Porto Santo
Shelena
Phil Scourfield
Tue 22 Sep 2015 12:03
A quiet little island indeed, and baby sister to Madeira. It shortens the
sea passage from main land Portugal to Madeira so its convenient location
demands we do not pass it by. It was worth a visit even though it was a 25
minute walk to the capital city of Vila Baleira. The roads were largely
deserted, there were about 5 restaurants, and few holiday makers. Sadly, for
Porto Santo it misses out on the holiday trade being dependent on visitors
from Madeira on the ferry; and of course us hardly yacties!. This, in spite
of the fact that Madeira is scared by a runway that runs pretty much from
one side of the island to the other, and that runway was built ahead of
Madeira's runway. It turns out that the airport is now part of NATO
defences and is no longer available for commercial traffic. However, the
airport looked unused by anyone and so simply scars the landscape. At least
I suppose it's good to know that Europe's defences are bolstered by this
capacity;
The main claim to fame for Porto Santo is the fact that for about 2 years
Christopher Columbus may have lived on the island. I certainly hope he did
because the house we visited was said to be one where he stayed at has a
whole museum devoted to discovering America. However, there is not a lot of
evidence to show he really lived on island and as we have come to discover,
nearly every island we have visited in the region claims some connection
with the great adventurer, whether Spanish or Portuguese islands. I believe
he was actually born in Italy.
