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.
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!)
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.
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.
Olive Simpson said:
Lovely pictures of a beautiful island and a most informative commentary – thank you for sharing this! xx
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Musiewild said:
Thank you Olive. It IS a beautiful island, though later posts will reveal a But or two.
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susanpoozan said:
Interesting plants and wonderful views, most enjoyable.
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Musiewild said:
Thank you Susan.
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Robert Key said:
How lovely! Sue and I will be there next September – so very good to see what to expect. Did you come across a good guide book to the Island(s)?
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Musiewild said:
Given that I was on a ‘package’ I didn’t look for anything substantial. The Lonely Planet ‘Pocket Madeira’ was perfect, for both info and portability.
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tootlepedal said:
I am sorry that you didn’t get to range the whole gardens but what you did see looks very interesting.
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Musiewild said:
I was tempted to go back in ‘free’ time later in the week, but other things tempted me more.
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Deb said:
The embroidered pieces were amazing!! Of course ,plants and flowers are always a winner. 👍
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Musiewild said:
Especially when arranged so beautifully.
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Lavinia Ross said:
So that is how embroidery is done the old way. I am saddened to see skills like this fall to modern technology.
The garden engineer must have some embroidery background. What a beautiful design!
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Musiewild said:
It was moving to see the embroiderers at work, tinged with sadness.
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Musiewild said:
Mary Hutton said:
Lovely pictures in the botanical gardens – I particularly liked the kapok tree.
Good that you were able to see how the embroidery was done and also sampled some Madeira wine.
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Musiewild said:
There’ll be another kapok tree in a later post – looking very different.
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Josh Gross | The Jaguar said:
I love the nighttime shots of the moon! I never got to see the supermoon myself, because it’s usually cloudy here.
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Musiewild said:
‘Usually’ – that’s bad!
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Josh Gross | The Jaguar said:
Haha it’s just part of the local climate.
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Christine said:
La lune est encore plus belle avec les nuages ! J’aime beaucoup les plantes à reflets violets, les bateaux à contre-jour. Ah, le marché, les broderies… Merci pour cette belle échappée.
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Musiewild said:
I was sorry not to be there as the moon came over the horizon, but I think the clouds would have completely covered it in any case.
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