Valley of the Nuns

When the pirates came a'raiding the nuns and their charges made off to this hidden valley in the mountains north of Funchal. The entrance must have been through a deep, narrow gorge that was impossible to spot from the coast or to find amongst the deep valleys and forest. Today you drive straight uphill for about six miles and then come to the entrance to a tunnel. This goes straight downhill for about a mile and then after one bend, emerges into the daylight still precipitously above the hidden valley. There are villages, schools, snaking roads and terraces almost to the sky.