 |
| One of the many beautiful and unique flowers in Madeira |
 |
| Lisbon, Portugal |
After a few days at sea with nothing to report besides turbulence that wasn’t
up to the captains predictions…thank goodness.
We went to Lisbon, Portugal. There
were some great street performers and some decent paella (I think they got my
order wrong
:))
at an outdoor café while it rained ever so slightly. This place was more of “just a get off the
ship port” and not really a destination.
I did manage to appreciate the tile sidewalks with the tile buildings as
I was walking around by myself. It was
some needed quiet time but for about 20min I was adopted by a friendly cocker spaniel named Lulu. All in all, a good
but quiet day.
 |
| All of us strutting in Lisbon, Portugal |
 |
| Sitting down for some Paella and Sangria in Lisbon, Portugal |
 |
| This man was sitting so still he really did look like a statue of Mozart. His sign also said "If a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart" |
 |
| Lulu, the dog that followed me for a while |
 |
| My paella after I ate all the good stuff out of it.:) |
On the other hand, Madeira is now my new favorite place I have been so
far. This little island off the coast of Portugal was very special
because we walked off the ship at 10:30am and didn't have to be back on the
ship until noon the next day! OVER-NIGHT!! Yeah, its been two
months and I am already eager to spend a night off the ship. Needless to
say, Chelsea, Tito, Ryan, and I were found a hotel room for all four of us for
only 50 euros and this hotel was wonderful!! It had a breathtaking view
of the coast, an unprecedented view of the ocean until the eye could no longer tell
where the sky or the sea met, a wonderful pool, and shower much much bigger
than mine on the ship. WHY IS THIS PLACE SO CHEAP?! Well, we had
four people and there were two beds the looked like they belonged in a camp for
kids. Oh, this is a pretty funny joke...I
almost expected the concierge to come up and measure me like I was waiting in
line for a roller coaster ride and say I was too tall to partake in enjoying a
nice nights rest. We had a great laugh about it and decided that we were
all just going to just go with it. At least we all like each other enough
:)
 |
| This flower was as large as my face (Madeira) |
 |
| Flowers in the Botanical Garden (Madeira) |
 |
| One of the more challenging hills of the day.:) |
We got rid of our heavy backpacks and started riding around the city of
Funchal which was a gloriously beautiful city full of parks, intricate gardens,
outdoor cafes with deliciously intriguing pastries, giant hills that rival San
Francisco, and orange tile roof tops. On our way through town we heard
about gondolas that take you to the top of the island where the botanical
gardens were and we HAD to find it. I mean who gets a chance to ride a
gondola right? These gondolas went up
about 500 meters and it couldn't have been a more beautiful and sunny day in
order to view most of the island from the top. After a 15 min gondola
ride and another 10 min additional ride half way down on the other side of the
mountain, we got to the Botanical Gardens.
It was well worth the time and money. There were the most
beautiful flowers, some I have never even imagine existed, exotic birds, and
garden beds that made the most fanciful designs. I felt like all this
garden was missing were fawns and fairies and I wouldn’t have been surprised if
it was just there day off.
 |
| Botanical Garden (Madeira) |
 |
| Lizards in the Botanical Garden (Madeira) |
 |
| Botanical Garden (Madeira) |
 |
| Tito posing in the Botanical Garden (Madeira) |
 |
| One of the beautiful designs in the Botanical Garden (Madeira) |
 |
| Botanical Garden (Madeira) |
 |
| Ryan wanting to get out of the gondola on the way up |
 |
| View from the Church of the Monte (Madeira). If you look real close you will see our ship! |
 |
| Church of the Monte (Madeira) |
 |
| One of the gift shops we had fun in (Madeira) |
 |
| View from the gondola...wow!!! |
 |
| The famous toboggan rides down the many hills in Madeira. That's right..we did it. |
 |
| the toboggan ride!! Wooo! |
After, spending hours walking around, riding our bikes up enormously high
hills, and getting a little bit of sunburn we returned to our little hotel in a
pretty weary state. We managed to clean
up so we all could go have a fabulous dinner and, trust me, we were all
starving. As we are walking down the
street it was as if all the hosts of the restaurants came out to try to auction
off there establishment. “Come on in, we
have the best food here.” There was such a sense of pride with all the
locals. Everyone wanted you to come it
and taste there food or Madiera. I
haven’t been to a place yet where the people are so welcoming.
 |
| Madeira Wine! |
We decided on this little place, the name in which I can’t even pronounce,
and they immediately welcomed us with complementary Madeira wine (which I found
it tradition there). This wine comes in
little glasses and almost is treated like an aperitif. It was as if the wine was caught in b
etween
the phases of dessert wine and regular dry wine with a little fruitiness to
it. Nobody else liked it so I took on
the selfless act of drinking everyone else’s.
I didn’t want to be rude:) I also deserved a pat on the back, or maybe the Madeira
made me do it, because I ordered something completely different and got the
grilled squid. I wasn’t let down! It looked a little scary at first but was
delicious. At the end of our meal we
were talked into having the dessert of a custard pie with passion fruit on
it. (Passion fruit is one of the main
fruits of this culture) Sadly, NONE OF
US LIKED IT!! The seeds were all around in
the custard and resembled watermelon seeds that almost crunched like the sound
of stomping on a cockroach in your mouth.
NOT OK! However, they made up for it by giving us a shot of poncha, a
local traditional drink of passion fruit juice and rum that you shoot at the
end of a meal as a digestive. In all, a
very good meal and a very good time.
 |
| Me at the end of the night.....really ready for my comfy pants! (Madeira) |
At this point I wish I could tell you we rallied even more but after all was
said and done, we were annihilated after our day of activity and only managed
to play a heated game of catch phrase and went to bed. I have to say, my favorite thing had to be
waking up to sunshine again….you just don’t know what you are missing until you
don’t have it anymore.
I
have to come back to this place
not because of its beauty or because the people were just so welcoming but
because there was almost an appreciation of life here that I haven’t
experienced other places…truly an unforgettable time.
"Have some Madiera, m'dear?
It's ever so much nicer than Beer!
Now if it were Gin you'd do wrong to say 'yes'
the Evil gin does is hard to assess...
and, besides, it's inclined to affect my Prowess....
Have some Madiera, m'dear?"
