Have Some Madeira, M’Dear!!

7^th January, 2020

Our first port of call, the capital of Madeira, Funchal. Just to put Madeira on the map, it is an archipelago (don’t you love that word?) in the Atlantic (but you knew that, didn’t you?), west of Morocco and north of the Canaries, some 600 miles southwest of Lisbon. There are two inhabited islands – the Ilha da Madeira (the Island of Timber) and the tiny Porto Santo – and also the uninhabited Ilhas Desertas (desert isles) and the remote Ilhas Selvagens (the savage or wild islands).

The main island, Madeira, is roughly twice the size of the Isle of Wight, but with Pico Ruiva at 6,106 ft, the island’s highest point, some 1,700 ft higher than Ben Nevis, which should give you an idea of the mountainous nature of the island. There are many tunnels all over the very hilly island, with the Encumeada road tunnel measuring 1.9 miles. The total population is 267,000. It also boasts the second highest sea cliffs in the world at 1,932 ft, something we saw the last time we visited the island some years. Indeed, as we have been to Madeira on an earlier cruise, we decided to check out the delights of Funchal itself rather than tour the island as a whole.

We caught the free shuttle from the ship to the city centre, about a 5 minute journey. There were 3 ships in port, ours, another P&O vessel, the Ventura and a German ship, the Aida, so it was busy in the city with lots of tourists helping the local economy. It does make you wonder how much money is spent when the cruise liners come into port. There must have been at least 8,000 extra people on the island as a result not counting the regular tourists.

We wandered through the main streets enjoying the lovely weather at around about 20 degrees and sunny and the Christmas decorations that were still in evidence.

We did drop into the cathedral or Sé, which had an impressive high altar and some side chapels, but was a bit underwhelming otherwise. It was that sort of Counter-Reformation over-the-top Baroque/Rococo, which seems to have thrown everything into say a chapel, whilst the rest of the church is left very plain. Maybe it was still a work-in-progress?? There was some scaffolding, after all…..

Of course our first main stop was the market, which was OK though not as exciting as some we have visited on our travels. There were some spectacular flowers and some unusual fruit including a mix between a banana and a pineapple, which unfortunately was not quite ripe enough to try.

From there we walked down Santa Maria Street also known as the street of painted doors, which has lots of restaurants and, not surprisingly, painted doors, as evidenced below!

A short walk took us to the cable car and quite a long queue, but it kept moving and we were soon aboard our gondola (is that the right term?) swinging our way up the hill to the Monte Palace Garden giving a wonderful vista over Funchal and the port. I tell you what, you have to have strong legs to be a Madeiran!

The garden was delightful, spreading over the hillside, which meant a nice walk down and a stiff climb back up. The property was originally owned by Charles Murray, the British Consul in the 18^th Century who turned it into a beautiful estate, later called Quinto do Prazer or Estate of Pleasure. In 1897 Alfredo Guilherme Rodrigues bought the property and built a hotel, inspired by the palaces he had seen on the banks of the Rhine. The Monte Palace Hotel closed on his death in 1943, but the property was bought by Jose Manuel Rodrigues Berardo in 1987 and the garden came into being for the enjoyment of the general public. All very beautiful, restful and scenic – and steep!

Our way down from the hills was a little less orthodox as we decided to take a wicker toboggan, the Carreiros do Monte. These have been operating for over 100 years and are basically a sled with two operators who guide it down the steep street by means of leaning and some deft footwork as we sped down what seemed to be an ordinary road (we were overtaken by a car at one point). The good news was that it was a one way street, though we did have to cross another road completely blind, but there was at least a chap with a red flag to stop the traffic as we slithered past. Rather overpriced, of course, but great fun and memorable! There was some pretty deft photography too as we had our picture snapped on our descent and it was produced for us, for a fee, at the end of the run. I have taken a photo of it to give you an idea of how the system works. I do also have some fairly dodgy video, but I don’t think I can add video to the blog without using up loads of my allotted allowance for media. (I can’t, I have discovered, sorry).

The toboggans only take you about halfway down the hill, so it was either wait for a bus or pay the traditional ‘licensed bandit in a taxi’ (Monty Python Travel Agent sketch for the uninitiated) to get us back down. I wish now that I had videoed the taxi ride as it was even more exciting than the sled! I am not sure how many of you remember the film, Bullet, but it was rather too similar to the car chase down the hills of San Francisco in that movie. Finally a walk to the shuttle bus and back to the ship.

And that was Madeira. More soon about our routine and life ‘before the mast’ and the stop in Barbados.