Up in the Hills of Madeira

 

Location aside, I was good with leaving that apartment.  Even though the bedroom was as far from the busy street as you could get, there was still a lot of noise to deal with at night.  There was also a Halloween decoration of a ghost in front of the club downstairs that drove me nuts with its constant wailing.

Dealing with the gap between check in and check out for my AirBNBs, I ended up hanging out in the park for a while before getting lunch.  I quickly discovered that there are no Uber drivers on the island.  So, after the meal, it was off for another adventure with a cabbie who didn’t know where how to get me to my next place. Seriously, what’s up with that?  He had a phone and yet he had to ask the other nearby cabbies where the place was located.  The island’s not that big, guys.

Climbing up into the hills, the guy dropped me off at a spot saying, “there are a lot of apartments in the area, it must be around here somewhere”. Thanks.  That’s so very helpful.  Turns out my own GPS could locate the place, up a hill, around a corner, and up another hill.  I managed the trek while lugging all my stuff along roads that only had intermittent sidewalks and some fast drivers. 

When I found the place, I stood across the street with my mouth hanging open.  And not in a good way.  I realized that finding my apartment did not mean the end of dodging traffic.  No.  It was just the appetizer for the meal I’d have to deal with for the rest of the week.  What do I mean by that?  Well …

 

That first time getting into the place was not fun.  I was trying to keep all my stuff (and body parts) out of the way of oncoming traffic while looking at the host’s instructions on my phone.  Then it was putting the right combination in the lockbox, fishing out the keys, trying to figure out which of the three went into the lock.  CAR! Then drag the bags inside with a deep exhale, grateful that I didn’t get run over.  Yeesh!

No friendly host to usher me around this place, which is how I usually prefer it.  But I wouldn’t have minded someone to help me get up this narrow set of stairs. 

The stairs are just beyond two other apartments. I wasn't sure if they were occupied or not.  I never saw anyone, but I could have sworn I heard something downstairs. 

My new home for the week was tiny but serviceable. It was definitely set up to be a short-term rental as it is basically a glorified hotel room with a kitchen, not a place to live long term.  In spite of that (and the treacherous step out into the street), the apartment did have some advantages over the last place.  While the location wasn’t nearly as good, at least it was quieter.  There was a decent sized double sink in the kitchen and hot water for days.  The bed wasn’t the most comfortable, but it least it was a queen.

And whoever designed this bathroom with the large step needs to rot in hell.  I stubbed my toe a couple of times misjudging the height of that thing.

Another advantage(?) of this place is that it guaranteed that I’d get those steps in.  Since I haven’t really been doing the tourist thing on the island this time, my only exercise is my daily walk at lunch.  This apartment is nowhere near the shore, so my walk was always to the water.  The long, long, long walk to the water.  Seriously, why would anyone build on so many hills?  Yeah, they’re pretty to look at from a distance, but walking up and down those bad boys …?  Oy.

I really need to learn the bus system.  While there are grocery stores and cafes in the area, the area is mostly made up of apartments.  You want to get anywhere else without a car, you either have to hope for a taxi or hop a bus.  After taking that first long walk to the shore, I figured I’d need to get some motorized transport for the rest of the week.  But … I’m still cheap.  And I needed the exercise anyway.