Christiano's Playground

Enigma's Transatlantic Voyage
Manuel Ribeiro
Sat 6 Nov 2010 21:51
32:38.4N 16:54.4W

Hello from Madeira!


After setting sail from Porto Santo at about 1:30 in the morning, we smoothly arrived in Funchal, Madeira 8 hours later. What has now become known as the birthplace of Christiano Ronaldo, we were very curious to see what this much larger island had in store for us.


We quickly docked the boat and set off to town. First stop – the marketplace. We tried various types of exotic local fruits ranging from a hybrid Pineapple-Banana, to various types of Passion fruit. We were so enthralled by the indulgently sweet tastes that many fruits were purchased. Shortly after, as our suspicions confirmed, the vendor was kind enough to suggest ‘adding a bit of sugar’ so that the fruits would taste similarly to the samples! Nevertheless, we tried some after dinner, and they were delicious without any additives.


In the afternoon, we quickly assumed our tourist personas and headed to the teleferico to ascend towards the top of the island. Sightings of beautiful landscapes, as well as an archaic church, were well worth the ride. Though the way up was unusual, the way down was one of a kind! A very typical tourist attraction in Funchal is to go down the mountain sitting on driver-assisted baskets. But we all firmly agreed that we would never succumb to such typical touristy nonsense. Much to our efforts, after seeing a few people go down in these strange vehicles, we couldn’t resist. Manel, Manu and Boyan’s driver was even slick enough to check his phone while conducting the steep downhill descent.


But now, your beloved blog editors must rush off, as it is Saturday night! Knowing that we won’t have too many more weekend outings on shore, Manu, Boyan and Manel are very much going to take advantage!  Tomorrow we will visit the rest of Madeira (including some wine tasting, of course) and on Monday we expect to set off to Ilhas Selvagens, a natural park consisting of a few uninhabited islands, on the way to Canarias.


Have a good weekend!


The Enigma Crew


P.S. Expect more news from us early next week.

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