October 18 - Funchal, Madeira

Despite the rough seas we made it to Funchal this morning.  It was still dark  when we awoke and the sight of the lights on the island was beautiful.  Funchal is the capital of Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal located off the African coast.  There are several islands, some of which are uninhabited.  The entire archipelago has a population of around 270,000 of which half live in Funchal.  The islands were discovered in 1419 by Henry the Navigator and claimed for Portugal.  When they were discovered there were no inhabitants at all.

This island is volcanic and there is virtually no flat land, at least not on the side that we saw.  When we disembarked we were met by our driver and guide, Daniel of Daniel’s Madeira Taxis.  On my first visit here with Katie several years ago Daniel took us on a tour and he did such a good job I had to use him again.  After a ride through the old part of the city our first stop was at the top of Monte where we had a spectacular view of the whole city perched on the sides of the hills.  We followed the route that’s taken by the toboggans tourists ride in.  I had done that with Katie but we opted not to try it this time. Up on the mountain there is a large botanical garden which unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit.

One of the toboggans.  Two people sit and two men ride on the back runners steering as you careen down a 2 km route

A view of our ship and some of Funchal from the top

Next we drove inland on a very winding and narrow road which took us along Madeira’s Grand Canyon, an impressive gorge which is forested with lots of eucalyptus trees. They aren’t native to the island but were brought by the Portuguese from Asia.  Their intention was to bring a quick-growing tree to use for timber.  Unfortunately, the wood is too soft and cracks easily.  Now it’s logged and shipped to Portugal to produce paper.  Our destination was an overlook from which we could see the Nun’s Valley.  The story is that in the 16^th century a group of nuns who lived near the coast saw a fleet of pirate ships approaching.  They fled into the remote and mostly inaccessible valley for safety. When the pirates  left, the nuns returned to the coast but many of the people who had joined them there remained.  Until a road was built in the early 20^th century the only way in and out was on an arduous trail over the mountains.  Hence there were people who lived in the family their entire lives and never saw the ocean despite living only a few miles from it as the crow flies.

We stopped at an overlook that includes a hotel, shops and a trail from which you can see the small village in the valley.  The village, Curral das Freiras, is nestled among nearly vertical mountains all around.  After looking at it from above Daniel drove us through a newly built tunnel leading to the place.  Curral das Freiras is known for its many chestnut trees and this is chestnut season.  There were vendors roasting the nuts so of course we bought some nice hot ones.  They were delicious!  There was a little store selling all kinds of chestnut products including a liquor (we bought a small bottle) and chestnut breads, cakes and puddings.  I bought a very small loaf of chestnut bread to bring back to the ship to sample.

The village nestled in the Nuns' Valley

Roasting chestnuts - were they ever good!

After driving out of the valley we went to our next stop,  Cabo Girão, the second highest sea cliffs in the world with a height of nearly 1950 feet (straight down!).  There’s a nice walk leading to the cliff top and Madeira has built a glass walkway that overhangs the edge.  I couldn’t bring myself to walk across it but Al did.  The view from the top was very dramatic.  Even from the metal walkway I could look over the edge and see the waves crashing ashore nearly 2000 ft.  below.

A view from the top of the cliff

A view of Cabo Girão from further down the coast

Our final stop was the fishing village of  Cámara de Lobos.  Along the way to both the top of the cliff and to the fishing village we drove past hundreds (perhaps thousands of terraced fields planted with bananas and other crops.  Madeira major industry is tourism but second is exportation of bananas.  I’ve never seen so many.  An interesting thing about them is that there is no season for bananas.  They are harvested year round.

Some of the many terraces. Can you imagine climbing up and down to tend your crops?

Anyway, back to the village. It’s a picture postcard fishing place with a harbor full of little boats and whitewashed houses around.  One interesting historical note is that after WWII, Winston Churchill used to come to the village to paint.  A hotel and bar are named after him.  We went into the small fishermen’s chapel and said a fair weather prayer for our crossing.

Fishing boats beached in Cámaro de Lobos

The Fishermen's Chapel, small but very ornate

Finally, Daniel drove us back to Funchal.  We invited him to have lunch with us, but he had another commitment.  We asked for a recommendation of a good local place so he dropped us off at  Lareira Marisqueira Restaurant in the hotel section of Funchal.  We proceeded to have the most incredible seafood lunch.  We ordered a chef’s special of fish and lobster for two.  The platter that was served to us was the width of the table with a 2 kg. grilled lobster, eight pieces of different kinds of fish, mussels, scallops, and calamari. Accompanying that were two plates of various vegetables, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, and some other things I didn’t recognize.  It was all delicious but quite overwhelming!  Along with the food we had a very nice dry white Madeira wine.  We didn’t think they produced dry wines here, but they are working on dry whites and roses and this one was good.

There was enough food for six people and we really didn’t make a dent in it.  We felt guilty about it, but one needs to know one’s limitations.  After ending  the meal with a little taste of sweet Madeira wine that tasted almost like a brandy, the restaurant drove us back to the ship in their van.  It was a great day!

We didn’t sail until close to 7 PM.  Before we left the Captain announced that the first 24 hours of our crossing we’d probably have rough seas again but after that he anticipated a better sail.  We finished off the day with drinks and a very light dinner with our Scottish and Australian friends.  Once again the company was excellent.

I forgot to mention we saw many rainbows today.  We didn't find a pot of gold, but maybe between the weather prayers and seeing rainbows, the seas may decide to moderate.