We’ve only been back for a few hours, but I can already share some pictures from our very first visit to Madeira. We spent most of our parental leave there, and it was a truly wonderful time – the little one was in a really cute mood 😊
Apart from the very first and last mornings, we spent every sunrise and sunset out in nature again, and Ben had a lot of fun – especially with the animals, which I’ll show you more of in later series.
Even though photography wasn’t the main focus this time, we still managed to capture a lot. We dedicated most of our time to the laurel forests around Fanal (a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site), simply because it’s such a magical spot.
One thing was different on Madeira compared to our usual destinations: mass tourism, especially from so-called influencers. Certain classics like Seixal Beach, the Fanal Forest, or Pico do Arieiro are crowded even at sunrise and sunset. We’re not used to that – even in Iceland, where mass tourism has become an issue at the classic spots, we still often found ourselves completely alone at those places during the midnight sun in June. Madeira feels different: it’s a different type of tourism, and you just can’t escape the (mostly younger) influencer crowds, as they too know when the light is at its most photogenic 📷 Luckily, having spent the first 40 years of my life in a big city, I’m used to ignoring the hustle, so it didn’t bother me too much 😉 Still, it makes for a different kind of nature experience, which we only sought out in moderation.
To give you one concrete example: on mainland Portugal in the mild winter, we usually share a stunning 5 km sandy beach at sunrise with an average of three fishermen and zero other people. At Seixal Beach in Madeira, however, just a few minutes before sunrise, there were around 30 people crammed into the small, photogenic 100-metre section – all busy doing photo shoots of themselves, from hobby level to semi-professional and even professional set-ups, complete with regular outfit changes and styling breaks. It was so cringe that we never went back (Instagram calls it one of the top three beaches in Europe – in my opinion, utterly ridiculous). I just wanted to give you a clear sense of the scale 🙄
But the cliffs, trees, waves, and all the flora and fauna of Madeira have nothing to do with that and remain absolutely fascinating 😊 Over four blog posts, I’ll show you my 88 favourite shots, in this order:
- Porto Moniz and the surrounding area (16 pictures)
- A day on Pico do Arieiro (17 pictures)
- Blue hour in the Laurissilva Forest (25 pictures)
- Fanal in golden light (30 pictures)
You might already guess the main focus just by looking at the numbers 😅 The goal wasn’t to add yet another batch of seascapes (spots no. 174–186 …) to my portfolio, but rather to dive more deeply into a unique landscape that exists only on Madeira.
The first two series were almost unavoidable and more of a by-product – today I’m sharing a few classics, most of which were taken within five minutes’ walk of our hotel. The next parts will follow over the course of the coming week.
Enjoy the pictures and best wishes,
Thomas
I hope you enjoyed the series 👋