25th Anniversary Hike...

On our anniversary, we piled into the car after breakfast and drove further up into the hills to go hiking. Most of Madeira’s hiking trails are narrow paths built alongside levadas, stone irrigation canals dating back to the 16th century used to carry surplus water from the wet northwest of the island to the more arid parts. The hike we chose was the Path of 25 Springs, which began with a long walk down a road.

Formed on top of a volcano, the island is very rugged and hilly, which makes for great scenery.

The path to the levada itself was quite steep...

...but most of the route was flat and easy going.

Along the way, we caught sight of a waterfall.

Jimmy was so enticed by the clear water in the levada that he put on Ashlynn’s goggles to take a closer look.

Guessing this was 1 of the 25 springs.

As we got closer to the lagoon, the path turned slightly uphill so the levada was terraced.