"Have some Madiera, m'dear?"

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

Post settings

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?"