The sky was clear blue as we set out in search of Madeira countryside this morning. Soon we were in the clutches of another evil taxi man and off we went. [Robins and Cutlers].
After a 20 minute drive through colourful countryside and winding hilly roads we were at Camara de Lobos, the village where Winston Churchill went for holidays in the 30's to relax and paint.
The village might have been quaint then but now it is teeming with tour busses and taxis as curious tourists try to imagine the appeal 70 years ago. It does look like a bit of a worn out place actually.
The countryside however makes up for anything lacking in Churchill's town.
The hills are covered in terraced fields of a variety of crops from bananas, sugar cane, grapes and vegetable market crops. These small holdings must take a terrible amount of hand labour because the land makes the use of tractors almost impossible.
Every little house has it's own charm even though they may be nothing more than a simple farm house or little bungalow. I think that the grape arbours that seem to make a lace-like roof in the areas around the home give it that friendly Mediterranean appeal.
Next we found ourselves at 'The second highest sea-side cliff in the world', [Taiwan No. 1.]
It is about 1100 feet from the overlook to the ocean below. Unfortunately the view from the top is not as breathtaking as the view of the cliff from three miles away. Again, too many buses and taxis for me. There were three ships in today, ours plus an Italian ship with the prettiest lips on it's bow you have ever seen, plus a rather upscale ship whose name we shall not utter. [Starts with Sea and ends with Borne].
Next for a peek of the town where Portugal soccer hero Renaldo was born. 23 years old and making 1,500,000 Euros A MONTH. [A euro is worth 1.55 Cdn.]
Our taxi driver said that Real Madrid had offered Manchester United FC 175,000,000 euros for him. Manchester said they had nothing to sell! No wonder that kids all over the world kick a soccer ball around, they can live in hope.
Yet another stop at the edge of an extinct volcano where people have their village on the floor of the crater. It looked like a model railway set from our prospective.
Soon we found ourselves in the town of Monte, four miles above Funchal. The attraction up there is the Church of Nossa Senhora do Monte. There Austrian Emperor Carlos l is buried. He sought refuge in WW l but died of pneumonia. Also in Monte is the start of the crazy Basket Ride down two miles of narrow hilly streets jostled, pulled and pushed by two handsome Portuguese gents. Price 12.50 Euros each. We declined because of the line up. [Darn tourists.]
We asked our driver to drop us off at a Portuguese restaurant, which he did and we had a very nice but expensive lunch. The wine was excellent as well. We did have a little 'negative moment' whilst there but other than that mention, that is all you are getting from me.
We decided to take a bit of a walk back to Funchal along the beach walk. Lovely sea-walk provided by beach-front hotels, similar to Maui. However the only thing missing from the beaches is sand. Gadzooks they lie on rocks and cement pads here!
Shortly we were in town again for an hour or so walk about this fascinating and colourful little town on this beautiful little island.
Then the shuttle back to the ship and a walk up five flights of stairs to our cosy cabin for a quiet time before a late dinner of fruit salad and ice cream.
As I said, a wonderful day in Madeira. Made better by a very quick phone call to one of our kids, Wally, he would be the only one up at that time.
Clocks back tonight again. We are now only seven hours ahead of Vancouver time.
Five solid days at sea heading straight west for Bermuda, 2420 nautical miles ahead. Packing starts tomorrow, extra suitcases can be purchased in Bermuda by those that 'overbought'.
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