We took a bus to Curral das Freiras – the "Nuns Valley" which is situated in the crater of an extinct volcano surrounded by steep towering mountains. When pirates attacked the island in 1566 the nuns escaped from Funchal to hide in the almost impenetrable valley. This view is from the bus as it drove its way up and down the steep winding road and across ravines.  We would have been better to have got off the bus earlier near the top of the road for a short walk but as it was thick mist we stayed on till the terminus at the bottom of the valley but there was nowhere really to walk.  It must have been a very hard life until the advent of the road in 1959 and even now it must be difficult.