Introduction to Madeira

Our visit coincides exactly with Carnival here in Madeira.  There will be a big parade Saturday night in Funchal with almost two thousand participants. Friday it rained most of the day; a day to relax.  Then we went into the city for dinner and a look at the "old town" section of town.  We found a cobbler's shop where you could order custom-made boots, but the look was somewhat crude.  A wide selection of restaurants, all eager to please.  Dinner was fine, but not much different than our hotel.  Parking was congested and hard to find.

Our hotel is outside the city, near the airport, and is a very quiet, comfortable, and secure accommodation: two pools, tennis court, gardens, gym, and library; all right on the ocean.  Madeira is a relative bargain price-wise; at least at this season.  The vast majority of tourists are from Europe.  We have encountered mostly Germans; although we have a French family and British couple at our hotel.

We had dinner in the old town section of Funchal only one evening.  Our hotel owner also owned several restaurants; he would schedule various chefs from his restaurants to provide service at the Albatroz hotel; thus, the meals at our accommodation were varied and excellent.

 The western approaches to Fuchal.  The city includes a cable car from the harbor to Monte- a neighborhood overlooking the city.

Jardim Botanico, overlooking Funchal with many beautiful flowers, but the garden was smaller than I had hoped for.

A glass-floored platform extending out over a 1900' cliff on the south coast.  The day we were there, local winds were 50-60 mph.

We have already sampled the local drink specialty, poncha, a fruity drink with strong but tasteless cane sugar rum.  Madeira wine is good, but not distinctive from other locations.  Also tried the local fish, the scabbard fish- an ugly black fish with mild, delicate, white flesh. With jet lag we arose late today, then took an afternoon hike to Casa do Sardinha on the slender, eastern peninsula of the island. Good exercise on the rocky, uneven four-mile trail out and back.

 Looking out at Praia Prainha, uninhabited islets on the right.

We walked about four miles along this rough trail, but did not go to the end of the path on Ponta de Sao Lourenco.

Looking northeast to Porto Santo.  Porto Santo is about six miles long and has nice sand beaches.  Enlarge this photo to see the island better.  We didn't go there; it is a long, once-a-day ferry boat ride.  We don't like to get up that early when on vacation.

One of the pleasures of travel is meeting with people from other countries and comparing the similarities and contrasts in lifestyles.  One of our hosts here at the hotel is a young man, Fabricio, we have taken a liking to.  His English is very understandable; he tells us not to bother with Portuguese; it is a needlessly complicated language, but English is the world's easiest language to learn. He speaks American English (learned by watching TV); his wife (they recently married) speaks British English (learned at school).  Fabricio was pursuing a language degree at university, but felt like he was learning more by himself than through the courses he was taking.  He also speaks German. They plan to speak only English at home when they have children, because the children need to learn English as the predominant international language. He brought up politics in conversation..... Euthanasia was just approved by their parliament. They have socialized health care, and he is on the list to get a deviated septum corrected.  He thinks he will get to the head of the list by age 50; he is now 24 y.o.  He also discussed guns.... he has never actually seen one.