Traversing the Atlantic Emerald

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Hello my fellow travelers!

This is the first and only post I'll do about a trip to Portugal from December 5 to December 10, 2000 that I did together with my parents and my uncle Anders.

I have surprisingly few photos from this trip, but I do have many good memories of it though.

Madeira literally mean "the green island" and it lives up to it's name as it's covered in emerald green forests as far as the eye can see. We stayed in Funchal but we also visited the Valley of the Nuns. It has remained fairly undeveloped and as such still retain much of the old architecture and still remain a peaceful little hamlet deep in the mountains.

In Funchal we also visited the gorgeous Church of Our Lady of Monte which is located in the suburb of Monte. This mountainous area is also known as Nossa Senhora do Monte which means "Our Lady of the Mountain" which is also where the church got it's name from. Here we also went down the steep slopes of Funchal on a Toboggan manned by two man teams. It was nice, but it didn't go as fast as I'd expected and hoped it would. Mainly because there was to many people blocking the way. Still, it beat walking back down.The food here certainly didn't disappoint and we ate a lot of Espetada (big barbecue skewers) and Espada (Black Scabbard Fish, a form of national dish on Madeira) and both of those dishes are divine!

An interesting note about Monte is that the Last ruler of the Habsburg Empire, Charles I of Austria, is actually buried here. He died in Monte in 1922 and his body is still buried in the church here even though many attempts have been made over the years to have him moved to the Habsburg Crypt in Vienna. His heart however isn't buried here, it's buried together with his wife's heart in Muri Abbey in Switzerland!

There isn't much else to say about my stay here. It was a short, but sweet trip, where nothing to eventful happened but we all really enjoyed ourselves just walking around and appreciated the good life.

Until next time I wish you all peace and happy travels!

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Photos

Toboggan Ride
Funchal

Dance Exhibition
Funchal

Group Photo
Funchal

View of the City
Funchal

Inside the Church
Socorro Church, Funchal

My Father
Funchal

Group Photo
Funchal

My Mother
Funchal

Facade of the Church
Church of Our Lady of Monte, Funchal

My Mother
Funchal

Comments

[Dancing Dave]

Madeira
Charles the First of Austria's body buried here in Portugal but his heart buried with his wife's in Switzerland. That is extraordinary that the heart would be separated from the corpse...even if his death marked the end of the Hapsburg Empire. Great slice of trivia Per-Olof.

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

Madeira
Thank you. It is interesting to learn new things that you certainly weren't expecting when visiting new countries. Before I had no idea that the last Habsburg Emperor lived out his final days in Madeira or of his, unusual, way of burial.