Thursday 22 January

We saw the sun rise this morning, and very pretty it was too, but 6.45 is not a civilised time when you’re on holiday! We were down for breakfast at 7.30 and were quite surprised to see so many other people – not the faces we normally see at 9.30!

We were all ready and waiting for our minibus at 8.10 as we’d been told that with multiple pick-ups, it would arrive any time between 8.10 and 8.45. So we waited and waited…..and waited. At 9.00, I asked reception to check if the tour had been cancelled but was told the bus was definitely on its way. It did arrive a few minutes later and we were his first pick up. In the course of conversation, it turned out that the hotel had given us the wrong times – we should have been told 8.50 – 9.00am!! So a good start to the day!

It was a 7 seater minibus and we picked up 3 more Brits and 2 Swedes and off we set. The driver, who told us later that his name was Andre Agassi (!!), was a real character and made the day memorable. For those of you following this with a map, or have personal experience of Madeira, we drove along the coast road to the west, to the fishing village of Camara do Lobos where Winston Churchill used to visit regularly, to sketch and paint. They are very proud of their connection to him. There’s a Churchill’s Place café and bar with a huge photograph of him on the outside wall, showing him painting looking over the harbour.

Then it was on to Cabo Girao, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. There is a viewing platform built out over the cliff, and I even managed to look down, and didn’t feel TOO terrified, even though it is 580m virtually straight down to the shore, where the small area between cliff and sea is cultivated in a neat pattern, looking very picturesque. In an exhibition room is a brief history and photographs of some of the famous people who used to stay in Madeira – Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Emperor Charles I of Austria. There is a cable car going down to the beach, but thankfully, this was not part of the day’s activities!

On we went to Campanario named after the rock out in the sea which looks like a bell, then on to Ribiera Brava, where the driver’s mother was born. This, like most of the villages round the coast, is surrounded by great hills with some construction still going on, on what looks like inaccessible land. It’s a very pretty place and we had good coffee in a little café by the sea wall.

Most of the roads we drove along to reach these places are accessible only to cars and small vehicles, so we saw places that larger tour buses would have not have taken us. Some of them are very scary but our driver was so laid back and obviously so familiar with them that the fear factor was largely removed! The slopes have to be seen to be believed but the views were just stunning. Looking down from some of the slopes above Campanario, we could see the new coast road that has been built in the last 8 years. As there is so little land space, some of it has been built as viaducts out over the ocean, a very impressive sight from above.

From Ribiera Brava, we turned inland and cut up through the centre of the island on another stretch of relatively new road, through tunnels built straight through the mountains. Andre explained that the tunnel road surfaces were quite uneven, as, when the tunnels were built, they used horseshoe shaped concrete linings, and insufficient thought was given to the forces to which they would be subject. The result is that, although most of the upper parts of the tunnels are strong enough to withstand the pressures exerted by the vast weights of rock overhead, the bases are being forced up.

Our next stop was Sao Vicente, on the north coast where the residents were preparing for the Feast of Sao Vicente. The village looked very pretty with its decoration of flowers and streamers and the smell of the wood being prepared as charcoal for the barbecues was enough to make us feel hungry. Before we went off for a little explore, Andre took our orders for lunch (in Porto Moniz, top left of Madeira). The church in the centre of Sao Vicente is truly beautiful inside, quite small but intricately decorated with paintings all over the walls and ceiling.
As we returned to the bus, a small van drew up beside us – the pyrotechnic “expert” for the evening’s festivities. We were just about to get aboard once more, when this “expert” set off 5 huge rockets no more than 6ft away from us!! He simply stood the stalks on the ground, held the rocket in his hand at about head height, lit the fuse and let them go once the rocket fired – hundreds of feet into the air and the bangs were tremendous. I don’t think ‘elf ‘n’safety would have been enamoured of him! We don’t know whether it was just a signal to everyone that he’d arrived, or for our benefit as visiting tourists.

However, suitably entertained, we drove on along the north coast road towards Porto Moniz. The ocean here is so different from the south. The waves are enormous and most of the view is obscured by a fine salt mist. Spray from the breaking waves continually hit the bus, yet there are houses along the road – how they manage to keep anything dry is a puzzle. This road has also been replaced in recent years with a new one tunnelled through the rocks, and also suffering the same problems as before. In some places here, there is also cracking of the tunnel walls – NOT such a good sign – and water is leaking in. The old road here was quite spectacular – one of the other English ladies, who has been visiting Madeira for 14 years, had driven along it. It was not for the faint hearted - single lane with occasional passing places, cut out of the cliffs and only protected on the ocean side by a low wall.

Not long after Sao Vicente, Andre stopped and let us out to walk along a short stretch of the road so we could photograph 2 of the highest waterfalls on this side of the island. We could see ahead of us the village of Seixal and the town of Porto Moniz, all shrouded by the spray, but caught in rays of sunshine. Just before Seixal, we stopped to photograph the Bride’s Veil waterfall, dropping straight into the ocean. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get near enough as the old road has been cut off by a huge landslip. There were some very good tourist stalls here and the prices were cheaper than in many of the other places we’ve been. Tom bought a lovely sweater, all greens and dark greys – too warm for here, but it’ll be lovely back home.

On we went, stopping briefly in Seixal before arriving in Porto Moniz, ravenous. Our café overlooked the ocean so we were treated to wonderful breaking waves while we ate. Lunch was excellent – Madeiran cabbage soup; either tuna, scabbard fish or steak (all very good and large portions) for main course, followed by fresh fruit salad then coffee. We had red and white wine and could have had more if we wished, but we all wanted to go out and enjoy the ocean views.

Suitable refreshed, we set off once again, straight up the side of the hills – or so it seemed! If we’d thought the roads we’d travelled on this morning were winding, we had to think again! There were quite a few indrawn breaths as we negotiated some of the bends, much to Andre’s amusement. We stopped briefly for a bird’s eye view of Porto Moniz, looking just like a child’s play mat, then we climbed further up to the road over the central plateau – and here we drove into cloud. So there were no views, which was a disappointment. We climbed to a height of 1418m to the Pico das Urzes where we were given the choice of doing a short levada walk. 6 of us decided we would, despite the cloud and cold so we all bundled up and walked for half an hour to meet up with the minibus again. The sun actually came out while we walked – but only on one side, the other was still shrouded in cloud. It WAS a bit damp and the breeze was chilly, but by the time we reached the bus, we were pleased we’d done it.

Driving on over the Paul da Serra (1500m), we were again in cloud and passed the wind farms there at Bica da Cana (1620m) where Andre showed us a video he had taken on Tuesday this week of SNOW on the road! They do get it occasionally.

As we started to make our way back down the mountains, Andre pointed ahead of us to where we could see the highest peaks of Madeira – Pico das Torres (1851m) and Pico Ruivo (1862m) – only the tops could be seen above the clouds. We won’t be going there!

On the descent, he showed us the channels that collect the condensation from the clouds and feed the water down to huge pipes, the contents of which are used by the hydro-electric plant. After it has gone through the plant, the water is fed into another network of levadas to irrigate the land below. We drove on the wrong side of the road so we could experience driving through a waterfall, which was also good for cleaning the bus! The mud streaked black car following us had exactly the same idea!

This stretch of road is subject to many rock falls as we saw from the very dented barriers beside the road, but we were fortunate enough NOT to have any fall on us. Through more small tunnels, where the road surface is appalling due to the vast amounts of water that continually pour down it, we descended to Encumeada where we stopped for a glass of Poncha, a very Madeiran drink of fresh lemon juice, honey and white rum. WOW!! It certainly clears the tubes – a bit like drinking Vick vapour rub, Tom said. One small glass was quite enough! The levada here was the far end of the one we had been walking along earlier, but by now had collected several others en-route and was somewhat larger. At this point it disappeared into a pipe, and went on its way downhill.
Then it was back in the bus for the last, fast ride back to our hotels – joining the rush hour traffic. It was a fantastic day out. Tom didn’t feel car sick at any point, even with the winding roads, I think because we stopped so often and he had plenty of fresh air, but also because the ride was bumpy rather than floaty. Our driver was very knowledgeable both about Madeira, its history and stories, and about the vegetation, plants and the land formations. We found out from him that the trees outside our room are kapok trees. The pods we likened to avocados, burst in February releasing the kapok into the air. The angel statue we saw earlier in the holiday (when we did our first levada walk) is a memorial to all the men who died during the building of the original island infrastructure.

Wednesday 21 January

We woke in time to see the sun rise today and to watch yet another cruise ship sail into the bay. While I’m mentioning the sea, the Atlantic Ocean, we’re surprised by the calmness of it here. On only one day have we seen even the hint of whitecaps on the waves, otherwise it has been flat as the proverbial millpond. We are told that on the north side of the island the seas are much rougher and it’s good for surfing. We shall see for ourselves tomorrow when we go on the trip to the west and north.

Anyway, back to today. Since we’re both STILL feeling not quite 100% (possibly because we did quite a lot yesterday), we had a lazy morning, then caught the coach into town to visit the Adegas de Sao Francisco, also known as the old Blandy’s Wine Lodge. We took the regular tour rather than the vintage one – it was quarter the price, and we didn’t think we were quite up to tasting 6 different Madeira wines, some of which retail at over 200 euros a bottle. Some of their oldest wines are in excess of 100 years old; we didn’t dare ask how much they are!! The tour was very good and the tasting even better! We had a 5 year old dry Madeira and a 5 year old medium sweet, followed by a 3 year old sweet one. None of these were the traditionally matured wines, but are artificially aged in heated vats. The REAL stuff is aged for 10 years+ in American Oak barrels. True vintage Madeira is a single year, a single named grape variety and traditionally aged for at least 20 years before bottling.

There are 4 main sweetnesses – dry, medium dry, medium sweet and sweet. All the best Madeira wines are made from different varieties of white grapes. The sweet grape juice is started in fermentation then alcohol is added to kill the yeast and fortify the wine. The longer the grape juice is fermented before being stopped, the more sugar is converted to alcohol, therefore the drier the finished product. Tom was amazed to find that, for the sweetest wine – the Malmsey – fermentation is stopped after only 24 hours! The remaining grape juice caramelises with time giving the traditional colour. The more grape sugar remaining, the darker the wine, and the sweeter the taste.

Tom liked the dry Madeira, made from the Sercial grapes, which turn out to be the local name for the Riesling variety from which his favourite German wines are made, whereas I preferred the sweetest one – no surprise there!

4 million litres of grape juice are produced a year on Madeira and Blandy’s use 1 million litres to produce their fortified dessert wines, which ranks alongside the finest Sherry and Port. The rest is used by other vintners to produce much lesser known madeiran fortified wines, as well as the ordinary table wines. Blandy’s have 700,000 litres maturing in the buildings where we did our tour and 4 million litres maturing at their warehouse and bottling plant, elsewhere on the island. All the Madeira exported has now to be bottled on the island, according to EU regulations. This does have the advantage of preventing anyone adding inferior wine to the product and passing it off as the genuine article.

Their museum has lots of the old equipment used in the wine making process, including some of the goatskins that were used to transport the grape juice from the various vineyards. These were carried by men over the mountains from the north and west of the island where most of the grapes are grown, and often arrived no longer full, as the contents “evaporated” during the journey! Surprisingly, once the goatskins were handed over, evaporation ceased!

After the visit, we killed time until the courtesy coach returned here. We were in time to see the cruise ship leave for her next port of call, which we knew this time was Malaga because while we were doing the Blandy’s tour, we met an American lady from the ship, the Norwegian Jade. We also learnt that the MSC Fantasia we’d seen the day before is the largest cruise ship ever to dock in Funchal. It can take 4,100 passengers – the mind boggles!
We chose yet another of the local restaurants for dinner, and had an early night – having set the alarm for 6.45am for our day trip tomorrow.

Tuesday 20 January

I hesitate to say it, but I was feeling slightly better today. We could have done without all this grot spoiling our holiday, but you can’t choose when or where you become ill.

As the weather looked brilliant this morning, we agreed that we’d go up to Monte, a village above Funchal, which can be reached by a variety of buses or, as we have chosen, the cable car! Now, most of you know by now my feelings about these things, but it was my decision to travel this way so off we set. No courtesy coach today, it’s in for maintenance, so we hopped on a local bus (we’re getting pretty good at this) and arrived at the cable car terminal along with what felt like half the tourists in Funchal! We had to share a car with 4 Germans, but there was plenty of room and the trip was brilliant. I didn’t have any vertiginous feelings (is that the right word?) and the views were well worth the journey. Another cruise ship, the MSC Fantasia, was in the harbour and she just became this tiny toy as we rose higher and higher. I think because you travel so high from the ground for most of the way, and the climb is fairly gradual, it doesn’t have the same disorientating feel as the little one we went on in NZ. It’s also very quiet and smooth. Monte is 550m above sea level and the cable car takes just over 10 minutes. We don’t know how long it takes the bus, but looking at the winding roads as we travelled overhead, it must be at least half an hour including stops. No doubt locals will still use the buses as the cable car is expensive, but it’s a quick and quiet way to travel.

On reaching Monte, we first visited the church of Nossa Senhora (Our Lady), a place of pilgrimage for Madeirans on August 15. It also houses the tomb of Emperor Charles I of Austria, who died here in exile in 1922. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004. The frontage of the church is very pretty and you climb 70 steps to reach it – we’re almost getting used to steps! Terraces lead down from the church to Monte’s main square, through some very pretty gardens and water feature. We had drinks in the Café do Parque in the square – rip off prices, of course, but we’re tourists, what do you expect?!

From the terrace below the church, we watched some tourists embark on the “must do” trip in a toboggan with wooden runners, guided by 2 Madeirans wearing traditional straw hats. This is said to be one of the most exhilarating experiences you will ever have – well, it’s not one that either of us would contemplate but it was fun to watch. It’s a 2km trip down the winding cobbled streets to Livramento, the next village down the hill. It costs 25 euros, then you have to either walk back up to the cable car station or take a bus down to Funchal. There are plenty of taxis sitting around too, trying to persuade you to use them at great expense. There were dozens of the toboggan guides hanging around touting for custom, having the odd beer in their tavern (!!) and playing cards. We found out while we were having our rip off drink, that they’re brought back up to the church in coaches but we don’t know how the toboggans are brought back.

Then we made our way to the Monte Palace Tropical gardens, a 70,000 square metre area, constructed on the steep slopes of what was the Monte Palace Hotel. It’s difficult to explain what it’s like as it’s totally different from any gardens we’ve ever been in. Nearly all the plants are named and there are hundreds, possibly even thousands, of varieties. Some of the rarest trees and shrubs in the world survive here and there are species that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.

The garden is laid out in such a way that there are no dead ends and you could spend hours travelling all the paths and seeing all there is. There is water everywhere from small pools to huge waterfalls, tiny levadas and ponds filled with koi carp. In one of the lakes were two swans. Tom fed one of them with maize, which he took quite happily; then he decided Tom’s hand also looked good enough to eat so had a few pecks at him! There are statues hidden in niches and huge stone frames making pictures of plantings. But most of all, there are hundreds of pictures made from tiles. 40 panels tell the history of Portugal, laid out along the walls as you walk down into the garden from the entrance; huge panels depicting the sun and the moon sit either side of one of the water features; designs of flowers are interspersed with historical details and depictions of myths and legends – they are everywhere. The tallest vase in the world (Guinness Book of Records) sits in a flower bed between the largest lake and the Palace.

Beside the Palace itself, which is still lived in, are outdoor display cases containing collections of French porcelain. There is also the Monte Palace Museum which houses a display of carvings from Zimbabwe. And there is a fascinating collection of minerals and semi-precious stones, mostly in their natural state, housed in an innovative exhibition area.

All this and more is set among paths and steps, constructed in different materials – not the easiest garden to get around because of the site, but certainly one of the best gardens we have ever visited. We spent about 3 hours there and only sat down once to have a reviving drink.

Then, before embarking on the return cable car trip, we stopped at the café and had two of the biggest pieces of cake – one would have done for both of us, but we’d chosen different ones – at exorbitant prices, but who cares, we’re on holiday!

The return trip was just as good as the ascent, except we had the car to ourselves so could have a really good look at everything. We can’t get over some of the locations of the houses, set into the steep hillsides, some with gardens we wouldn’t dream of cultivating in England. It’s all so green here, with flowers blooming that we only get at certain seasons and even then we can only have them indoors. Poinsettias are flowering in profusion, along with busy Lizzies, geraniums, camellias, azaleas, bougainvilla and many others. No wonder, it’s called the floral isle.
After a welcome rest in our hotel, we had dinner at another of the nearby restaurants before retiring for the night. I’ve found a good use for the Leki poles (walking sticks) Tom brought with him. They make very good prodders for when he snores at night, as we’re in separate beds and I can’t quite reach him!!

Sunday 18 & Monday 19 Jan

Well, today was a bit of a write-off. Maggie was ill again, and spent the day in bed. I went off for a walk and to do some e-mail checking, and walked down into town and back again. That was pretty well the highlight of the day. In the evening, I was despatched to the local Chinese, for a take-away, and we spent the rest of the time passing each other hankies, paracetamol and throat lozenges.

Monday 19 January

After breakfast, we decided to go into town, and get the blog up to date, so we took the 10.30 courtesy coach into Funchal. (The cruise ship, Aidabella, was docked again – lovely looking ship.) Unfortunately, every man and his dog seemed to want to use the free wifi network, and it was painfully slow. We sat in a wifi zone for over an hour, and barely achieved anything, so gave it all up as a bad effort. We went to the useless tourist info office and booked tickets for a Mandolin Concert in the English Church this Saturday evening. Cash only, cos the Tourist Info Centre for Funchal can’t take credit cards! After a drink in a nice old café (established 1841), and another abortive attempt at getting on the net, we got the 1245 courtesy coach back to the hotel, where Maggie retired to bed again. I went down to the local shopping precinct, where there is an internet café, and although they don’t have wireless, they were able to get me online with a cable. In the next 30 minutes, I achieved everything that I had tried to do in 2 hours on the free net, so I’m now up to date on all e-mails, and the blog. I also paid for a full day tour of the Western half of the island for Thursday, and a half-day tour to the local “secret valley” for Sunday. This afternoon, Maggie felt somewhat better, so we took the late courtesy coach into the centre, and had a wander around before eating. We found a very nice bookshop even though it was pretty well all in Portuguese, but were able to browse the flora section, and found that the peculiar flower we saw a couple of days ago was an Agave. After eating, the plan was to walk back to the hotel, but when we came outside, it had started raining. Plan B was promptly put into action, and we got the local bus back to within about 50 yards of the hotel, and are now back in the room. Maggie’s in bed already (2005), coughing and sneezing. Let’s hope tomorrow brings better news, as we seem to have achieved very little in the first half of the holiday.

Maggie’s addition.
We cannot find a laundrette anywhere and having laundry done by the hotel is quite expensive. So, as 7 pairs of knickers don’t last for 21 days, I’ve resorted to washing things out in our little kitchen sink. We wring the surplus water out using a bath towel, and we’ve rigged up our 2 dressing gown cords to make washing lines on the balcony. It all seems to work so far; necessity IS the mother of invention! (Tom says the knickers bit is far too much information! But I am doing other bits as well). As I write this, 2 polo shirts and some of the aforementioned k’s are blowing in the breeze – I just hope that it doesn’t blow them off the balcony completely.

Saturday 17 January

We’re both getting over whatever bug has been “bugging” us, but it’s a slow process. It’s just as well we’re here for 3 weeks as at least we have 2 left in which to do what we’d like. Tom went to sleep after breakfast for another 2 hours, while I sat on our balcony and sunbathed. The skies have been blue and almost cloudless all day and we did our first “levada” walk this afternoon.

Levadas are the man-made irrigation channels which follow the contours of the land, carrying water from rivers to areas which have no natural water supply, and as a bonus provided power for water-mills en-route. Each property the levada passes has a sluice gate which allows the water from the levada to be fed to the property. The opening and closing of these sluices was, and in most areas still is strictly regulated. Each property was allowed to draw water at certain times and on certain days according to the rights that existed with that plot of land. You would use this water to fill your private cistern and would have to ration its use until your next allocation. We found one property where they were obviously only entitled to use water from half the levada and from just before their property to just after it, the levada was split by a central wall. In order for essential repairs and maintenance to be carried out on these water courses, they all have footpaths beside them. Where the location doesn’t allow for a normal footpath, the outer wall was made wide enough to walk along and there are now some 1400km of these walkways accessible to tourists to the island.

We had to climb from the hotel up some very steep streets until we reached this one (Levada dos Piornais) then walked for about 2 miles to the west. Along the route, we met several people coming the other way. One man said he’d just had “an interesting experience” with a couple of large ladies he’d had to pass. As there isn’t much room, he’d had to perform a sort of pirouette with each of them in order to pass. He did have a smile on his face!!

Much of the walk is protected on the downward slope by fencing or walls of properties that have been built recently, but some areas are open with a sheer drop. Building work is being carried out in some places and the drop into those sites would bring more than a tear to your eye! However, the views are tremendous looking out over the Atlantic and as long as I didn’t look directly down, my vertigo stayed under control.

We’d decided to stop when we reached one of the main roads that cross the levada and walk back down to sea level for what we thought would be a nice flattish walk back to the hotel. WRONG!! The main road was pretty steep, but interesting with a huge hanging angel statue on one of the roundabouts (but with nothing to say what is represented) and some amazing flower stalks coming from what looked like some kind of aloe. Once we’d crossed over and found the path down to the coast, we found the steepest bit we’d so far encountered. In front of us on this part was a man holding on to a wheelchair with a lady in it, trying to brake its descent and when we got about halfway down, the path turned into steps, so how he managed to push it back up again, we can only wonder! The so-called “gentle” amble along the coast proved to be anything but for most of the way. At one point, the path was blocked off and we had to walk over some very uncomfortable stones to reach a tunnel through the rocks. (Just so’s you know, there are no beaches in Madeira, just rocks, and man-made decks for hotels’ use.) The guide books rather underplay the amount of slopes you encounter on even the shortest walks – hence the island’s unsuitability for those who have mobility problems. The last stretch back up to the hotel was very taxing for my little legs – even Tom’s muscles were crying out for a rest. He does ask me to point out to you that we HAD called in to the supermarket and, as well as our waterproofs, he was now carrying 2 kilos of melon and 4 small bottles of water in his rucksack! Necessary supplies!!
After a brief rest in our room, we went for a nice swim and 15mins in the Jacuzzi, we were refreshed enough to stagger across the road to Antonio’s restaurant and have pizza (Tom) and fettucine (me) along with a nice but overpriced bottle of red wine. And then it was back up those b****y 150 steps! And now I’m off to bed, night, night all

Friday 16 January

Well, it was a dull start to the day with clouds covering the hills although no rain. We were both still feeling slightly under the weather, and with Tom’s snoring, I hadn’t slept very well either so a lazy morning was on the cards!

When we eventually got ourselves together, the weather was a bit brighter, so we caught the bus into town. One of the guide books said that the Palacio de Sao Lourenco, which is an old fortress dating from 1513 right in the centre of Funchal on Avenida do Mar, is open for visits at certain times and Fridays at 3pm is one of them. The Palace is divided into 2 wings, military and civil. The east wing is the Command HQ of the Military Zone of Madeira and houses a history of the construction of the building and subsequent alterations, but we weren’t allowed in there. The west wing is used by the Minister of the Autonomous region of Madeira as his official residence and has a rich collection of furniture and art from the 17th – 19th centuries, which we were allowed to view. It wasn’t so much a guided tour as a do-it-yourself tour. We were all handed a leaflet giving the facts of the rooms we were about to see and then we were led around and just had to read the relevant information as we moved from room to room. It’s the strangest “guided tour” I’ve ever known! But there were some fabulous bits that the Antiques Roadshow experts would wax lyrical about, it was interesting and it was free – we like free! There was another large tapestry hanging in the entrance hall – we keep finding these wonderful tapestries all over the place, all made by the Madeira Embroiderers. Our hotel has several, all large pieces and all done obviously in the not too distant past.

As this visit only took about 45 minutes, we decided to go on to the “Story of Madeira” exhibition. We had a drink, and the first of our “stickies”, in the attached café then bought our tickets (no freebies here) for what was touted as “bringing the sights and sounds of Madeira to life”. It’s well laid out and certainly takes you on a journey from the first discovery of the islands up to the present day, but is much smaller than we had envisaged and didn’t take us long to get round. All the information is set out in 4 languages – Portuguese, English, French and German – and the translations into English are excellent so it was easy to follow. There are lots of interactive bits so certainly designed to interest children. Tom had to try all the challenges……
of course!
Having exhausted ourselves, we caught the last free coach back, had a rest, then went out to eat at the White House again, before tackling the 150 steps for the last time today. And so to bed.

Thursday 15 January

Having just re-read yesterday’s entry, I realise I didn’t finish the day’s news so I’ll start with that!

Having returned early, Tom had a snooze while I did the blog. The rain stopped and started several times, so we’d almost decided to eat in the hotel when, miraculously, it cleared up. (We’re finding that the weather changes rapidly here and you have to be prepared for anything especially if you’re out and about. We brought rucksacks so carry waterproofs around with us.) As there are a variety of eating places in close proximity, we braved it and went to the Chinese – passing the 2 lovely ladies outside the White House who again tried to tempt us in! They’re not TOO pushy so let us pass, recommending the duck in orange sauce! Tom followed their recommendation and it was very good. I had chicken in roasted almonds, which was also good. Intrigued by the dessert menu which offered “fried ice cream on fire”, Tom couldn’t resist! It was a generous serving of ice cream deep fried in a light batter, doused in Cointreau then set alight – he thoroughly enjoyed it, while I had ice cream and banana, not quite so adventurous!

We then stopped off at the White House for a drink on the way back – the 2 girls were still tempting passers by in for a meal – what a way to earn a living! But they don’t seem to mind and enjoy a bit of banter with people whether they go in or not. The standard of English here is very high – even in many of the back street businesses. I suppose since the island is very dependant on tourism, and a big percentage of that is British, it makes sense. There are also lots of Germans and Scandinavians, but not many Japanese or Americans, except for the cruise ship passengers.

Tom’s passed his sore throat onto me, isn’t he kind? So I’m feeling not quite 100% today, but we ventured into town again, despite that and the rather grotty weather – dull, overcast and raining lightly although it had poured first thing this morning. The hotel coach was full, so we used our bus tickets again and then walked up the hill (slowly) to the Embroidery Museum, stopping off in one of the many shopping centres for a coffee and the use of the free wi-fi. It was the cheapest coffee we’ve had so far – 75c. Tom is not so keen on the coffee they serve on the island as it is definitely sweeter than usual, but I am becoming quite a fan.

The Embroidery Museum is quite small, but the items on display are wonderful – for anyone with an interest in stitchcraft at least. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of information available and what was there was not translated in the most easily understood English, but we did take lots of photos, marvelling at the intricacy and delicacy of the pieces. One tablecloth was used when Queen Elizabeth II visited Portugal in 1957. There is a huge Gobelin tapestry (4m x 5m) on the wall as you enter the Museum. It took 14 girls, 3 years to complete (1958-61) and has 7 million stitches – it’s simply beautiful. There are also some lovely pieces of marquetry furniture.

As we were both feeling below par, we caught the coach back here and have spent the rest of the afternoon having a siesta, reading and the blog. The sun’s been dodging in and out of the clouds all day so we’re hoping that it, and us, will be brighter tomorrow. I’m glad we hadn’t organised any trips this week.

Just outside our room are a couple of strange trees with feathery leaves and very thorny looking trunk and branches. It has fruits that look like elongated avocados but we don’t know if they are edible. There is a specimen in one of the gardens in town and we found out that they are “Chorisia Speciosa – Sumaume”, native of Brazil. There are a lot of S African and S American plants here, as well as orchids. We plan to visit the Orchid Gardens one day – they are said to be spectacular.

Evening

Both of us are still feeling grotty, so we’re staying put, whch is just as well as it has been seriously raining on and off since we returned from town. There was the most amazing complete rainbow however, with a fainter double one just above it, in one of the brief periods when the sun was shining.
So goodnight for today.

Wednesday 14 January

Hooray! Tom’s much better today and we’ve been into Funchal to do one of the walks around the town. It’s not been quite as hot but still warm enough just for short sleeves. We got the courtesy coach at 1030 from the hotel which drops us right along the sea front near the cathedral.

The main streets are cobbled with small stones or paved with mosaics of white limestone and grey basalt, formed into patterns and pictures. All the streets are narrow and winding with plenty of pedestrian crossing places. Drivers seem to be patient and there’s very little horn blowing. There are hundreds of taxis – all of which look well cared for, but we’ve been warned to get a price from the driver first before embarking on any journey.

The manager of the Teatro Municipal Baltazar Diaz very kindly allowed us to take photos inside the theatre, which is decorated as it was in the 1880’s and has a regular and varied programme of musical events.

Part of the walk took us out onto the breakwater opposite where the cruise ships dock and you look back towards Funchal – the view the ships get as they dock – very impressive! Along the side of the breakwater there is one café/restaurant where the tables are all on little boats attached to pontoons – so you can imagine you’re on board. The boat which the Beatles once owned is also moored there and is now a restaurant.

There are some wonderful old buildings, including the cathedral (the Se) which we actually went into at the end of one of the services before it was closed. Tom managed to get a few photographs before the warden or deacon or whatever he’s called turned off most of the lights and ushered us to the doors! We plan to visit several of the museums and public buildings, but as this was Tom’s first day up from his sick bed, we didn’t do any today. We stopped for coffee (at the same café we found on Monday) halfway through the walk, but we haven’t yet tried any of the “stickies” even though they look delicious!

Madeira is famous for its decorative tiles and many of the buildings have tile pictures inside and out. The Mercado dos Lavradores (the indoor market) has very colourful patterned tiles all round it and the stalls’ displays of fruit and veg are very artistic but it’s such a pain being hassled to try this and that – the only place we’ve been hassled so far. Tom had reached his limit by then, so we caught one of the town buses back to the Lido which is just around the corner (and down a steep hill, of course) from the hotel and up the 150 steps again! Thank goodness we came back when we did because within 10 mins, it had started to rain and the clouds came down over the town so we could hardly see the houses on the hill.

Buses are one of the recommended ways of travelling in Madeira and there are certainly plenty of them around the town. Each journey within town costs 2.05 but if you buy a travel card from newsagents for 50c, you can load it with as many units as you want at a cost of only 95c per journey. That will take you from one side of the town to the other but you have to be careful you’re getting the correct bus! Buses to other parts of the island vary and the routes are designed for country dwellers to come into town early and return later so are not always suitable for tourists who want to go to outlying villages in the mornings and return to town in the afternoon.
The island is certainly not recommended for anyone with mobility problems. An elderly couple in our hotel were not warned about the steep access and cannot manage the walk up to or down from it. So they are limited to having to go most places by taxi, which is going to be very expensive. Even to get the courtesy coach into town, you are required to walk down to it although it does bring you back up to the front door on its return – unless there’s any other vehicle blocking it!!