I woke at 6.45am this morning. I had a day tour to catch and I was looking forward
to getting off the ship. The rocking and
rolling was getting to me. We were supposed
to arrive into Funchal (Fun-chal) at 8am and we didn’t dock till 8.45am. Doesn’t really look good for our first port
of call on the itinerary and we were late.
The weather didn’t seem bad last night, so not really sure of the reason
as to why, but the good thing is that sunrise was at 8.12am and we got to see
an amazing sunrise over the water as the ball of red popped out from what
looked like behind the ocean. There aren’t
many places where you can see a sun rise over water and this was a magic one,
and really I don’t think there can be a disappointing sunrise in this whole
world-the hope of a new day is born and another grateful day for me to be on
this planet.
Costa was also in dock-our nemesis had also arrived. I think there is always some unspoken rivalry
when you see other ships on a similar itinerary. I remember being in the Caribbean and there
were 4 other ships in port, but we were on the Oasis of the Seas-so we trumped
them all anyway, but as we pulled out of the Bahamas our tour director told us
all to go out on deck and we would give them all a cheery wave goodbye and with
the sound of the very loud ships horn we all screamed and waved as we pulled
out. It was so COOL. I’ll never forget that and all the smiles of
everyone around me. What a thrill. One of the ships tried to reply, I think it
may have been a Carnival ship replying, but they had nothing on us with a ship
of 6500 people versus 2000. I must say
that once we dock, it doesn’t take the staff long to get us all manoeuvred. My tour was leaving from the Stardust Theatre
and once our staff member got the okay on the radio, they start calling the
tours by tour code and name and then the groups peel left and right of the
theatre to the exits, for our tickets to be checked and a sticker given to us
to tell us what coach we would be on for the day. From there we walk along the promenade to the
middle set of stairs and we descend 2 flights to the gangway, to have our ships
card scanned that we were exiting the ship and then there were more staff to
direct you to the right coach.
Considering the move approximately 500-1000 people using this method,
from leaving the theatre to driving away on the coach was around 20
minutes. Not bad at all. There was the usual photo opportunity as you
come off the ship, and a lot of people were saying no and I felt sorry for the
staff and the photographer, so I stopped for a pose with no intention of buying
the photo-really I did it just to help out the guys-and I will just go and
check it later tonight to see how it turned out-really, just for a look………..
really……
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies just under 400 km north
of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union. Madeira was discovered by Portuguese sailors
in the service of Henry the Navigator in 1419, and
settled after 1420. The archipelago is considered to be the first territorial
discovery of the exploratory period of the Portuguese
Age of Discovery. Today, it is a popular
year-round resort, being visited every year by about one million
tourists, noted for its Madeira wine, flowers, landscapes and embroidery artisans, as
well as for its annual New Year celebrations that feature the largest fireworks show in the world, as officially recognised by
the Guinness World Records, in 2006. The main harbour in Funchal is the leading Portuguese port in cruise liner
dockings, being an important stopover for commercial and trans-Atlantic
passenger cruises between Europe, the Caribbean and North America.
The first settlers began colonizing the islands around 1420 or 1425; the
three Captains-major had led the
first settlement, along with their respective families, a small group of minor
nobility, people of modest conditions and some prisoners, who could be trusted
to work the lands. To gain the minimum conditions for the development of
agriculture, they had to rough-hew a part of the dense forest of laurisilva and to construct a large number of canals (levadas),
since in some parts of the island there was excess water, while in others water
was scarce. During this period, fish constituted about half of the settlers'
diet, together with vegetables and fruits cultivated from small cleared parcels
of land. Initially, these colonists produced wheat for their own subsistence,
but later the quantity cultivated was sufficient to begin exporting wheat to
continental Portugal. In 23 September
1433, the name Madeira Island,
or literally island of wood, began
to appear in the first documents and maps. The name given to the islands
corresponded to the large dense forests of native laurisilva trees that
populated the island during the settlement.
However, when grain production began to fall, the ensuing crisis
forced Henry the Navigator, as principal
benefactor of the islands, to plant other commercial crops. The planting
of sugarcane, and later
Sicilian sugar beet, allowed the
introduction of the "sweet
salt" (as sugar was known) into Europe, where it was a rare and popular spice. These specialised plants,
and their associated industrial technology, created one of the major
revolutions on the islands and fuelled Portuguese industry. The expansion of
sugar plantations in Madeira began in 1455, using advisers from Sicily
and financed by Genoese capital (it would become an integral part of
the island economy until the 17th century). The accessibility of Madeira
attracted Genoese and Flemish traders who were keen to bypass Venetian monopolies. By
1480 Antwerp had some seventy ships engaged in the Madeira sugar trade, with
the refining and distribution concentrated in Antwerp. By the 1490s Madeira had
overtaken Cyprus as a producer of sugar.
After the 17th century, as sugar production shifted to Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe and
elsewhere, Madeira's most important product became its wine. The British occupied Madeira as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, a consented occupation starting in 1807 and
concluding in 1814 when the island was returned to Portugal. Nevertheless, the island was a British Crown Colony for four months, and Britain had intentions
of keeping it after the Napoleonic Wars, owing to its strategic position, but
plans for its permanent annexation were abandoned shortly after the start of
the occupation. On 1 July 1976, following
the democratic revolution of 1974,
Portugal granted political autonomy to Madeira, celebrated on Madeira Day. The region now has its own government and
legislative assembly.
The archipelago of Madeira is located 520 km from the African coast
and 1,000 km from the European continent (approximately a one-and-a-half
hour flight from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon). The archipelago itself is a series of oceanic
volcanic islands that date back to the Miocene (about 20 million years ago), and constructed
from a hotspot in the Earth's crust of the African Tectonic Plate. Madeira, and the
smaller Desertas Islands, are the youngest of these islands (dating from 4.6 to
0.7 million years), while Porto Santo, the smaller of the main islands, and is
the oldest (approximately 14 million years).
The island of Madeira is at the top of a massive shield volcano that rises about 6 km from the floor of
the Atlantic Ocean, on the Tore underwater mountain range. Madeira Island represents 93% of the
archipelago's area, with 90% of the landmass above 500 m. It is the largest
island of the group with an area of 741 km2 and a length
of 57 km while approximately 22 km at its widest point with a
coastline of 150 km. The island of Madeira is wet in the northwest but dry
in the southeast. In the 16th century the Portuguese started building levadas
or aqueducts to carry water to the agricultural regions in
the south. The most recent were built in the 1940s. Madeira is very
mountainous, and building the levadas was difficult and often sentenced
criminals or slaves were used. Many are cut into the sides of mountains, and it
was also necessary to dig 40 km of tunnels, some of which are still
accessible. Today the levadas not only
supply water to the southern parts of the island but provide hydro-electric power. There are over 2,170 km
of levadas and they provide a remarkable network of walking paths. Some provide
easy and relaxing walks through beautiful countryside, but others are narrow,
crumbling ledges where a slip could result in serious injury or death.
For such a small island it has a lot amazing history and the second we
left the port and started to ascend the mountains it was also a beautiful
island. I had no perceptions on what to
expect, no idea so to see the stunning views as we wound our way through small
villages, literally wound-the roads are so windy and at points not wide enough
for a bus to pass a car on a bend without one of us stopping to let one through
I started to get a feel for the island.
It really is hilly; the road we were travelling on was basically on the
side of a mountain. I wonder how many
accidents they have where the cars verge off the cliffs of these roads. I couldn’t imagine driving them at night
time. Scary. All the villages are set up on the side of
mountains and they all have terraces where they grow bananas, grapes and other
agriculture depending on the altitude.
Everywhere you looked was mountains, homes located on them and
terraces. I dong think I would like to
live here as everything looked like it was going to be an uphill walk. Everywhere is uphill. UPHILL.
Besides that the island has a nice feel, a country, clean and modest
feel about it.
Our first view of the tour was Câmara de
Lobos. The location of the modern
town is believed to be the original landing point for the Portuguese
discoverer João Gonçalves Zarco, who is credited with
the discovery of the Madeira Islands. When the explorer disembarked
in this area (1419), he observed a thin cliff that extended into the ocean, and
another cliff face that formed an amphitheatre-like harbour that could shelter
ships from Atlantic storms. There Zarco and his men also found a large colony
of marine animals that would become the reason for naming this area Câmara
de Lobos. The name, lobos, is a
Portuguese derivation for sea-lions, which were the animals discovered by
Zarco and his men in the sheltered bay. Because of the large colony of these
animals, the area was baptised câmara dos lobos. The town is also known for Winston Churchill
paintings as it is apparently where he got inspiration for his paintings after
a visit here in the 1950’s.
We stopped at 9.45an for a view point photo at Pico da
Torre. This had an amazing view over 30%
of the island and also a bird’s eye view of Camara de Lobos. A well-known stop as there were also 10 other
coaches, taxis and rental cars all atop the lookout but it didn’t deter from
the view and it was magic. At 10.20am we
stopped again for the highest view we would have of the day and which also
happened to be at a small restaurant.
They had a tray ready of the local, traditional drink called Poncha for
us to sample and if we liked it we could buy bottles of the stuff. Poncha is a traditional alcoholic drink from
the island of Madeira, made
with distilled alcohol made from
sugar cane juice, honey, sugar, lemon rind and with different fruit juices
according to the version of Poncha, but traditionally lemon juice is used. It is mixed together with a mixing tool
created in Madeira officially called a mexelote but more commonly known as a
Caralhinho (little cock), it is in fact a type of muddler created in Madeira. Caipirinha is based on Poncha but tastes nothing
like it let me tell you. I had a single
sip and the stuff was vile. It tasted
like tequila to me and I really had to make an effort to drink the last
remaining but, as all the glasses were going back to the try empty. Surely I am not the ONLY one who doesn’t like
it-am I? It is said in Madeira that
Poncha cures the common cold and people are encouraged to drink it if they have
cold like symptoms and I can understand why.
That stuff would kill anything in its way-ughhhhh. I have to rate that up there with the Araki
that I had in Ethiopia-actually to be fair, Araki was so much more vile-just
thinking about it now turns my stomach. The
drink may be based on an Indian drink called Pãnch/Panch, in Hindi Panch which means five and the drink was originally made with
five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices. This is also
where the English drink Punch has originated from.
There were also bottles of Madeira for sale, of the wine
variety, but no samples unfortunately.
The island is also known for its own unique wine that is produced locally. Madeira is a fortified wine produced in a variety of styles ranging
from dry wines which
can be consumed on their own as an aperitif,
to sweet wines more usually consumed with dessert.
Cheaper versions are often flavoured with salt and pepper for
use in cooking. The islands of Madeira
have a long wine making history, dating back to the Age of Exploration when Madeira was a
standard port of call for ships heading to
the New World or East Indies.
To prevent the wine from spoiling, neutral grape spirits were
added. On the long sea voyages, the wines would be exposed to excessive heat
and movement which transformed the flavour of the wine. This was discovered by
the wine producers of Madeira when an unsold shipment of wine returned to the
islands after a round trip. Today, Madeira is noted for its unique winemaking
process which involves heating the wine up to temperatures as high as 60 °C for an extended
period of time and deliberately exposing the wine to some levels of oxidation.
Because of this unique process, Madeira is a very robust wine that can be quite
long lived even after being opened-our guide said even up to 10 years after a
bottle has been opened it would still be good to drink and would even taste
better.
From here we were only a 2 minute drive to Cabo Girão which is
a lofty sea cliff located
along the southern coast of the island. Cabo
Girão is a popular lookout point, and starting point for hikers. It is a diamond-shaped sea-cliff escarpment from 560
metres to 589 metres above sea level. Cabo
Girão lies between two river-valleys that flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The
escarpment/cliffs extend approximately one kilometre in length of the cliff and
reaches from approximately three kilometres between the urban sprawl of Câmara
de Lobos and the river-valley of Quinta Grande.
Although brochures explain that it is the second highest cliff in Europe, at least
five European cliffs Hornelen at 860 metres, Cape Enniberg at
750 metres, Vixía Herbeira at 613 metres, Preikestolenat
604 metres and Slieve League at 601 metres are
higher. Hmmm funny how our guide didn’t mention that small fact. Her spiel was it is the highest in Europe and
the second highest in the world after Taiwan where their cliff is 720m above
sea level. There has to be some
misinterpretation on some-ones behalf somewhere. You only had to walk about 5 minutes to get
to the cliff face and there was a glass floor that extended over the cliff-it
was pretty cool and with such a clear day we had a magnificent view, not only
of the drop and the terraced fields below us but also up the coastline as far
as the eye could see. MAGNIFICENT. The terraced fields located below the sheer
cliffs were at one time only accessible by boat. In August 2003, a cable car
was installed on the slope of the cliff so farmers could reach these low-lying
fields. It was busy here as well, with
other coaches all doing the same thing as us, but not so much so that I could
get all the photos I wanted without too much hassle and I have to say that was
the highlight of the day by far.
It was only a half day tour, so we had one more stop
before heading back to the ship and that was at a sleepy fishing village of Ribeira
Brava. It is located along the southern
coast approximately in the centre. In
2001 its population was about 12500 inhabitants. The Ribeira Brava ravine and river valley extends 10-12m
from the slopes of the west-central mountains of Madeira. Its waters provide
the primary sources of drinking-water (a small reservoir collect surface
run-off) to the area and electricity to the island of Madeira. Approximately
ten tributaries feed this river, whose course ends in the Serra de Água, and
much later empties into the Atlantic along the village's coast. We were the only coach here at this small
village and we were given an hour to look around, have a coffee and visit the
church. The primary industry for the
village, besides fishing is handicraft and there were some beautiful handmade
lace products ranging from table clothes, napkins, bags, hankies, doilies and
pretty much anything that could be stitched and laced they had it. If my mum was alive she would have LOVED this
place, it was right up her alley. It’s
not really my thing, but I did find what I think maybe the purchase of the
cruise and that is a woven purse. I had
bought an exact replica when I was in Lisbon last year in June and it was big
enough I could fit my camera, phone and passport in and I loved it to death,
literally loved it to death. It lasted
till I got to Buenos Aries in February and after nursing a rip in the purse
that I had persisted with for around 5 weeks-it was time to let it go. It was that good, I couldn’t toss it and I
sent it home. Sad I know, but I have
found an exact same one here today-but instead of having Portugal hand stitched
on it, it has Madeira. What a score and
I am so happy. Sad again I know. After my AWESOME buy and a look in the church
I did manage to stumble on the post office!
Now this was also great as I was able to get my Globetrotters Book
stamped with my Madeira stamp. I had to
buy a stamp to go in the book and then he was happy to ink stamp it with the
date and place. You little beauty. There is a sense of accomplishment when I get
that book stamped and I would really, be really sad if anything happened to
it. After an ice-cram in a café that
looked directly onto the Atlantic Ocean we were back in the coach for the 20
minutes back to the ship. We bypassed
the small windy roads and took the major highway that runs from the north to
the south of the island. We must have
passed through 9 tunnels getting is back and the views were just as good the
whole way. Every time we popped out of a
tunnel we were witness to some amazing view, whether it be hundreds of banana
trees, terraces, villages on the side of mountains, it really is an incredible
island.
We were dropped back at 2pm to the ship. The Costa ship does look good. It think it maybe one of the new ships, the
Deliziosa. I was still loyal to my
Norwegian Spirit and after asking for permission to walk to the end of the dock
and get a picture of ‘our’ girl I was back on the ship and heading to lunch, I
was famished. I went back to my cabin to
relax for a few hours and then I was back on deck at 5pm for our
departure. I love this time of day when
the ships pull out. It is generally just
before sunset and you can get some incredible photos of the ship, the port and
also the sun on the water and today was no different. There was a nip to the air but nothing too
uncomfortable and we actually left a few minutes early AND before Costa. I guess if we are all on board ready to go,
why not. Try and avoid a late arrival
tomorrow into Santa Cruz aka Tenerife and our first of 2 stops in the Canary Islands. I enjoyed my hour on deck listening to tunes
till Madeira was a speck and the sun had lost all its’ glory’.
As a creature of habit, I think we all are in some way-I
was at the Theatre at 7pm to get to ‘my’ seat which is now officially 6 rows
from the front and smack bang in the middle.
Besides getting there early to get ‘my’ seat it also avoids the debacle
when people sit on the ends and there are seats still in the middle and people
have to ask them to stand, for them to shimmy past them to get to the middle
seats. In people’s defence there are
some older folks that this would be an issue for, but people who are more
mobile should be moving in. It was like
on the coach today. I like sitting at
the back anyway, but I should be taking these seats as I am young and can
shuffle my way to the back. It’s great
actually as I had the whole back seat to myself and no-one sat in front of me
either. A perfect way to enjoy a day
tour. The show tonight was a magician
called Cripton and his wife Renata. He
had a few big titles to his name including winner of the first prize for Great
Illusions and the Grand Prix of the Italian Magical Club, 1° Prize "Magic
Act and Great Illusions", 3° Prize "The Magic Hands" and last
year he won Magician of the Year 2012 which is up there with David Copperfield, Roy and Siegfried and Chriss Angel. It was performance that is
for sure. He did a lot of hand waving
and flourishes, the spotlights helped I think with some tricks and the crescendo
of the music all added to the act. He
was very much a showman always asking for the claps but I do have to say there
were a few tricks there that I just could not work out and he pulled them off
effortlessly. There were 2 that really struck
me over his hour long show and they were: one he got 2 people from the audience
and it was using balls and he started with the ball in the hand and then it was
gone oldie but as the trick went on the balls were ending up in the volunteers
hands. That’s impressive. How does he do that? The other one was he got an older gentleman
from the audience that had on a jacket.
Cripton then had his hands tied behind his back, Renata tied the knots
and then the volunteer tied some as well and then there was a larger rope that
was tied around his neck and then his arms with the help of Renata and said
volunteer again. Then old man was
blindfolded and they both went behind a curtain and a minute later Cripton was
wearing the old guy’s jacket under all the ties. Now how does he do that? It was a show of great illusions and as much
as I hate over the top acting I was astonished and I enjoyed his show of escapology
and mentalism. He is doing 2 more shows
on the ship, different from tonight, so I will make sure I go and see
them.
That was my day in Madeira and what a great day I
had. I’m looking forward to Tenerife
tomorrow.
I think I may have found my sailing mojo again.
