Holiday in Transition # 11: Have Some Madeira, M'Dear!

As soon as we left Gibraltar the other night, there was no question that we were now out of that placid millpond, the Mediterranean Sea, and on the open Atlantic Ocean.  While I was eating dinner we reached the open water, and the ship immediately took on a long slow pitch over the waves.  Every ten waves or so there came a bigger one which was enough to cause the dining room curtains to sway slightly.  And the water’s been maintaining that rhythm ever since.  Fortunately, it doesn’t bother me, and I slept well for the last two nights.

Our next port of call was the Portuguese island of Madeira, north of Spain’s Canary Islands, southwest of the Straits of Gibraltar, and several hundred kilometres offshore from western Morocco.

It’s a long-extinct volcanic island which has experienced a good deal of erosion, but still sticks up a long way above the ocean.  It’s been a favourite holiday and winter getaway for people from the United Kingdom in particular for many decades.  Even today, tourism is the # 1 industry in Madeira with the famous sweet wines which share the island’s name coming second, and bananas in third place.

The island has a population of over 200,000 people and in such a small land area this inevitably means building up, both in storeys and along hillsides.  Travelling around Madeira therefore involves a great deal of steep hill climbing – and, when not climbing a hill, the road is going through it in one of the numerous tunnels.  It’s a beautiful place, and the air is full of lovely scents from the trees and flowers, once you get clear of the busy capital city of Funchal – whose name, by the way, means “A Plantation of Fennel”.

Once again, here is a place I really want to return to so I can explore more of it, and get beyond the massive urbanized area that flourishes all around Funchal harbour.  The tour I had booked didn’t manage that at all, although it was certainly informative and entertaining.

From the ship we drove along the waterfront to the cable car station where we proceeded to ride up the mountain behind the city.  It was a relaxing 15-minute ride, much longer than the one in Gibraltar, and with seats for everyone (in Gibraltar, they used shoehorn tactics).  Unfortunately, I got a seat facing uphill and with that and the tinted glass couldn’t get any pictures.  However, when we got out at the top, we had this view back down towards the harbour.

In the midst of all the modern construction, the old village of Monte has been carefully preserved as a tourist attraction.  The village square with its overarching trees is just as restful as it looks.

Where most of the people in our tour set off uphill to visit the old church, I went the other way, dropping down a steep path into a valley below the square, which had a lovely little botanical garden.  It was a pleasant surprise that so many flowers were still in bloom in December.

Anyone who’s been to Madeira certainly knows what comes next – the infamous toboggan ride.  It’s a huge operation now, with dozens of wicker-basket toboggans and dozens more traditionally garbed men to pull and ride and steer them.  It’s a very steep 2-kilometre high-speed ride down the paved roads with all their corners and twists and turns.  The crew, if I may so call them, ride on the back and steer the contraption with the aid of two ropes and their traditional goat-skin-soled shoes.  I’m sure the rest of them were just like ours, a pair of comedians who kept pretending that they were going to let the toboggan turn around and slide backwards, or drop a runner into a rain gutter, or slam our elbows into a stone wall.  Of course, they had it completely under control the whole time and it was great fun! 

(note the flat patio apparently tilting up and away at the left side of the picture!)

Our sledge actually threw part of its runner on the way down and they had to add some kind of emergency filler to get us to the end.  The fact that they had the repair kit right in the basket with us suggests that this happens fairly often.  And then at the bottom we saw the truck loaded up with toboggans to be taken back up to Monte, while the crews all stood around waiting (presumably) for vans or a bus for the same purpose.

After that we drove to another viewpoint with this great panorama of the harbour and city.  I didn’t pay much attention other than to think that the third cruise ship, now arrived, looked vaguely familiar.  But later in the day we’ll get back to that subject.

There were also some more lovely flowers blooming around the lookout park, including these spectacular bird-of-paradise flowers, a particular favourite of mine.

From the lookout, we continued down into the city, and then walked along the pedestrian shopping street to reach the premises of the Blandy family firm of wine merchants.  There we had a tasting session of genuine Madeira wines.  As many of you will know, these are very sweet and fortified wines, usually served as an aperitif (if dry) or with dessert (sweet), and running typically to about 19% alcohol, which isn’t far short of the content of an Irish cream or many other liqueurs.  Usually I avoid this sort of thing, being diabetic, but the tastings weren’t large.  We all got a sweet one to start, and then could get up to two more of any kind.  I went from the sweet to the dry, which was still pretty sweet stuff.  This helps to explain why I sheer away from any restaurant dishes made with Madeira sauces!

With that we returned to the ship, and it was such a sunny day that I finally made it into the pool for the first time on this trip.  It’s also warmer.  As we’ve gone farther south, we’re getting closer to the tropics and daytime highs in the low 20s Celsius (i.e. low 70s Fahrenheit) are now the rule, at least for a while.

Oh, yes, that other cruise ship.  Just before we sailed away at 4:45pm, the captain announced that the Phoenix-Reisen’s Artania was the former Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess, a ship in which I had sailed way back in 2000, to Iceland, Norway, and Spitsbergen.  She was a lovely vessel, the first cruise ship in the world built with all outside cabins, and one of the last built with a traditional teak promenade deck running right around the entire perimeter of the ship at Deck 5.  I walked a great deal on that deck during our sea days, and remember that it only took a little over 4 complete laps to go one mile.  She was a wonderful sea boat too, and handled splendidly the few rough days we had on that trip.

And Madeira also had one last treat for us, just as we sailed clear of the harbour.  Shortly after we dropped the harbour pilot off, we picked up another kind of escort.

Yes, Madeira is definitely a place where I’d like to spend more time.  The winter weather is right smack in my comfort zone, the people are very friendly, restaurants all look pleasantly informal, and there’s so much more of the island waiting for me to explore it.

Now, for the next five days, we are “at sea” on the long run across to Bermuda.  Items of concern: daily walks on the track, swimming in the pool (weather permitting), meals, entertainment, and chatting with shipboard friends.  Really nothing much to post about, although I might do a short one about the “sea day” experience before we arrive at out next port of call.