Madeira 3

Tags

Cabo Girao, Camara de Lobos, Columbus, Encumeada Pass, Funchal, Madeira, Porto Moniz, Ribeira Brava, Santa, Santa Maria, Sao Vicente, Seixal

Madeira 3. Wednesday 16th November. Today we had a great tour of the west of the island, starting at what we were promised would be the beautiful fishing village of Câmara de Lobos, a few kilometres to the west of Funchal.

I have to say, I was a little disappointed.  For me, pretty fishing villages nestle, huddled at the bottom of their cliff, estuary, or whatever. This didn’t.  It spread way up the mountain, most of it with modern houses, with their obligatory red roofs.  (An obligation placed, all over the island,  by the government.  But, as I learned later, planning restrictions on where to build were only brought in in 2000.)  Where there weren’t houses, there were banana plantations.

I wandered around a little,

and then moved away from the harbour, to find I was being spied upon.

Further along the coast to the west was Ribeira Brava.

Madeira has little wildlife, so I was pleased to see this, and several other ducks

Then there was a long drive to the northernmost tip of the island, via Santa, to Porto Moniz,

known for its natural lava rock pools.

though it appears that Elfin Safety have had a go at them.

Lumps of lava were everywhere

On via Seixal to Sâo Vicente for lunch – in a circular restaurant which we discovered was rotating very slowly. I learnt this through my bag twice disappearing from the low window ledge by my side where I had put it, to be found beside another customer. No-one had noticed that the view outside had changed!

A little wander around the village afterwards.

The bird of paradise is everywhere

Pavements were mostly of the volcanic material around, older ones like this one being of basalt pebbles long ago taken from the beach. Very attractive they were too.

There followed  a drive right over the top of the island, via the Encumeada Pass.

From here we were driven nearly back to Câmara de Lobos, to the highest cliff in Europe*, the second highest in the world, Cabo Girâo.  Where a surprise awaited some.  You could look down the 580 metres through your feet!

Or, over the balcony, standing on the glass.

Eastwards to Funchal

 

I was interested to see this (using my zoom!), a replica of  Columbus’s Santa Maria, especially as I was thinking of going on it on the final day.

Back to the capital, which contains more than a third of the island’s population. I had to call in on the pharmacy near my hotel at the end of the day, and was delighted to see this:

*Though Madeira is on a latitude with and rather nearer to Africa than to mainland Europe.

Madeira 2

Tags

Botanical gardens, cycad, D'Oliveiras, Dragon tree, Embrodery, Funchal, kapok tree, Mdeira, paradise bird flower, supermoon, umbrella tree

Madeira 2. From the market, we moved on to a hand embroidery manufactory, where we saw the detailed processes behind the production of the beautiful goods, and many of the goods themselves.

There are many stages.  Firstly the pieces are designed.

Then each design is pricked through. and on to two more copies of the tracing paper, so that three copies of each design are made. One of these is then inked, the ink being transferred on to the cloth.

After it has been embroidered the piece is beautifully ironed.

Sadly the days of the factory are surely numbered. Not only are the prices of the goods prohibitively expensive, given the work that has gone into them, but the workers are ageing and not being replaced.  I saw only one sale from our party – I do hope that the factory was given a decent fee for the visit it had just allowed us.  Just looking at the finished pieces in the shop was a real treat.

En route to our next stop, a church typically built in basalt

 

The morning ended with a trip to D’Oliveiras, Wine Growers and Exporters, where we each could  – and most did – partake of a small glass of each of three types of Madeira wine, and yes, I bought a bottle (medium dry, 5 year). And to go with it a small bolo de mel de cana da Madeira, a traditional sugar cane syrup cake, sweet, rich and spicy, which they have traditionally at Christmas.  It is as different as you can imagine from what we call madeira cake.  And it must be broken, not cut.  (No worries here about the enterprise breaking even from our visit!)

The lady in blue is not the elegant Madeiran tour guide Lina, but our English tour manager, Sue.

 

After lunch we were taken to the Funchal botanical gardens.  I’m not sure why, but we were obliged to stay together as a group, and I am fairly sure that we did not see all of the gardens.  Our local guide, Lina, was very learned on her plants, especially trees, and there were not many labels, but it was a shame that we were not ‘allowed’ to explore on our own.

Throughout the week,  it was fascinating, and enjoyable, to see plants in the open air that we think of as house plants. Few are truly native to Madeira. (Indeed, what can be considered native, given that the island  is only 7 million years old, a babe in geological terms?!)  In no order, other than that in which I took them, are my photos of the afternoon.

Dragon tree

This viaduct is just one example of the huge amount of infrastructure that the Madeiran government has commissioned in the last 30 years – leaving it now 6 billion euros in debt.

Evidence of the horrendous fires that raged in August, killing four people and destroying 37 houses and a boutique hotel.  A young man is currently on remand to be tried for arson.

This flower is indeed native to Madeira, but I can’t remember its name.

The words are a tribute to the engineer of the gardens, who died earlier this year.

A native of South Africa, the paradise bird flower is Madeira’s ‘national’ flower.

A cycad, not a tree fern.

Kapok tree in flower

Umbrella tree

 

The night before had been that of the best ‘supermoon’, and I had been hoping to get a photo of it with a Madeiran flavour.  Unfortunately the sky was covered with thick cloud on Monday night.  So I went up to the hotel’s roof terrace after dinner on this day, Tuesday 15th, and managed to get these pictures, for what they are worth.

Madeira 1

Tags

Empress of Austria, espada, Funchal, Funchal Cathedral, Lonely Planet, Madeira, Madeira Experience, Parque de Santa Calatina, Rinaldo, Sé, scabbard fish, Sissi, tourism

Madeira 1.  Many months ago, I believed, rightly,  I would be in need of a shortish break in the gloomy month of November, involving not too much travel, and not too much organisation. I  couldn’t find a wildlife holiday to suit, but when I saw advertised a week’s ‘package’ in Madeira, flying from  Bristol, I decided to go for it.

An early start on Monday, 14th November, meant I was on the island by 10.30 a.m. and at my hotel shortly afterwards. A galao (milky coffee) and a pastel de nata (a delicious custard tart – I had four more during the week) later, and time spent in the hotel’s lounge with my guidebooks, filled the time in nicely before my room was ready by 1.00 p.m., and I soon set off with the rest of the day to myself. The BBC weather forecast had said that the Monday and Tuesday would be showery, and the rest of the week fine.  It was wrong only about the Tuesday – that turned out to be fine too.

Monday, yes, I was dodging showers, but it was warm, and I enjoyed exploring downtown Funchal, the capital of the island, which is an autonomous region of Portugal. I  started with lunch, a sardine salad, taken in the café of the small municipal gardens. With my umbrella up in my left hand.  I then made my way, recommended by my Lonely Planet guidebook, to the Madeira Experience, a showing in English of a 30-minute film about the history of the island, and an excellent start it made to my week.

Funchal is on the south coast of this volcanic island, 57 kilometres (35 miles) long and 22 (14) wide, and from the Experience is was only a few metres to the sea front. My first picture was taken (between the showers) looking to the east.

Looking sea-wards, I was reminded that it is an incredibly popular cruise destination.  While the population of the island is some 280,000, we were informed that over a million visitors come to stay on the island each year, and a further half million visit it from the cruise liners.  It has to be said that given the sort of holiday I was on, it was impossible to escape the fact that for 200 years, tourism has been the island’s main industry.

These were gone the following evening

 

I walked on westwards, past a statue of someone called Christian Rinaldo – some sporting character who is apparently Madeira’s main claim to fame – and I’m sorry but my photo of the statue came out blurred.  No, I’m not sorry.  Moreover it was next to a museum dedicated to his story, run by his sister. Oh, and they’re about to rename the airport after him…

Anyway, I turned inland, which inevitably meant climbing – the island of Madeira is just the top of the 6 km high volcanic complex – and I made my way past the governor’s residence into the Parque de Santa Catalina.

Sissi, the Empress of Austria, who loved to visit Madeira

Back along a shopping street, and a very welcome sit-down for a coffee, before going into the modest 16th-century Cathedral, called just Sé,

 

the principal interests of which are its carved cedar ceiling, inlaid with shell, rope and  white clay, and the main altar.

That was enough exploring for one day, which had started at 3.30 a.m. (no time change, indeed Madeira is well to the west of the UK, due south of Iceland in fact).

The following day, Tuesday, I met up with the other members of the group, a coachload of some 24, picked up from our four various hotels, the others all being well away from the old centre. The morning was to be spent exploring Funchal itself, with an emphasis on traditional Madeiran trade activities.  We started at the Mercado dos Lavradores, and very colourful this market was.

This was at the entrance, and indeed all over  Madeira was to be found lovely ceramic tiling.

I bought just the bag I needed for the week here. It proved ideal and cost only €15.

Black scabbard fish. Looks revolting and tastes delicious.

 

As we were to see, hand embroidery is an old tradition in Madeira, but this merchandise will have been machine made and imported.

Upstairs, the traders pestered in a way that those downstairs hadn’t.  Perhaps it was because they were selling  items that tourists could more easily transport – dried fruits and herbs, beautifully presented, just as the fresh food was.  Indeed, but for the pestering I might have bought some of the former, but I was only to pleased to scuttle downstairs again.

 

The thought of all those chillies…

(To be continued…)