Blogs from Madeira, Madeira, Portugal, Europe - page 2

More from Friday We went to the early Captain’s Circle party and had our pictures taken with Captain Tony Yeoman, our very British ship’s Captain. Then went to an early dinner and the theater production. It was wonderful - great singing, costumes and staging. After it we went to the Explorer’s Lounge to listen to “dancing through the decades” - we listened to music from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Since we had slept in we decided we should actually try to get up early on Saturday. But neither of us could go to sleep - well after 2 AM before we could nod off. Saturday, April 25, 2009 We were awake before our alarm went off at 8:45 AM - remember that is 2:45 AM NE time. We even lose another hour Saturday night. We ... read more

Today we are in Funchal, Portugal. It is sunny and warm! We woke up to learn (or confirm I should say) that Obama won. We were up at 7am as we are all on a tour of the island today. Latte's and cinnamon roll and down in lounge by 8am. This is a tropical island, with temperate climate; so beautiful; flowers and banana trees everywhere. Bouginvillas are native here; the flowers are purple. The island has 150,000 inhabitants; average income of 550 Euros per month. Because of this low salary many natives go abroad to work to save enough money to some day come back to build a home. The island is very hilly, each home has a small garden; perhaps bananas, vegetables and fruits. They produce a lot of molasses here. As we climbed the ... read more

So this is it, my final entry of the cruise and what a time we have had. Our last port of call.Madeira, was reached on Thursday around 0800hrs. The weather overnight had been somewhat rough and many of us were kept awake with the banging throughout the ship by the waves hitting the bough, not to mention the heavy swell. Thought after that we might be in for a rough day but in fact turned out fine. The Maderian archepelago lies in the Atlantic Ocean, west of Mexico and north of the Canary Islands. The largest of these Portuguese islands, some 600 miles southwest of Lisbon, is the Ilha da Madeira, Island of Timber, and the only other inhabited island is the tiny Porto Santo. Also in the archipelago are the Ilhas Desertas, desert isles, and ... read more

The second thing on our "must see" list is a sailing trip the the Desertas. These are the three uninhabited islands you can see from Funchal. They´ve been declared nature preserves and you have to have permission to go out there. A charter company here sails out three or four times a week with paying customers for a couple of hours. However, last Saturday the wind shifted and has been coming in from the east. Apparently this happens a couple of times a year and lasts for several days. During this time the seas are quite rough and the sailing ship doesn´t go out. So, no trip to the Desertas for us this year. We´ve slowed down in our wanderings and are spending more time in the apartment to catch up on little "living" details, like ... read more

The first week of being on our own in an apartment has flown by. We've achieved a routine of sorts. We rarely get out of the apartment before 11 a.m. as we eat breakfast, sit in the morning sun drinking our coffee, etc. Don has been watching the Australian Open and I've been re-tooling my yoga routine. Anyway, we generally get out the door just as the cleaning crew shows up to clean the apartment. Once we're out on the street, we usually choose a different direction and just wander; checking out anything in our path that is mentioned in the "Insight Guide", window shopping and stopping for coffee and/or snacks when the spirit moves us. Street wandering is a joy around this town. You can turn down any small lane twisting through a block and ... read more