Tuesday 6 July 2010

Have Some Madeira M'Dear

6 March 2004. We are on deck in time to watch as the Carousel sails into a misty harbour at Funchal, the capital of Madeira.

"It will burn off," I said confidently as we saw a pale sun through the mist. However it was not mist but dust, blown from the Sahara and it stayed pretty much all day. We were doing a sight-seeing tour by coach and some of the sights were a bit hazy! We went to the 3rd highest sea cliff in the world, but due to the "mist" we couldn't see the sea at the bottom...

As we went up and down the valleys, the mist got a little thinner and the sea kept coming into view and there was some lovely scenery. The houses were mostly large and well kept.

This is Riberia Bravo, a village on the West coast of Madeira.

Our guide had mentioned the crystal chandeliers in the church which were a donation from a rich couple.

Bits of interest caught my eye as we wandered around the village for half an hour. Bags and purses with incredibly detailed beadwork. Bits of moss hanging from balconies, like Spanish Moss hanging from trees in Florida. Then at the next stop of Porto Moniz, a swimming pool on the edge of the sea, which the waves, crashing onto the rocks beneath, reared up to fill until it was overflowing and almost part of the sea itself.

We are all starting to think about lunch - which is a local fish delicacy. The fish is a deep sea black fish reputedly extremely ugly to see but it was very tasty! The scenery near the restaurant was spectacular too with tall mountains jutting up at steep angles as seen in my photo.

As the coach made its way in a figure of eight route back to Funchal we stopped on a mountain peak from where it was possible to see both north and south coasts. Unfortunately the dust from the Sahara had formed a mist again and it was all we could do to see the next mountains in the range...

Return to Atlantic Islands Cruise 2004 Index

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