Not whale watching

This morning we went to the market to see the espada fish that we ate the other day.

Pretty unappetising, but actually very tasty.

We then had to dash over to the harbour for our midday whale and dolphin watching appointment. It was scheduled for three whole hours, but unfortunately no one had checked the whale's diaries. They met up with the 9am catamaran, but obviously had more important things to do, so didn't turn up for us to see them.

The tour guide stood on the roof of the catamaran and insists that she saw their splashes in the distance, but we tried to follow them and the sea got too rough.

Fortunately no one fell in, and I was okay for the first couple of hours, but then started getting queasy. By then the captain had given up and had driven near to the shore so that his passengers could go for a swim. I had totally planned to do this until I had a paddle yesterday and found out the sea temperature, so in the end we watched the other intrepid swimmers.

Three pm arrived and I was extremely glad to be back on land, and had a little afternoon lie down to recover. 

Sticking with the nautical theme we went out for dinner at a hotel with a restaurant, and the building was shaped like an ocean liner. 

Our table was right next to what looked like a ventilation funnel and I asked if it blew out smoke, but the waiter said that it was actually a decoration. We didn't go inside, but the bar looked just like the captain's bridge with a big steering wheel.

What a lovely meal that came to 30 euros including tip. There was a glass of madeira to start, then a whole fresh avocado and salad starter, beef skewers and round madeiran bread with a glass of wine for the main course, fruit salad and coffee, then a banana liqueur with the bill. Will definitely go back. 

Levada and coast walk

 Went for quite a lengthy walk this morning.

On the map you might think that it was quite flat, but actually we climbed many steps behind our hotel before we reached a levada, that took the high road along the map.

We made our way out of Funchal on a route that went behind houses and past fields, but it also had street lights and some gates with letterboxes. These were obviously the entrance to some houses straight off the levada.

Eventually we reached the point where we had to turn off and descended probably hundreds of steps to the road, with fields of bananas on either side. 

We then followed the road downwards for a while until we found a tiny path and steps down to the sea.

We walked round to the little harbour at Camara de Lobos for a coffee stop and then headed back home along the promenade.

At one point signs said that the path was closed, but local people were climbing over the railings and so did we.

I stopped for a quick paddle, but the water was surprisingly cold, so I may change one of my plans for tomorrow.

Afterwards I had to have an ice-cream as a reward, and we carried on with the path, but then it seemed to disappear and we were left walking along the stony shoreline. 

This time we ran out of luck as we were heading for a tunnel, but that was closed for safety reasons, so we had no choice but to retrace some of our steps, climb a very long flight of stairs and walk home along the road.

Excellent route with a slightly disappointing ending. 

West of Madeira bus trip

Excellent start to the day as our mini bus is really spacious, there are only eight of us on the tour and our guide, called Katya is great. She is fluent in at least four languages, can fit the minibus into the tiniest spaces and best of all, is very bossy. She insisted that I have the passenger seat next to her, and there is no way that anyone would dare to be late back at any of the stops.

First up was Camara de Lobos which is a lovely fishing village just along the coast from Funchal. 

We think that this display is made from rubbish washed up on the shore, and I am trying to get out of the shot. 

Next, up very windy and steep roads to a glass walkway 590 metres above sea level that jutts out from the edge of the second highest sea cliff in the world. 

I am not totally happy in this photo, but I lived to tell you the facts. 

This is a picture of the view below me.

We then carried on upwards and reached a deserted plateau about 1,500 metres above sea level called Paul de Serra. For some reason Katya thought it would be a good idea to get us to pose for the photo lying down in the middle of the road. Don't show your children, she said, which is fortunate because we don't have any.

Then we reached Porto Moniz at the very tip of the north west of the island where we stopped for lunch. Katya suggested that we try the local fish speciality called the black scabbard fish or espada. She told us that it lives 800 metres under the sea and is caught on very long lines and when it is brought up to the surface it dies in a way similar to the bends for scuba divers. It's skin turns from silver to black and it's eyes almost pop out of its head. She says that it is always best to eat it before you see one because if its the other way around then you might not try it.

Anyway, it was very nice in a non fishy, fish finger kind of way. Darren had his with banana on top and I had passion fruit. One of our friendly fellow German bus trippers insisted on taking our photo, and then did it sideways. It was just that kind of a day.

Porto Moniz was beautiful and it had a James Bond style helicopter landing pad over the sea. 

In an action packed day we then drove to see a big waterfall, although I lost track of its location. To give a bit of scale, I have highlighted the old road in blue, although now that I look at it again, it is hard to actually see the waterfall. Try zooming in. 

We didn't drive this way as there is a new tunnel and there have been too many rock falls along the old road, so it is now closed.

We stopped at another viewpoint, and Katya took photos of everyone on the swing instead of the view. 

Then there was a beautiful church or two and another view, but I don't think that we took photos of those, before getting back to the hotel at the end of a very full day. 

Promenading

I only took a couple of photos today, but we have booked a lot of trips for the next two weeks, and so our holiday admin is sorted. 

This afternoon we did a bit of promenading and enjoyed the sunshine and seaside. 

All was going well until we took the low road while unknown to us, the route took the high one. We ended up on a little pier and I have drawn in our preferred route, but unfortunately it did not exist. 

So we retraced our steps and went shopping instead. 

Short on details today, but coming up as they say on the telly, is a catamaran trip to look for dolphins, bus tour of the west of the island, bus tour of the east, levada walk at 1,600 metres above sea level, trip to the Nun's Valley, glass walkway off a very high cliff and much, much more!! 

Arrived in Madeira

Our first day in Madeira, after an incident free and on time flight. Our hotel is just behind the famous Reids Palace and we arrived after dark. Our room was a good size, but we could glimpse outside and see that we were on the ground floor and surrounded by huge tree trunks.

When we awoke it was like being down in a dungeon, so I asked to change rooms. We are now on the first floor and have a view of a road and some tall trees, although we know that the sea is out there somewhere. I think that it is pushing it to call it a garden view though, and this wasn't even one of Darren's special deal holidays!

Anyway, Madeira is as lovely as ever, and the Flower and Wine Festivals are both on at the moment. Today we concentrated on the flower one first.

Not sure what happened to these flower fairies but their dresses were beautiful.

In fact the whole of the town was filled with girls in lovely outfits.

We eventually found out why, and they were all appearing in dancing shows throughout the day. 

Some of the music was surprising and this group danced a bit of tango, then Coldplay and eventually twisted off the stage to the sound of Chubby Checker.

Christiano Ronaldo is a huge presence on the island having been born and raised here. The airport is named after him, there is a hotel and museum called CR7, and of course there is the statue.

Kew Gardens in the nighttime

We went back to Kew Gardens for a special event called Japan After Hours. 

It was almost dark as we arrived and followed the lights towards the Temperate House. Just outside it was a stall selling Japanese food so we bought a okonomiyaki each. Very tasty savoury pancake with cabbage, okonomi sauce and bonito flakes. I don't know what all of that means, but it was lovely.

At the entrance to the House was a lady giving out origami flowers and butterflies, with a message attached. We got 'shooting stars burn bright, clinging raindrops magnify shadows lengthening' and 'when I ate a persimmon the bell rung the Horyuji Temple'.

Once inside there was red lights shining on the plants, Japanese electronic music, but best of all, a Sake tasting bar.

They were very generous with the samples and Darren managed six of them. The variety was surprising and I liked the sparkling sake and Darren the plum flavour.

We briefly stopped to see a bit of ikebana - flower arranging, wagashi - traditional Japanese sweets making which tasted of the bean paste that we really don't like, and then chatted to the Kew bonsai expert.

All good fun and very interesting, particularly when combining it with the sake tasting.

Things got extremely strange though at the Butoh Dancing performance.

The brochure says that the dancers embody the flower in its stages of blooming, fragrance and decay.

It was all in extreme slow motion, and they were definitely not happy flowers, particularly in the decaying stage, and I don't know what else to say about it. Except that it didn't get people up on the dancefloor.