November 8 – Funchal, Madeira

Today is a beautiful, sunny day here in Madeira. This island is actually a part of a small archipelago consisting of three islands, Madeira being the largest. It’s approximately 320 miles west of Morocco and while it sits on the African tectonic plate, it is culturally and economically European. The population today is approximately 251,000. The island was originally uninhabited. After its discovery by Portuguese sailors in 1419 under the auspices of Prince Henry the Navigator, it was claimed by Portugal and in 1420 they began settling here. Madeira is considered to be the first territorial discovery in what we now call the Age of Discovery. Madeira lies at the same latitude as Bermuda and has a very temperate climate although in the highest mountainous areas it does get a little winter snow! This is probably more than you wanted to know about Madeira but perhaps one day in a trivia game one of these little factoids might help. A completely irrelevant thing but something some of you will understand, for the first time ever I went to breakfast in the dining room on a Seabourn ship. I had to be up early to get a rapid antigen test (everyone did in order to go ashore) and while I waited for the result I decided to check out the restaurant. There were six of us in there. My results came back negative and I have a green sticker on my card so I’m officially able to go ashore. Yeay! My driver today was Daniel, a man who has taken me around the island a couple of times before. He is a delightful septuagenarian who with just a little more padding and a beard could easily play Santa Claus. Anyway we were off for my little tour of the day. Our first stop was Cåmara de Lobos, a little picturesque fishing village whose claim to fame is that it was a place that Winston Churchill came to paint after he left office. He would reportedly drive up to the edge of the little village, set up his easel and paint away. There are bars, restaurants and a hotel named Churchill something and there are murals of him complete with bowler hat and fat cigar on several buildings.

Daniel - can you picture him with a white snowy beard and a little more padding?

Fishing boats in the little bay being unloaded and cleaned for tomorrow's trip. Next stop was Cabo Girão, one of the highest sea cliffs in the world, nearly 2000 feet above sea level. There’s a glass skywalk which you can walk out on to look down at the sea below. I walked down to it but I couldn’t bring myself to walk out to the railing; instead I clung to the wall. I did get a great view from the sides but that was as much as my heart could take.

A view from the top of Cape Giráo When we left the cliffs Daniel drove me inland toward a place called the Nun’s Valley, Curral das Freiras. Back in the 16th century a community of nuns on the coast in Funchal looked out to see and saw pirate ships approaching. They and many of the other residents hiked up the mountains into a valley created by an extinct volcano to elude the buccaneers. Many of the people who went stayed there and several little villages were born. Until about 60 years ago there were no roads going there so people walked up (and down) a huge system of staircases carved into the rocks when they needed to get supplies. The paths were too steep and narrow even for donkeys so everything was carried on the backs of the people. There were many people who were born, lived and died in the little villages who never saw the sea which is only a few miles away as the crow flies.

Valley of the Nuns... So I’m probably writing more than anyone wants or needs to know, but this helps me remember things and it was such a splendid day! When we reached the crest of the last mountain before the valley we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. I don’t normally write much about food but I must this time. I had a Madeiran specialty, black spadefish with grilled bananas. It was delicious and reminded me of our sea bass which I would never have thought of serving with bananas.

Now this is a grill, isn't it? On the way out there was a ,little bakery which sold another specialty of that area, pasteis de castana. For anyone who has been to Portugal you know about the little custard cakes found all over (and also available now at the Lidl in Newport News). Well, these are filled not with egg custard but with a chestnut cream. I couldn’t resist so I bought three, one for me and two for my very nice cabin attendants who weren’t allowed off the ship today. I thought they could have a little taste of Madeira. I could have had a siesta then (I did have a little Portuguese wine with my fish) but we were off to the second highest peak on the island, nearly 6,000 ft. high. On a cloudless day I would have been able to see forever as the song went, but today the clouds were forming just around the peak. We drove through them on a winding road which gets shut down at dark and then suddenly we were above them and I felt as if I were on the top of the world. I couldn’t believe the number of cars parked along the road. They belonged to hikers who come up to trek for the day. After a brief but chilly stop at the top we headed down toward Funchal.

Several observations about the island. There is no flat land; the hills are literally covered with terraced fields where they grow lots of bananas (they export them), all kinds of veggies which have no season because it’s temperate in most parts of the island all year. There are flowers everywhere; poinsettias growing wild, bougainville, and aloe which was blooming right now. The Madeirans must have stout hearts and strong legs because literally you have to climb up and down even in the city. I’ve never seen the airport here but I can’t imagine how they built it since there’s nothing flat here.

Okay, I’ve run on enough. The next several days I’ll be sailing west and unless I have a close encounter with a pirate ship or an alien or a giant sea monster, I won’t have much to blather on about. So até logo and obrigado for reading this. I think that I wrote see you later and thanks for reading this.