Timezone arithmetic 6

A small jog this time. Flying from Lisboa to Madrid and went from UTC to UTC+1. So it's an hour later here. (Western Europe except UK and Portugal is on UTC+1.) I arrived at the Hotel Miau (more on it later) past midnight because of the late Easyjet flight. Even so, lots of Madrileños are out on the streets, living up to their reputation.


I went through the fall back from DST last Sunday morning on Madeira.

Tram 28

Even though I took an ordinary bus to Madeira airport very early at 0715 (the airport shuttle doesn't start until 0800), the incoming Easyjet flight was delayed due to fog in Lisboa.  This would reduce the time for a quick tour of Lisboa using tram 28 so I had second thoughts about spending money both ways on the shuttle for a few hours. In the end I decided I couldn't stand doing nothing at the airport so I put my backpack in left luggage and went into town on the shuttle.

Tram 28 was very jerky as expected with steep rises and sudden swings.  This is the one they usually use/used in movies with Lisboa trams. Lots of other tourists were also on the tram. Unfortunately I didn't have a good seat to get the best shots. Never mind, this tram is much photographed.  When the tram reached Bairro Alta I decided it was sufficient and hopped off.  Fortunately the hostel had told me about the metro elevators that are very useful for moving between Baixa and Alta.

Then it was to a pastry shop for coffee and nata but I changed my mind, or rather the nata, when I saw the maça asada folhada (baked apple foldover).

My original plan had been to take the overnight train from Lisboa to Madrid, but since Portuguese Railways made it difficult for me to buy a ticket when I last passed through, if you remember, I decided that they didn't need my patronage and I instead bought a cheap Easyjet ticket to Madrid and booked a hotel room. Comes up to more that a sleeping berth, but I will have a very nice night's sleep. I deserve some urban pampering at the end of this trip anyway.

Madeira 6

Last full day on Madeira and last levada walk. Today's walk is near Saturday's walk but takes in a different two levadas. First we walked uphill following one levada, then up a hill, over a bridge which spans the river feeding the levada, and then down a different levada.

As this walk didn't take very long, I had a chance in the afternoon to go on a guided tour of Old Blandy's Wine Lodge. There the history and process of making madeira was explained, and of course we finished off with a tasting of two 5-year old varieties, one dry and one sweet. I won't try to repeat what I learnt—I'm sure it's all explained somewhere on the web, but if you invite me over to dinner, I promise to bring a bottle of madeira we can educate ourselves with. 

An interesting pair of gender signs

At the Jardim Botanico, Funchal. Took me a moment to work it out too. A bit retro though.

PS: In case you didn't know, you can see a larger version of the photo by clicking on it.

Madeira 5

No guided walk today, the last one is tomorrow, so I'm going to visit the Jardim Botanico.

I still had to get out early because the buses are less frequent on Sundays. As it turned out, I was one of the first through the gate at 0900. As expected from the relative sizes of the archipelagoes, the Jardim Botanico is less extensive than its counterpart on Gran Canaria. It will be 50 next year. It is on land that once belonged to the Reid family, who still have strong connections with Madeira. The garden has a collection of native Madeiran plants. Naturally, succulents are well represented, but so are palms.

The best part of the garden though was the parrot collection, with a collection of birds from all over the world, including cockatiels and budgies from Australia. I don't know why they bothered to have a cage of pigeons though, the specimens inside looked exactly like the numerous wild ones outside.

I hope Madeira continues to maintain and improve this garden as it's a valuable resource. Better labels would help though.

On getting back to Funchal I hopped onto a bus saying Santana, as this is the village with the triangular shaped roofs. Turns out that the bus went to a different Santana, simply a suburb of Funchal. Luckily I was on a day pass. Back in Funchal I discover that buses to the real Santana are sparse on Sundays, so I have to give that up. I however visit the Madeira Museum, which is an excellent introduction to the history of Madeira. Very well executed with modern interactive exhibits.

Madeira 4

A few collected observations about Madeira.

Madeirans seem to enjoy a higher standard of living than the mainlanders, from what I can see. Houses seem to be better maintained and the variety of goods in the stores is impressive. Or perhaps I am only seeing the holiday homes. Tourism is the main industry now. In the beginning it was sugar, until Brazil proved more productive, then it was wine. Madeira still supplies Europe with bananas.

Recycling is big here and bins for various recyclables are all over. I think they have no choice as landfill would consume valuable land on the island. Also, Madeirans are conscious of energy and water use.

Road tunnels are everywhere and are essential on what is a volcanic island some 15 million years old with steep slopes, though somewhat reduced in height by erosion. I can see by comparing the roadside volcanic rocks with much more recent ones that I have seen on Lanzarote, an island in the Canary group, that they have had their jagged edges worn down. Recent volcanic rocks must be the most ugly forms in the world. I can't find words to describe them, they are not even fractal, they are every whichever shape the solidification of the lava gave them.

Not surprisingly, roads are steep and narrow. Vehicles often have to pass each other with a hairbreadth of space to spare. This is not helped when some are parked on the side of the road. Sometimes one vehicle has to reverse to let another through. Somehow the Madeirans muddle through.

Eating out in Madeira is quite affordable. (I'm not looking forward to the price shock when I get back to mainland Europe.) I had a nice lunch of grilled cuttlefish, boiled potatoes and salad for 10 € at a well-recommended place, Café Londres.

But other days I had dinner (lunch was picnic food due to the outings) at the Pingo Doce cafeteria, which is a por quilo place. There you pay by the weight of the food on your plate. It's a concept quite familiar in Brazil but less so in Europe. You fill your plate to your heart's desire with salads, cooked vegetables, rice, potatoes, and mains, which at Pingo Doce, was a selection of several meat and fish dishes. (Starters, deserts and drinks are separately charged though.) Your dish is weighed on an electronic scale that has been tared with an empty dish. Pingo Doce charged 10 € per kilo. Depending on how hungry I was, I paid between 4 and 6 € for dinner.

Madeira chestnuts

This family run stand selling roasted chestnuts on Funchal esplanade seems to be a popular fixture with the locals. The chestnuts are roasted in earthenware urns with a wire mesh bottom seated over a charcoal stove. Every minute or so the man would raise the urn and give it a shake to even the roasting. It wasn't just strollers who were buying; every now and then a car would stop and a passenger hop out to buy a bag or two, and then the car would resume its journey.

I had a dozen and very nice they were to eat doing nothing else at all except watch the world go by.