Blogs from Madeira, Portugal, Europe

Friday 26th January A beautiful sunny day as we get closer to Madeira. The Grill is our favourite place for breakfast, lovely and light and airy with ceiling to floor windows looking across the sea. Yesterday we spotted a couple of dolphin fins but no luck today. In the evening the Grill has the same menu as the Grand Dining room, with table cloths added & flowers to coordinate with the pink decor it gives a pleasant ambiance and not as busy as the Grand Dining room. We are Portside so have the sun on our balcony in the morning. It was so nice to just sit and relax and enjoy the sunshine after the past few grey days. Time for an Alfresco lunch today on the Verandah, deck 12, what a difference that sun makes, ... read more

Rather than feeling as though Madeira is now ticked off, I would happily return. Today. It’s a lovely little island that we devoted 8 days to thinking that was plenty, but the hiking was so good that I would love to go back and explore more of it. Living in the Netherlands means holidays are generally a quest for mountains and nice food. A few places fulfilled our requirements but we settled on Madeira, calling in at Porto and seeing a bit of northern Portugal on the way back. A few people questioned our choice, “isn’t Madeira for old people?” we were asked. Actually, the tourists seemed to be around two-thirds retired and one-third there for an active holiday. Spring is a good time to travel in Europe before it gets too hot and before the ... read more

5th May Today was another full day excursion to discover the West & North of the island. Roberto was our driver today, all of the tours we have been on only use small coaches, just 18-20 people, just as well as some of the roads are very twisting and turning. Our first stop was a pretty seaside town Ribeira Brava which benefits from the privileged climate felt on the west coast of the island almost all year round. The town was so named after the water line, with a wild flow, that crosses it. We continued along the coast stopping at a small village where we took a short walk through a banana plantation where our guide explained the growing processes of the banana plant, all very interesting. One amusing fact is that Madeira only export ... read more

3rd May Our hotel is situated in the old town of Funchal and within close proximity there is always something interesting to see. As the Portuguese almost completely dominated the North Atlantic routes in ancient times, the defence of the island did not seem of special importance. Because of this negligence, in 1566 Funchal suffered a terrible pirate attack, where many people were slaughtered. In spite of the constant danger of another attack, only in 1614 the São Tiago Fort was finally built to protect Funchal from the corsairs. In 1767 it was enlarged and exclusively served military purposes until 1992, the year in which Madeira’s Regional Government decided to use it for cultural activities. There is also a restaurant with view across the battlements. A little further on is The Socorro Church, also known as ... read more

30th April Sunday is the day of the Great Allegoric Flower Parade when thousands of locals and tourists descend on Funchal. After breakfast Benita, Rosemary & I went to collect our grandstand seats, we had pre-ordered them on line before arriving in Madeira but no tickets are issued until the day. As we walked to the pickup point rows and rows of empty tiered seats which would be full later in the day. We had no idea what number grandstand we would be located in. We had passed 10 grandstands most each side of the road, a fair walk from our hotel & even more beyond. We were handed our tickets & what a bonus we had obviously been some of the first to book as we were in Grandstand No. 1 seats 912-917, not too ... read more