Madeira: Places

We arrived in Madeira after a three hour flight from Bristol. This photo was taken just outside the airport doors. There are sea lions in a cove somewhere in Madeira but I can't remember where. Anyway, that is why there is a giant sea lion at the airport.

We caught a taxi to Funchal where we stayed for two nights at The Hotel Classic Savoy. It was quite the posh five-star hotel and I think we ruined our kids' idea of what a "nice" hotel is because this one was REALLY nice - four pools (one a heated sea water pool, two indoor one of which we never did find), gardens, a giant chessboard, four restaurants, gigantic breakfast (included), posh rooms... I made the accommodation reservations this time around and the kids were definitely appreciative. It was attached to the Royal Savoy which was even posher - if that's a word - and we could use their facilities. As a fun note, the hotel had five turtles in a pool out front and to celebrate Easter a giant egg in the lobby of both hotels with about 15 real live chicks inside.

View from the pool deck with the Christopher Columbus ship on the horizon

Stairway to the sea for some dipping
It was quite cold. Finn and Craig enjoyed it the most.

Santa Catarina chapel in Funchal

On the beach in Funchal
We all found lots of sea glass and broken tile and a shell or two.

The square in front of the religious antiquities museum
After two days of relaxing and city life, we headed to Arco da Calheta, a small village west of Funchal and about 20-30 minutes away. We stayed at Casa Vehla dos Corrieres which means "old post office house". It was a great house, nicely decorated and even still had the old mahogany mail counter and display cabinets in the kitchen. Everyone had their own bedroom and there was actually room for at least three, possibly five more people! It had one of the smallest ovens I have ever seen however, there was a barbeque house outside (the summer kitchen) which came in quite handy.

Front veranda entrance from the road

The kitchen

TV room with one Portuguese TV channel (oh, shucks boys!)
The typical boring selection of DVDs except for one on the planets and the original bread oven are seen in this photo. I love the tile. It was beautifully done. Madeira is known for their tile work inside the houses and especially churches. It is said that if a house has tile on the outside, that the inhabitants are more "nouveau riche" or foreigners showing off.

The sitting room/front entrance

The upstairs hall
This is one of the doors that were at each end leading to different porches.

The palatial upstairs bath complete with bathing beauty

View of one of the local churches (there are two in Arco da Calheta) from our upper balcony
I really did take this picture postcard shot.

Many of the houses had these clay busts on the ends of the roof corners. This one is from our house. We called him 'baby Zarco' after a famous ship captain responsible for inhabiting the island. The one below is from the neighbors' house and I think it is Christopher Columbus. There was a bird on the house across the road but I couldn't get a good shot and other houses had curled leaves at the roof tips. Very neat.

Old roof and chimney on the neighbors' house

The boys are inside some part of an old sugar refinery in Calheta, the next biggest town where they had a port, a sandy man-made beach, hotels, restaurants and a biggish grocery store.

We visited Ponto do Pargo on the westernmost part of the island. There was a 'farol' or lighthouse and I just couldn't resist the trip to see it. We were literally on the edge of the island. The top photo is a view of the coastline from the point.

We then headed a few meters down the road to have lunch where a lovely British couple said they were very impressed with our children's table manners and willingness to eat food other than burgers and chips (fries). We had fish, prawns, pasta, steak and chicken. Owen even stayed in his seat for three rousing games of Hangman. Smiley faces for them.

The rock pools of Porto Moniz on the north side of the island
These pools are man-made, but they are built around the lava flow and fill with sea water as the tide rises and waves crash over the rocks. For about $1 each, you can spend the day and use the very clean showers. Areas were cordoned off where the waves were sort of intense. As we were leaving in the afternoon, the pools were closed because high tide had arrived. We actually timed our visit just right for once!

A quick photo op where the road dropped off the face of the cliff
It's that pile of rocks just left of Craig's hand above the waterfall. Owen is actually behind the railing trying to catch a lizard. He needs to be a Marine.

These photos are in we think Ribera Brava. Awesome rock.

We visited Las Grutas do São Vicente and Vulcanism Center and really learned a lot about volcanoes and the island in general.

This is a "typical" Madeiran house in Santana. The fact is that we never saw any of these anywhere else on the island and we saw a lot of the island. The town of Santana is a tourist trap for suckers who want to see three of these buildings lined up for a good photo opportunity.

On the way back from Santana, we stumbled upon a gem of a place near Ribeiro Frio ("cold river"). There was a trout farm with pools for us to look at the fish and then a very short levada hike to a waterfall. A nice little piece of trail magic (shared with two German ladies for a while).

This is an example of the little stopover picnic areas that pop up unexpectedly in the woods or on the side of a road.

Closer view of the spire of the main church in Arco da Calheta

Interior of the church

Cemetary basically right next to our place
Most tombstones were engraved stone but this one and a few others were these handmade metal crosses. This person died a few days before I was born.

This is a more typical tombstone including a very somber photo of the deceased. They were all in black and white and NO ONE was smiling in the photo. Some were photos of the deceased when they were young, others in older years. Very interesting insight into another culture's customs. Most of the women's surnames were their maiden name.

This translates into something like "with all the love and homesickness of the children".

We left Arco da Calheta and spent our last night and the next day in Funchal back at the same hotel where we began. We enjoyed a day of swimming, slept and then did a half-day of sightseeing in Funchal and then to a small town called Machico closer to the airport. I didn't really take photos in Machico, but it was a great town.

The Episcopal Cathedral in old town Funchal

A window of the Cathedral

Riding the gondola car "Telerifico" up to Monte
This was our last morning and quite a fun trip.

View of the main church which is called Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte (1741), and is the burial place of Emperor Charles I of Austria, last of the Habsburg rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who died in exile on 1 April 1922.

The reason we visited Monte is the toboggan run. We all rode downhill in two separate baskets through and across the streets at fairly high speeds in large wicker baskets, conducted by two drivers wearing the traditional white uniform with straw boater hat. Totally fun and an experience I think the kids will never forget. I only had a little bit of memory left on my SD card in my camera, but I think you can get the idea. You can hear the two drivers chatting in the background. The sssssh sound you hear is the rails of the baskets. They stop your basket about halfway to re-oil the rails by pushing the basket over two rags sopping with oil. Along the way, there are tourists watching and I am sure we are all in a few home videos.
Turn down your volume because I think it might be a bit loud. If you are viewing this from Facebook, you might have to go to the original post.