Day 5
Last full day today. First thing I did was go back to the market and buy a load of bulbs/corms/seeds and stuff, including a Madeira banana tree. Not sure how well it'll do in Òbidos, but it'll be fun trying. Afterwards I went back to the place where I had a lovely pot of tea before, but it was shut so I went next door and had a terrible cup of what turned out to be decaf tea at a table where my chair kept getting rocked every time anyone walked past and so I became very irritable, particularly as I had no-one to take it out on. Decided to walk up to the fort (Fortaliza do Pico) and visit some nice calming museums. This part of Funchal is really lovely, with big old buildings and lots of places to visit, although it's pretty steep and hilly in places, like the rest of Madeira. Unfortunately I arrived at lunchtime and everywhere closes for very long lunch breaks in Portugal because lunch is the most important thing in the world to the Portuguese. After football, of course.
I found the Universo de Memorias, which was open, so decided to have a look around. This is a modestly grand town house which houses the collections of João Carlos Abreu, a Madeiran poet, journalist, actor, politician, writer, and traveller, who was an avid collector of ‘stuff’ whilst on his travels around the world. He’s now in his eighties and has donated many of his collections to the state (I love rich eccentrics who do this). I’d never heard of him before and had no idea what to expect. He collected all sorts of things - both works of art and souvenirs - and the house is absolutely crammed. There’s a room full of silver table-ware, especially teapots, another full of jewels, three rooms full of horses (from huge wooden carvings to tiny tin models and everything in between) , a whole attic room full of neck ties and cravats and a bathroom full of hats. The walls are covered in masks and paintings and drawings of every description and the idea that he bought all this stuff (he started collecting aged 16) is mind-boggling. It only cost €3 to wander around. There is also a beautiful courtyard garden with a fountain and a Casa de Cha where they serve Earl Grey tea in mismatched bone china. It was lovely.
Then I went across the road to the Quinta de Cruzes. The museum bit was still closed for lunch but the gardens were open, and were quite nice to wander around, particularly if you like archeological artefacts, of which there are many. There’s also a large orchid garden, which I imagine is wonderful when the orchids are in flower, which they aren’t really, currently. I’m not all that fond of orchids on account of the fact that I seem unable to keep them alive, despite them requiring absolutely zero attention.
Then I hiked up the final, very steep climb to the fort, which was a bit of an anticlimax as you can’t go inside (although the views are impressive) so I came back down the other side and found a restaurant with a nice back garden where I had a pleasant lunch of Bife Madeira and half a bottle of house white.
Then I went to the Casa Museu de Frederick de Freitas which is just below the Convent of Santa Clara, and which has three parts: a museum of azulejos (painted tiles), a lovely grand old house, and a small courtyard garden. I liked the house bit best.
After that I went to the Museu Municipal e Aquaria. This is a natural history museum and has life-sized models of all the fish and sea life found in Madeiran waters, taxidermy of all the birds and mammals and also all the insects, spiders and butterflies. I liked that a lot, although the taxidermy was a bit haphazard. The hare looked moribund, the rabbit was clearly roadkill and the domestic cat looked bloody terrifying.
Downstairs is a very poor aquarium, with a handful of fish, a couple of eels and a very lonely solitary octopus (*weeps*).
By now I was all museumed out so I slowly made my way back down to the seafront and had a literally humongous Italian ice cream.
Day 6
Up. Dressed. Packed. Checked out. Coffee at the market. Waited at bustop for bus to airport.
Approached by man, who offered to take me to the airport for the same price as the cost of the bus (€5). Said he was taking three old people home from the market with their shopping to a village near the airport and if I came too he could charge them less.
As I followed this complete stranger down the dark steps into an underground car park I momentarily questioned the wisdom of my decision, but as I always tell my daughters, you must trust your instincts and my instincts were telling me this was a nice man. And they were right. I squeezed into his car with three very old, vegetable-laden and wobbly old people who practised their English on me and nodded and smiled at my Portuguese all the way to the airport. The lovely man delivered me to the airport, took my suitcase to the door and shook my hand.
Note to Daughters: Please do NOT follow strange men into dark underground car parks just because they ask you to, however nice they might seem.
#everydayisanadventure
#apotofteaisthenewrockandroll
Last full day today. First thing I did was go back to the market and buy a load of bulbs/corms/seeds and stuff, including a Madeira banana tree. Not sure how well it'll do in Òbidos, but it'll be fun trying. Afterwards I went back to the place where I had a lovely pot of tea before, but it was shut so I went next door and had a terrible cup of what turned out to be decaf tea at a table where my chair kept getting rocked every time anyone walked past and so I became very irritable, particularly as I had no-one to take it out on. Decided to walk up to the fort (Fortaliza do Pico) and visit some nice calming museums. This part of Funchal is really lovely, with big old buildings and lots of places to visit, although it's pretty steep and hilly in places, like the rest of Madeira. Unfortunately I arrived at lunchtime and everywhere closes for very long lunch breaks in Portugal because lunch is the most important thing in the world to the Portuguese. After football, of course.
I found the Universo de Memorias, which was open, so decided to have a look around. This is a modestly grand town house which houses the collections of João Carlos Abreu, a Madeiran poet, journalist, actor, politician, writer, and traveller, who was an avid collector of ‘stuff’ whilst on his travels around the world. He’s now in his eighties and has donated many of his collections to the state (I love rich eccentrics who do this). I’d never heard of him before and had no idea what to expect. He collected all sorts of things - both works of art and souvenirs - and the house is absolutely crammed. There’s a room full of silver table-ware, especially teapots, another full of jewels, three rooms full of horses (from huge wooden carvings to tiny tin models and everything in between) , a whole attic room full of neck ties and cravats and a bathroom full of hats. The walls are covered in masks and paintings and drawings of every description and the idea that he bought all this stuff (he started collecting aged 16) is mind-boggling. It only cost €3 to wander around. There is also a beautiful courtyard garden with a fountain and a Casa de Cha where they serve Earl Grey tea in mismatched bone china. It was lovely.
Then I went across the road to the Quinta de Cruzes. The museum bit was still closed for lunch but the gardens were open, and were quite nice to wander around, particularly if you like archeological artefacts, of which there are many. There’s also a large orchid garden, which I imagine is wonderful when the orchids are in flower, which they aren’t really, currently. I’m not all that fond of orchids on account of the fact that I seem unable to keep them alive, despite them requiring absolutely zero attention.
Then I hiked up the final, very steep climb to the fort, which was a bit of an anticlimax as you can’t go inside (although the views are impressive) so I came back down the other side and found a restaurant with a nice back garden where I had a pleasant lunch of Bife Madeira and half a bottle of house white.
Then I went to the Casa Museu de Frederick de Freitas which is just below the Convent of Santa Clara, and which has three parts: a museum of azulejos (painted tiles), a lovely grand old house, and a small courtyard garden. I liked the house bit best.
After that I went to the Museu Municipal e Aquaria. This is a natural history museum and has life-sized models of all the fish and sea life found in Madeiran waters, taxidermy of all the birds and mammals and also all the insects, spiders and butterflies. I liked that a lot, although the taxidermy was a bit haphazard. The hare looked moribund, the rabbit was clearly roadkill and the domestic cat looked bloody terrifying.
Downstairs is a very poor aquarium, with a handful of fish, a couple of eels and a very lonely solitary octopus (*weeps*).
By now I was all museumed out so I slowly made my way back down to the seafront and had a literally humongous Italian ice cream.
Day 6
Up. Dressed. Packed. Checked out. Coffee at the market. Waited at bustop for bus to airport.
Approached by man, who offered to take me to the airport for the same price as the cost of the bus (€5). Said he was taking three old people home from the market with their shopping to a village near the airport and if I came too he could charge them less.
As I followed this complete stranger down the dark steps into an underground car park I momentarily questioned the wisdom of my decision, but as I always tell my daughters, you must trust your instincts and my instincts were telling me this was a nice man. And they were right. I squeezed into his car with three very old, vegetable-laden and wobbly old people who practised their English on me and nodded and smiled at my Portuguese all the way to the airport. The lovely man delivered me to the airport, took my suitcase to the door and shook my hand.
Note to Daughters: Please do NOT follow strange men into dark underground car parks just because they ask you to, however nice they might seem.
#everydayisanadventure
#apotofteaisthenewrockandroll
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