Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. Madeira is an island owned by Portugal. Funchal is the capital city and most of the island. When the island was discovered many, many moons ago it stunk from fennel. The herb grew wild all over the island. Funchal means island of fennel. Now you can’t say I never learned you nutin.

From about the 1890s until the 1940s, Madeira was a popular wine. It comes in regular and sweet. It is priced by years of aging. Standard is the two year old stuff. Better is five years old and very good is ten years old. Ten year old is quite pricey and the two year old is just fine. This is a fortified wine. That means alcohol is added. I think they said about 40 proof or maybe it was percent. Whatever, it’s pretty strong. The white or regular has the wonderful flavor of turpentine. I have no clue why anyone would drink this paint thinner. The sweet, however, is a whole different thing. It tastes quite good and really has no taste of alcohol at all. Back in those old days, it was known as what we would now call a date drug. I even have an old folk song about this famous wine. It is on an old Limelighters album. The chorus goes, have some Madeira, Madeira, mah dear. Have some Madeira, my dear. And all this time, I’ll bet you never, knew this was an educational session.

This is a pretty small island. The harbor is nice sized for such a small place. There are different areas for commercial, cruise ships, ferrys, fishing boats and private boats. There is a replica of the Santa Maria that takes people for rides. It is supposed to be as close as possible to the original except it has engines. The pier we were docked at was very old and paved with cobble stones. It was clean and in good condition as was the entire island.

The entire island is extremely mountainous. There are many tunnels and bridges and all roads are steep and winding. It looks as if every inch of the island is built on or used for growing something. We were at a sea cliff that is supposed to be the highest in the world. This is a very beautiful place and the weather is perfect. Never too hot or cold. Over 90% of the island income is from tourism and the locals are very friendly. When we were in Lisbon, some time back, this was not the case.

We have been here before so we just took a tour that rode around and refreshed our memories of the island. After a very nice ride on a bus that was really too big for the twisting, winding roads, we were dropped off downtown. Our guide led us to a wine lodge. They gave us samples to try and then when we asked about the good stuff for purchase, they gave us more. Bobbi became very happy. Bobbi bought the ten year old stuff. Bobbi also bought two Madeira wine and honey cakes. Sherman got to pay for the wine and cakes. Sherman also got to schlep the wine and cakes back a couple of blocks to where the bus would pick us up. While standing there, waiting for the bus, Bobbi had this big grin on her face. Bobbi was very friendly and gave me a big kiss and said, “I love you.” Bobbi was very drunk. I could now see the value of this old fortified wine. What a bunch of dirty old men they must have had back then.

Once back at the ship we went up for lunch at the buffet and as usual ate far too much. This afternoon there was a segment event for the entire ship. The Kapels did not go. There was a folk band and dancers. There was also supposed to be drinks and several different kinds of local foods to taste. All was held in a huge white tent in some gardens at what was formerly the British Country Club. They had not warned us that they were going to serve tons of food after we had just done lunch on the ship. They came around with many different kinds of foods and drinks of which 90% went to waste. They grow bananas on the island but a different variety then we get. They are the same color and circumference but much shorter. They are very sweet and have a stronger banana taste. We took six back to the ship with us.

Their folk singing and dancing was hysterical. The singer sounded like a screaming, wounded cow. The dancers all wore hats that look like the ones Muslims wear but with a stick, at the center of the top, standing straight up. All were so bad you could not stop laughing. They got many of the people to dance with them.

After restuffing ourselves and taking a bus back to the ship Bobbi had to shop some more at some stands on the dock. We are now the proud owners of two hats with things sticking up on them. Besides the two extra suitcases we bought, we now have four cardboard boxes stuffed with stuff Bobbi just had to have. I know we will never be able to get all this stuff home let alone through customs.

Restuffed Sherm Out