by the early 20th century ex owner of Casa das Videiras. In this room you will also find part of the old kitchen, with its clay and copper pots in front of the oven. Going down to the lounge, you find two guns from the Napoleonic wars, and then some wall sculptures by the Madeira artist Luz Henriques. The tiles on the ground floor walls are all hand painted, and the dining room walls are covered with silk damask. The furniture in the dining room is made of oak, the cupboard old Portuguese and the table, chairs and side board old furniture from Sweden. On the cupboard you also find Chinese ceramic from the Qianlong period. There are also ceramic from the 20th and the 19th century around the house. Some of the paintings are by Heinemann, a Jewish refugee who managed to escape to Sweden before the Second World War. Here you also find some batik pieces that I brought from India. You will also find paintings by Norwegian, Swedish and Polish painters. The wall lamps in the dining room come from the first casino in Madeira, the Quinta Vigia, where earlier the Austrian Empress Sissy had been living.

Bed Rooms

The bed rooms have all different decoration. The ceramics in bed room 1 is made by my mother, the clay virgin sculpture is by a famous Portuguese artist José Franco. In bed room 2 you find a typical Portuguese bed, “Cama de Bilros”, the aquarelles are by an Austrian painter who was living in Madeira, and here you also find a typical needle work tapestry. In bed room 3 you have paintings by the Madeira painter Emanuel Aguiar. In bed room 4 there are twin beds.

Driving instructions

BY RENT-A-CAR

From the airport you take the highway to Funchal (15 min). Just before entering the city you will find signs, direction Ribeira Brava. Follow this way to the end of the highway (10 min), there you leave the Ribeira Brava road, turn right and go to São Vicente (15 min). Go all the way to the roundabout almost down to the coast. Here you turn direction of Porto Moniz and go along the coast to Seixal (7 min). In Seixal, just before the church, take the road to the port on your right hand side. Just before the last curve, go left and you will find a parking place and the Casa das Videiras.

BY TAXI

The taxi can be quite expencive. The owner can get you a better fee with arranged transfer. Ask for help.

Shops

Just as you come into Seixal, from the east, there is a small supermarket at the left hand side. You will see the boxes with fruit and vegetables outside.After the church, there is another small minimarket and bar on the left hand site. Further on, you have a butcher on the right hand side, and across the street a small hardware shop.There are cars coming with fruit, vegetables and fish several times a week. They park just below the Casa das Videiras. Please ask Natália when they come. However, some more shopping can be done in the Continente Hypermarket in Ribeira Brava.

Restaurants

There are good restaurant in Seixal. The Sol Mar Restaurant just before the church has good filled trout and other fish dishes. Below the house, you find BrisaMar above Kalhaus pub.If you go up to Chão da Ribeira, you first find the restaurant O Pasto, good for espetada, and in the end of this valley you have the restaurant Laurisilva. Driving on the way to Porto Moniz, just as you come into the main road, there is a local restaurant on the right hand side. Jamaica. Local food and local prices. In São Vicente, near the sea, you have several restaurants, bakeries and shops on the right hand side. Cross the bridge, and on the way to Ponta Delgada, there is a great place on the right hand side called Mannys

Markets

Mercado de agricultores in São Vicente. This functions in the weekends on the parking spot above the chapel of São Vicente