We have once
again been very lucky with the weather.
Yesterday, a day at sea, was cold, wet and rough seas. Today as we pulled into the Port of Funchal
the sun was just rising and the seas were calm.
An early breakfast before being divided into our tour groups and off to
the buses which had lined the port.
We drove
firstly through Funchal, the capital city of Madeira. The island is very small. Fifty six kilometres long and twenty three
wide with a population of 260,000. You
could drive around Madeira in a day, but what a day it would be!!!! The streets are very steep, narrow and built
very close to the edge of cliffs. Our
bus driver had to back up to let another bus through and another time the two buses
just managed to pass without scraping any paint work.
We headed up
to Eira Do Serrado. On the way our guide
explained how everything grows really well in the Funchal climate. The word Madeira in Portuguese means wood, as
the island was covered in woodland when first discovered and the name Funchal
is Portuguese for fennel, which also grows naturally here. Anyway they decided to plant eucalyptus trees
as they were told that they would help guard against erosion and they were
quick growing. Now the eucalyptus tree has
become a problem as it has seeded everywhere and taking over from the native
trees and of course, as in Australia, is a bush fire hazard. The gardens are beautiful even now when it is
autumn here. There are Poinsettias, Strelitzias,
Jacarandas and bougainvillea in flower everywhere. Orchids grow well here also but I only saw
them in the flower market.
We reached
Eiro Do Serrado after travelling along one of the most windy narrowest roads
but with the most spectacular views. The
photos just don’t give the idea of the depth of the valleys and the steepness
of the cliffs. The view from the lookout
was down to what is known as The Nuns Valley.
It was first settled by some nuns who were wanting to find some place where
they and the churches treasures would be safe from pirates. At that time Madeira was a very rich island
as sugar cane grew well here. It was known
as white gold. There was a little café/hotel/souvenir
shop. So after a walk to the lookout and
a rest at the café it was time to get back onto the bus and head to Monte. We walked from the bus up to a Catholic
Church set high on the mountain top. There
were great views out over the port, and it was nice to see our floating home
still sitting there waiting for us. We
walked down a short distance from there and onto cable cars that took us back
down to Funchal. It was really great way
to view the city. We re-joined the bus
and were taken to an embroidery shop.
The women of Madeira are known as wonderful needlewomen. It was really beautiful work but very
expensive. Downstairs was Madeira Port
tasting. It was very nice but we didn’t
really want to have to carry a bottle around for the rest of our trip.
From here we
left the tour and found our way to a lovely little street café. We ordered rolls with salad and the local
delicacy of scabbard fish. These fish
are very long, about four foot and black and live at great depths so have to be
caught at night when they come to higher parts of the ocean to feed. It is said that they go with anything as they
have little taste of their own. We found
that to be true. The Madeira way is to
serve them with cooked banana. We also had
a local beer and then a Madeira tart.
This is a custard tart but it has like a flaky pastry. They were very nice.
Time then
for a walk around the shops and then we started to walk back to the ship. Part way our knees began to complain so we
hopped into little ‘Tukxi’ and were whisked off back to the ship in no time.
This part of
Portugal is truly lovely. When we met
for dinner everyone had enjoyed Funchal greatly.
We now have
5 days at sea. Wifi will be very
difficult so I will blog again after our next port.
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