The Floating Garden

By Elizabeth Johnstone

"Madeira!" "Wood!" The cry went up from Portuguese sailors in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator during the explorations of the 15th century.  The tall, straight tree trunks of the primeval laurisilva forst on this Atlantic island would be ideal for ship's masts and other repairs.

The island was Madeira, now a popular holiday destination. We took our first holiday there in June 2016, with a Thomson package flying out of Gatwick and staying at the Porto Santa Maria Hotel in Funchal.

Madeira is a volcanic island and level ground is at a premium. Most of the hotels are perched on cliff tops just outside the city, on beautiful quintas or estates, commanding spectacular views over the Atlantic. A downside is that their guests rely on hotel shuttles public buses to get in and out of the city centre. Our hotel, by contrast, was one of the few at sea level. We were within a  few steps of the Old Town with its dozens of restaurants and could easily walk along the seafront to the marina or into the historic city centre. 

"The Floating Garden" of Madeira is indeed a gardener's paradise. We visited the famous Botanic Gardens above the city,  braving the public buses whose neighbours have nerves  of steel as they negotiate vertiginous hairpin bends. Another horticultural treat was the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens. The cable car provided spectacular views along its 3km length, before depositing us outside the gardens high up on the mountainside. Areas of the gardens have different themes, all highly photogenic. I enjoyed the stretch of laurasilva forest, as exploited by those fifteenth-century sailors and others. The famous basket toboggans leave from the Monte hilltop but, it being Sunday when we visited, they were not operating. Unlike recent UK military campaigns, an exit strategy is essential if you fancy hurtling down on a toboggan. There is no public transport at the end of the run. Taxi drivers will take you at a price either down to the bottom or back up to the cable car.

From our hotel, you could walk along the front to the marina and cruise terminal, or up to the historical city centre. Madeira is a popular cruise destination - indeed, my son and his girlfriend had visited it as such and guessed correctly that it would appeal to us. During our stay, Italian and German cruise ships docked. Passengers disembarking from cruise ships are greeted by the CR7 Museum which features the trophies of one Cristiano Ronaldo, Madeira's most famous son. There is also a statue of "The World's Most Famous Footballer" which provokes giggles when you mention it to the local people. You will have to see for yourself!

The historic centre contains many churches, convents and museums as well as pleasant bars and restaurants. We visited Blandy's Wine Lodge to learn about the manufacture of Madeira wine.  The Farmer's Market looked like a huge Art Deco cinema and showcased many local exotic flowers and fruits.

Our Thomson rep held the traditional information meeting on the first morning, largely for the purposes of selling excursions. Someone from hotel management also turned up and offered us 40 euros to come on the guided tour of their other hotel development on the island. 

We booked the day trip around the west of the island. Our first stop was at the sea cliffs of Cabo Girão, with its scary glass-bottomed viewing platform. After morning coffee at the seaside village of Ribeira Brava, we continued our tour along tortuous and ever-rising roads, observing the levadas, or irrigation channels. Numerous walking trails follow these channels. The Madeiran crop par excellence is the banana. We walked through a banana plantation and had the cultivation process explained. Lunch was at the Cachalote restaurant in Porto Moniz, the name ("sperm whale") being a nod to the region's whaling history. "Coach trip" lunches can be mediocre, but this one was not bad at all, although I could have done without the girl in traditional costume posing with every tourist for a photo opportunity. Porto Moniz is famous for its natural saltwater pools carved out of basalt rocks at the headland. Lunch was followed by another picturesque village in the afternoon. In Funchal, we had a huge number of reasonably-priced restaurants to choose from. Someone was generally outside exhorting you to come in, but they were perfectly courteous and I developed a knack of avoiding eye contact. We ate fish seven nights out of seven - scabbard fish, cod, salmon, swordfish, tuna, parrot fish and maybe more. A couple of the restaurants offered fado music,  one of my favourites. A singer sings of love and loss, of the men far away on the fishing boats, accompanied by the Portuguese guitar and the classical Spanish guitar.

We thoroughly enjoyed Madeira and are planning at least one return trip. The eastern side of the island is waiting to be explored, not to mention some of those fish restaurants and Madeira wine lodges. And I will have to listen to Gardener's Question Time more attentively in the meantime.

First published in VISA 130 (December 2016)

Madeira, M'Dear

by David Whiting

Tuesday 2 November 2010. We have an early EasyJet flight to Madeira for a one week holiday with Newmarket Holidays.

Madeira measures about 54km by 23km and has a population of 300,000. It was formed by volcanic eruptions about 20 million years ago. The highest peaks are over 1800m tall. The landscapes are spectacular with cliffs, steep rocky hills and deep gorges. It was settled by the Portuguese who founded the island in 1419, at which time it was uninhabited.

Our hotel, the Santa Caterina in Santa Cruz, is just two minutes from the airport, but the few flights hardly bother us. After a brief rest we take a short walk to the town and seafront. The breeze is whipping the sea up making the waves crash against the shore. The beach consists of large boulders, with a little black volcanic sand. The town has a small selection of shops and a large selection of bars and restaurants.

Wednesday. Sunny this morning as we take a stroll along the seafront where the crashing waves give us the opportunity to take several dramatic photographs. The little fish market is open and we can see some different fish from the Atlantic Ocean to those which we recognise at home, particularly the espada, which seems to be the principal fish of Madeira.

After a group meeting with our holiday representative we catch a local bus to the island’s capital, Funchal. There are two types of bus: the normal service, stopping in various villages, and the express service, using the main roads. The cost is the same, 2.25 euros; we travel to Funchal on a normal service, returning on an express service.

Funchal has some fine colonial architecture. Many of the important buildings are very beautiful, including a cathedral, built in 1485-1515, where we arrive at the end of a Mass. Several 15th century fortresses were built to protect Funchal. We have lunch in a restaurant opposite the St Laurence Fort; unfortunately the Portuguese had not completed it before French marauders took 250 of its military hostage and killed them within its walls in 1566.

Large Transatlantic passenger liners call at Funchal and touts tempt them to take sightseeing tours and sea trips.We also visit the Workers’ Market, established in 1940. Some of its walls are adorned with typical Portuguese tiled pictures. The market includes very colourful flowers, vegetables, fruit and other products. The bus stop for the return journey is hard to find, not being opposite to where we got off! After asking four people where it is, we eventually find it by the seafront.

Thursday. We take an excursion to Funchal, to focus on the Workers’ Market, wine-tasting and Botanical Gardens. We have to pick up passengers from hotels in Madeira. We pass the famous Reid’s Hotel, built in 1891, where afternoon tea costs 28 euros. The name Funchal comes from fennel, which was common when the island was discovered.

We first stop at the Workers’ Market, where we are introduced to a variety of exotic plants that are common on the island. Strelitzia (or Bird of Paradise flower) is one of the most common, being gold and blue and found everywhere. The Market is on two floors and even has a flea market. Our next stop is for wine-tasting. Madeira has many vineyards on its hillsides, producing several types of Madeira wines, of which we can taste three. The factory shop also sells Madeira cakes, which should never be cut with a knife, as the taste is squeezed out – one should use fingers to cut it. Finally we visit the Botanical Gardens, overlooking Funchal at an altitude of 400m. It was once owned by William Reid, who also built Reid’s Hotel, but became state property in 1960. It is a large park with many types of tropical and sub-tropical plants from many countries, as well as a small collection of parrots.

Friday. Today’s excursion covers most of Western Madeira. We stop at Cabo Girao, almost vertical sea cliffs which reach 580m. In this area bananas, sugar-cane and vines are grown.

Further west along the south coast we stop in Ribeira Brava. This town was particularly badly flooded in February 2010 when more rain fell in one hour than usually falls in one month. The name of the town means ‘Wild River’, rather an understatement on that tragic occasion.

We head north across an unexpected plateau called Paul da Serra, at an altitude of over 1000m. Heather trees grow in abundance here; cows can be seen grazing and we have several photo-stops. Madeira does not suffer from a shortage of water. There are numerous underground springs and reservoirs, particularly on this plateau.

We reach Porto Moniz on the north coast, where we have lunch. There are several volcanic pools beside the ocean. Then we travel east along the north coast. The old coast road is narrow; it is open in places but anyone using it is not covered by their insurance. The new road is smooth and passes through several of the island’s many tunnels. Our last photo-stop is at Seixal before we return to the south coast. Until modern roads were built it took three hours to travel between the north and south coasts; now the journey can be done in 30-45 minutes.

Saturday. Madeira attracts many walkers and there are numerous levadas, walks of varying difficulty along channels which convey water from one area to another. Today we go on the Levada do Serra do Faial, which takes us on a five-mile/8km walk along basically flat terrain. Many are difficult, steep and narrow. We pass remote villages which are often inaccessible to cars; wheelbarrow transport is common. The terrain is wooded, with some steep drops at the edge of the path. Of course there is a bar to break the walk!

This evening there is a traditional meal and folklore event near the village of Monte. It is held in a restaurant with Madeira wine and a course of espetada (kebabs) during which a folklore group sing and dance. Their caps have little red tabs which make them look like elves. The tempo and dances hardly change, only the songs are different. Later, a singer and two guitarists present fado, traditional Portuguese melancholy songs.

Sunday. Today’s excursion takes us to Monte. First we visit the Church of Our Lady, the patron saint of Madeira, built in 1716. It contains the tomb of Charles, the last Habsburg Emperor, who died here in exile in 1922.

It is from Monte that the famous toboggans take passengers 2km down the hillside towards the capital. This service began in 1850 as transport for locals. The gradient must be 1 in 3, possibly steeper in places, and the roads are shared with vehicular transport, sometimes on the wrong side of the road! The roads used to be cobbled but are now smooth and shiny. The toboggans are basically baskets and have no brakes or steering; they are controlled by two men who simply stand on the back corners of the toboggan. Turning corners is the scariest.

Afterwards we climb to a cliff, Eira do Serrado, overlooking Curral das Freiras or the Nuns’ Valley, at an altitude of 850m. In the 15th century, nuns from Funchal took refuge from pirates there. 1200m above the village we have breathtaking views over the whole valley. On our return to Funchal we stop at Pico dos Barcelos, 400m above the capital. The island’s first settlers came from Barcelos in northern Portugal.

Monday. The excursion today takes us to Eastern Madeira. Our first stop is at Camacha, famous for its wickerwork centre. In 1896 a British man brought a clock from Liverpool and put it on this centre, which has been a factory since the mid-19th century. Baskets, furniture and various ornaments are made here. There is, of course, a large shop selling its goods. Opposite the wickerwork centre is a small sports area. A sign indicates that football was played here for the first time in Portugal when a British navy team played against a team of locals.

Afterwards we climb to Pico de Areeiro, at 1818m one of the highest points on the island. Visibility is unfortunately obscured by cloud. It snows here in winter, although not enough for skiing. There is a little light rain, although most of this week we have enjoyed temperatures at lower altitudes of around 27C. The hillsides here were the worst affected by forest fires in August 2010 when millions of trees were destroyed. Arsonists were believed to be responsible.

After a lunch stop we continue to Santana on the north coast, where since the 16th century thatched triangular cottages have been built to keep out the (relative) cold north winds. The cottages have two rooms downstairs and one in the attic. Families of up to ten used to live there. They had to use kitchens and bathrooms outside the cottages. About eight cottages remain and there are still two or three privately owned.

We make a short stop at Sao Vicente, where the town centre is pedestrianised, before returning to the south coast and a photo-stop overlooking Machico and the island’s airport.

Tuesday. We just have time for a final walk in Santa Cruz town before our 11am flight home. We travel from summer to winter in just a matter of hours!

First published in VISA 95 (Feb 2011)