MADEIRA

May 27 and 28, 2004

One day as I was in the exercise room on the Exercycle, pedaling furiously across the ocean, I spotted a big cloud. Then I saw the faint gray outline.  Soon I began to suspect that gray blotch ahead might be more than a low cloud.  Land ho! There is an end to the endless blue sea, after all.  As I pedaled along I felt like I was the captain of the ship, guiding our vessel into the port.  It was very exciting to approach the beautiful island of Madeira after so many days of seeing just blue ocean topped with whitecaps. 

Everyone was anxious to get off the ship once we docked and there was a long line of sea weary tourists shuffling along to go down the ramp and touch terra firma once again.  It was evening, and Don and I strolled around the town of Funchal, which was very clean and prosperous looking.  We stopped in the center of town at a sidewalk café for a drink and while we were sitting there we heard firecrackers and honking and a big commotion.  Portugal had won a big soccer match and the locals were celebrating.  The noise was coming from about 4 cars full of young men who were honking and yelling and waving banners and driving in circles around the main square, city hall and the parliament building.  As we sat there the celebration began to grow and the honking traffic increased until there was gridlock in the town.  The policia came out to control the traffic and began to route them out of the center of town.  We paid our bill and strolled back towards the waterfront where we saw that the main street along the bay was also blocked off and the celebrants were diverted through a tunnel and away from the town.  The diversions didn’t stop the celebrations though, and the party went on until early in the morning.  Don and I decided it was time to get back to the safety of the ship and away from the crowd, which was getting drunker by the minute.  The next morning there were many people walking around, still sporting the blue and white colors of the team, and looking quite weary.  Several of our crew were also showing symptoms of too much partying.

The next day Pauline and Jerry took the island tour and Don and I decided to tour on our own.  We jumped on the local tour bus, which took us up and down the three main canyons of the town and gave us recorded information in English.  When we got off the tour we each wanted to do something different, so we split up and Don took the gondola to the top of the high peak near Funchal, and then he rode a funny little basket down the mountain.  This basket ride, apparently, has been a custom for many years.  The basket is guided by two men who run down the hill alongside and keep it on the course.  At the end of the basket ride Don walked the rest of the way in to town and headed for the restaurant to meet Geralynn, Pauline and Jerry for lunch.  No one was there!  He waited for about an hour and finally went in and had a wonderful meal of fresh tuna and cerveza.

In the meanwhile, I went to the designated meeting place to connect with Pauline and Jerry after their tour was over.  After waiting at the pier for about ½ hour Idecided they weren’t going to show, so I headed over to the gondolas to find out where the baskets ended up so I could meet Don.  No luck on getting information, too far up the mountainside, the attendant said.  So I then proceeded to the local museum to find out about the history of the island and local families.  The museum was interesting, mostly furnishings and sets of china from the wealthy old families in the area.  A quick check at the library around the corner didn’t produce much on the Vieira family either. 

Then I went back to the café where Don and I had our drink the night before and waited to get a table.  While I was lurking around with my eye on a table where two women were just finishing up, another couple approached and seemed like they were going to pounce on my table, so I mentioned that it was hard to get a table and that I had been waiting for this one for about 15 minutes and that I would be happy to share it with them.  They looked a bit taken aback, but a few minutes later, when the ladies stood up, the three of us grabbed the chairs from underneath them.  I had a pleasant lunch and chat with Damien and Karen from Bournmouth, England.

After lunch I went to the wine museum where I learned all about the famous Madeira wine and got to taste the 4 different kinds.  I bought a bottle of the middle sweet version, aged 10 years, and also a couple of other wines for our preprandial get-togethers aboard ship.

By this time the day was coming to an end and I had to get back to the ship.  I headed back towards the pier, stopping at the beautiful Santa Catarina gardens to enjoy the colorful flowers and the fabulous view of the city and the port with our lovely ship, Lirica, at the dock.  I was pooped by the time I walked back and boarded the ship.