Madeira—an Island Panoramic
Day 104; April 19, 2011
We arrived in Port at Funchel, which means Fennel—so named because it grows profusely here. Bananas grow here too—like weeds. They are a small bananas and are very sweet. We took our final tour today and at times as we rode our bus through the mountain switchbacks, I worried that it really might be our last. I had expected hills, but not mountain peaks. At one place we stopped to walk a trail out to a point that is the second highest sea cliff in the world. What a gorgeous view. The island is actually part of Africa. With its multi levels and high humidity is tropical but it also is cool. Tourism is big here. They have many four and five star hotels. Churchill loved the place and in the place he stayed (Reiz) they actually have a painting of his and a photo showing him paint.
Though the area is hilly, it is quite a farming community. The crops are grown in terraced plots on steep hillsides. They have many vineyards and produce Madeira wine for export. And they grow every fruit imaginable.
One of our stops was at the top of a mountain 1800m high. We had a fennel cake or scone, coffee and coke at the restaurant/gift shop up there. It was cool and while we were there clouds rolled in, but not before we got some fantastic photos. The mountains were similar to ours, only most of the trees were Eucalyptus and pine.
After our tour we had lunch on the ship and took the shuttle into town. We had an early sailing so we didn’t get off the bus, just rode it into town enjoyed the sights and wished we could have stayed longer.
No comments:
Post a Comment