Madeira et al!

Quinta do Lorde is a super marina that is part of a much larger hotel complex.  It is a little quiet and a little isolated.  

But most importantly they have a washing machine!

Our washing machine had packed up in La Linea and being a Miele it had been REALLY difficult to make contact with anyone at Miele that would help. We still hadn’t figured out what to do. I’m thinking we should not have purchased this delicate piece of machinery that was clearly too complicated for anyone but a Miele service engineer touch.
Miele service engineers were able as common as duck teeth!  

We had arrived at Madeira one day ahead of schedule giving Bob & Cathy two full days in Madeira to explore before their flight back to Canada. We cleaned the boat first and immediately hired a car as we had been told that there was a festival that evening in Machico, a neighboring town.

Meanwhile John looked at his emails.
One email was from Ken. He didn’t need the charts but he was currently Port Santo just 10 miles north of us. So it was the ‘Voyageur’ we knew talking over the radio the other day!

His intention was to actually be arriving at our marina the next day! Can you credit that! They had sailed from Canada in May, spent the summer in England and were now working their way back to the Caribbean. We hadn’t seen them in three years!

The next email was from our new friends Jim & Susie.

John arranged dinner with them.

We drove to the festival that evening in Machico.

What a wonderful experience.

It seemed as if everyone on the island had attended. We had to park on the edge of town and walk in.

It was bustling.

The Chapel of Our Lord of Miracles in Machico is one of oldest in Madeira.
It was destroyed in a landslide in 1803 and later rebuilt. The image of Our Lord of Miracles was swept out to see by the landslide, but it was found three days later and presented to the Cathedral of Funchal.
In 1813 the image was restored and returned to the Chapel of Our lord of Miracles in Machico. So, on October 9^th every year thousands of people from all over the island gather in Machico to pay homage in a candle lit nighttime procession in an atmosphere of deep religious devotion.
It was very moving to see such a procession. 

..we just couldn’t understand all the wax body parts some people were carrying

Before the procession we mixed with the local people to enjoy their traditional food at the various stalls.

We tried the famous Madeirian garlic bread ‘Bolo o caco” with the local rum punch ‘Poncho’ concocted blow your socks right off!  

The most fun thing we tried though was equally famous Madeirian “Espetada”.

Basically this is huge chunks of raw beef skewered on a very long rough cane stick up to 2cm round and 1 meter long.  You chose your steak and they cut it into the large chunks and skewer it onto the cane stick.  You then you went off to one of the many oil drum barbecues on the beach and cooked it. Of course like all true BBQ chefs one is expected to stoke and replenish the wood and not steal anyone else’s stick! Most people soon realized the relationship between off-shore breezes and smoke. Having cooked your beef to your perfection the next task is to find some where to sit and eat it. A wall, bolder ..maybe even a seat if you were fast enough!

 It was delicious!

The next day we drove into the capitol, Funchal.

I don’t think I have ever been anywhere that has such a dramatic topology! Steep valleys and steep mountainsides – EVERYWHERE!  

The island particularly noted for its famous wine, flowers and embroidery.

EU money has enabled Madeira to build an outstanding road infrastructure. Countries twenty times their size would give their eye teeth to have anything even approaching this. Modern, fast roads with tunnels that disappear for miles into hillsides under hundreds of feet of rock that then reappear hundreds of meters high above the valley bottoms everywhere. Their international airport is built on Stilts and expands right out over the ocean! The marina below it has the distinction of probably being the only marina in the world under an airport runway!

Locals told us that before the EU money it might take days to travel across this small island.

Funchal

Funchal is a lovely city to walk around with a large food market that has a complete floor devoted to fish as a centrepiece. 

The local port for the town is pretty jammed with boats and recent EU money has enabled the town to build, build, build ..and how! Marina extensions, cruise ship extension and public recreation areas.

In the old district there a street where every door has been painted in unusual designs. We ate a traditional Portuguese lunch there.  

Any visit here has to include a trip to famous ‘Reid’s Hotel’. This is where Winston Churchill often used to take afternoon tea with various aristocratic dignitaries during his visits here.  We were going to have high tea there too on the basis that surely we were now international jet setters?
However when we got there we realized we were not dressed correctly in our shorts.

Afternoon Tea here was clearly a Jacket, shirt and tie event at 30 Euros a head.

Unfortunately we missed the famous sled ride down the streets as time was getting short. But we did drive to the top of the city and enjoyed the panoramic view over Funchal and the Atlantic Ocean just before sunset.

On Bob & Cathy’s last day we drove to the northern, rugged side of the island.
Wow! Some very interesting mountainous roads! But the views were stunning. We ate at Lily’s up in the mountains. Lily’s not only serves great food but also boasts a great view. It was more French than Madeira cooking but they might not agree.

We tried the internally recognized ‘Madeira’ wine here. It wasn’t for us though – it was a little like Sherry – like Grandma used to sip.

John took Bob and Cathy to the airport the next morning for their return flight to Canada and I waited for the elusive Meile agent to come and hopefully mend the washing machine.

He traced the fault pretty quickly. The motor was not working and he had to take it back to his workshop to repair. He would be back the following day with it working.

Well!
Putting the motor back and popping the belt back on in the washing machine was a challenge and a half! The washing machine has been squished in precious boat space half it’s size! But the Meile service agent did not give in. He even called his wife to postpone a cycle ride they had previously planned.
He and John tugged and pushed and pulled and twisted for more than four hours trying to get the belt back on the motor.
Well done Mr Miele Service Engineer of Madiera!

You are a true Gentleman and an superb Engineer

Lets hope we don’t have to do this again (unless we are in Madeira).

Jim & Susie gave us a warm welcome to Madeira at their apartment.
Mind you, we needed a local chap to physically lead us to our agreed meeting point. We were completely lost!!!

What a terrific view they have. We then had a lovely dinner in Funchal.

We enjoyed catching up with all their news

Ken & Carol arrived on ‘Voyageur’ around 5pm.

Once settled, they came over to see us and stayed for dinner on Timeless.

There was so much catching up to do.

They were going to be in our marina for 3 days, and then they were going to anchor in one of the nearby bays.  We spent the next few days relaxing and touring around the island with Ken & Carol.

“Voyageur” will be making its way to the Cape Verde Islands before crossing to St Lucia.

Time to say a fond farewell to Ken & Carol .
See you in St Lucia!

We will be leaving for Lanzarote tomorrow.