Madeira
Shelena
Phil Scourfield
Wed 23 Sep 2015 13:03
We had fairly high expectations of Madeira mostly because to date we have
enjoyed the Portuguese people and their pretty good spoken English. Far
better in our experience compared to neighbouring countries. In this regard
Madeira did not disappoint. It is full of ravines and therefore hard to get
about without a car. Our marina at Quinta da Lorde was to the south east and
Funchal the capital is in the central southern part. Even though it was
only about 18 Kilometres it took nearly 2 hours by bus and the bus drivers
exhibited a pretty casual approach to hair pin bends, as though they had
done it a thousand times before; which they probably had.. They know their
vehicles well as we stopped at every village for local folk to get on and
off the bus. Funchal struck us as very sophisticated with shops selling well
known branded goods. They even have a Ritz for tea where the scones with
cream were a little disappointing because the cream was not the thick
Devonshire variety, but rather like shaving foam, full of air and tasting of
nothing worth repeating.
We bought the City tour bus ticket and was persuaded that we needed to buy
for two days when in fact we only visited Funchal for the one day. The bus
journey was too much and we really could not be bothered with a hire car
with the attendant headache of trying to park it. We did try a local taxi
but 60 E one way seemed too much to us. The island has had significant
expenditure on infrastructure with new dual carriageways that seemed
deserted. Apparently, a lot of EU money has gone to Madeira although this
has not stopped the island having debts on par with Greece!
We did get lucky upon visiting the city museum because our visit fell on
International Tourism Day. No, we had never heard of it either! A well
spoken local student was about to start a tour of the building for free and
beckoned us to accompany him, which we duly did. I liked the photo of a
painting that celebrated and honours the work of women. The different
figures represent art, science architecture and similar knowledge. So in
tribute to one wife and three daughters, never let it be said that I do not
appreciate the fair gender's contribution to society. I cannot recall seeing
anything similar anywhere.
Incidentally, all the locals pronounce Madeira as May (as in the month)
rather than Mad, as in crazy.
