I keep on hoping
DNCE – 2015
We’ll eat cake by the ocean.
Woke up at 7.30am to find that the Queen Anne was getting ready to dock in the port of Funchal, Madeira. Regular readers of this blog will remember that we were here on the Borealis six months ago, for the memorable Fred Olsen “Fleet in Funchal” cruise. This time, Queen Anne was getting ready to dock in the same berth as the one occupied by the Balmoral last year (in fact, she took up both spaces occupied by Borealis and Balmoral).
The weather was neither too warm nor too cold, and at least it was dry. We would be here until 5.30pm tomorrow, so we had a good long visit to explore. Even though this was our fifth visit to Madeira, you can always find something new to see and do and, in fact, it is such a lovely place just to wander around in, with fabulous views from the top.
We had booked a tour today, called “Leisurely Scenes of Madeira”, but it was not until two o’clock this afternoon so we had the full morning to explore on our own. However, we didn’t opt to disembark straight away. The last time we were on a vessel with circa 3,000 passengers (Celebrity Edge, in March) we knew how horrendous the queues could be when everyone tried to disembark at once. We therefore decided to leave it an hour or so; I used the time to catch up on this blog. 🙂
Around 9.45am we retrieved our shipboard passes and currency and packed a couple of cagoules into a rucksack, as well as a bottle of water. We then made our way down to Deck 1 to the gangway to disembark. We could see the rows of tour buses lined up, as well as a couple of hop-on-hop-off buses and some guys in straw boaters with one of the famous wicker toboggans. Ignoring all of these (we had done them all before), we chose to get some exercise after our three full sea days and walk into town. It wasn’t all that far anyway.
As we walked to the other side of the harbour we were able to get some great views of Queen Anne moored up, and I took lots of photos. 🙂
Strolling along, going nowhere in particular, we came across an amazing piece of 3D wall art called The Wave of Change. At first glance it looked like a seascape of turbulent waves, but on closer examination we could see it was made up of litter that had been collected from the beaches. As well as driftwood, there were empty beer cans, plastic bottles, cartons, old fishing nets and even car or motorbike parts! The description, handwritten on the wall in marker pen, explained that all these items had been collected during a beach clean-up on 18th September 2023. It went on to day that eight million tons of plastic waste is dumped in the oceans each year, and now more than ever is the time to end the manufacture of single use plastic.
Soon we found ourselves walking along the lively sea front which contained a large, colourful sign with stylised letters that spelled out “Madeira”.
As it was now after 11.00am, we decided to go and find a pavement café or bar and enjoy a cold beer. As I had my laptop with me (!) it would give me a chance to upload some of my photos and blog using the café wi-fi, instead of paying the extortionate prices that Cunard charge. Even though we receive a complimentary $80.00 each towards a wi-fi package, it can cost as much as $36.00 dollars a day. In any case, for me it made more sense to wait until we were ashore, as I can use the data on my phone (up to 12 gigs) at no further cost. 🙂
We therefore found ourselves sitting at an outside table at the same place we had visited when we were here six months ago. We enjoyed una cerveza grande each; it was cold and foamy and went down very well indeed. I sat there people watching and uploading the completed pages of my blog, and we could have sat there longer but we knew we’d have to start making tracks to get back to the ship, get on board and have a light lunch before proceeding ashore again for 1.45pm to meet our tour guide.
We arrived back at the Queen Anne just before 12.45pm, and I was able to get some great bow shots of her, the rippling water below her reflecting on her shiny black bow. It was just as well we had come back when we did, because the queues to get back on board were massive! The queue was only moving very slowly, and it was not helped by the number of wheelchairs and walking frames which inched their way up the gangplank. This is certainly one of the problems with larger vessels – the ubiquitous queues. This is something we rarely, if ever, experienced on our preferred ship sizes of fewer than 1,500 passengers.
As the time dragged on, and the queue moved painfully slowly, we started to wonder if we would even make it back on board in time to collect our tour tickets and proceed ashore again. At this point a lady came rushing up and said “I’m not trying to jump the queue, but we are meeting here again at 1.45pm and we’re worried we’re not going to make it on time!” When we pointed out to her that we were in the same predicament, she stayed behind us in the queue. As it happened, we were back on board by 1.30pm, giving us a 15-minute window to grab something to eat and use the loo before disembarking again. 🙂
We boarded the coach and set off again, heading for the hills. Madeira is extremely popular with ramblers and walkers who love it explore its woods, its winding mountain paths, its wonderful sweeping sea views and, as I mentioned previously, follow its levadas.
We had a perfect day with blue skies, large fluffy cumulus clouds and only a gentle sea breeze. The coach wended its way ever higher, the views opening out below us. Every now and again the coach would park up to allow us to alight to take photos. At one viewpoint, a plaque advised us that we were 580 metres (1,885 feet) above sea level. From here, we could see the rugged cliff faces, rocky shores and endless deep blue of the Atlantic ocean. We could also see right over the town of Funchal, Madeira’s capital. It was stunning.
We continued on our scenic tour, stopping every now again to admire the views. As we climbed higher, the air became noticeably cooler and a cheeky little cold wind blew; I wish I’d brought my jacket. However, the views were definitely worth it. 🙂
Arriving at our last photo stop, we admired the mountain views and the little villages nestling in the hills; we saw a couple of interesting-looking churches with distinctive spires, which Google told me were Igreta de Sao Martinho and St Anthony’s Church.
Boarding the coach once more, we headed back down to sea level again, our guide pointing out to us some of the levadas on the way. We had one more stop before our arrival back at the cruise terminal; to a restaurant with an amazing sea view.
On arrival at the restaurant, we used the restrooms before making our way into a large room with a well-stocked bar at one end. Places had been set at each table with a plate and fork; each contained a selection of cakes, including the famous Madeira cake. Now, many people believe that Madeira cake gets its name either because it contains the fortified wine ‘Madeira’, or because it comes from Madeira. Neither of these are correct; in fact, it is because it is traditionally eaten with a glass of Madeira. 🙂
We could see several barmen coming around the tables with trays of both dry or sweet Madeira wine, and as we waited for our turn to be served I turned to Trevor and sang the well-known DNCE lyrics “I keep on hoping, we’ll eat cake by the ocean” which I thought would be an apt title for today’s blog. 🙂
Soon we received a glass of wine each, choosing to try the dry. It was an unknown label; I don’t know whether the restaurant makes it in-house. It wasn’t as smooth and rich as the more well-known Madeira brands such as the famous Blandy’s, but it was reasonably palatable and washed the cake down very well indeed. I noticed the lady sitting next to me didn’t touch either her cake or her wine, so I asked her if she was going to drink the Madeira and if not, please may I have it?
She had the sweeter version so I was able to try a glass of each. I ended up buying a bottle of the dry for 10 euros.
Once everyone was rounded up and back on the coach again, we continued our tour down the hill and around the town of Funchal. Our guide pointed out a large white and grey house on the hill and said it was the home of the famous Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who is one of the greatest players ever and who is a native of Madeira. Near to the house was a museum called “CR7”, all about Ronaldo and his footballing achievements. Trevor said we would go and visit tomorrow. 🙂
We arrived back at the Queen Anne just after 6.00pm. It was too late to go for our dinner in the Britannia Restaurant, so we got washed and changed in record time and went up to the Artisans’ Foodhall instead, where I enjoyed some beef stew followed by a selection of cheeses.
As the ship was in port overnight, we decided to go ashore and find a nice little bar after dinner, then return to Queen Anne in good time for the show at 10.15pm.
During our wanders around the town this morning, we had spotted a pub called “The Old City Pub” which looked like a traditional bar set in some back streets, rather than on the main drag. We thought we’d head towards it, and look around for somewhere interesting to visit tomorrow.
When we arrived at the pub, I noticed it served caipirinha, my favourite cocktail, so I ordered one of those while Trevor settled for a Coral beer. We watched the barman making the caipirinha; he mashed the lime and sprinkled in the sugar and ice before tipping up the bottle of cachaça and pouring in a massive measure! This was going to be a good one! 🙂
As expected, the cocktail was cold and refreshing and STRONG! As we sat there happily in the pub, enjoying the ambience, Trevor noticed a Premier League football game on the TV; Manchester City were playing Tottenham. The barman asked Trevor if he was a City supporter, and we replied that we were Sunderland fans! The barman said he supported FC Porto but his favourite English team was (predictably) Man United. There was a little football discussion before our glasses were ready for a refill. I chose another caipirinha but Trevor opted for only half a pint of beer this time because he also wanted to try the famous Madeira poncha which is a traditional cocktail made with distilled sugar cane juice, honey and a citrus juice such as orange or lemon.
We had time for one more drink in the pub before we had to start making tracks back to the ship, but I didn’t dare have a third caipirinha as they were very strong. Instead, I had a glass of white Portuguese wine, and Trevor had a beer. The barman brought over a dish of salted peanuts for us.
As we left the bar and started to walk back, we passed the Museum of Electricity. This looked very interesting; we have never been to an electricity museum before! We mentally added it to our planned itinerary for tomorrow; we had a full day in store. 🙂
We arrived back on Queen Anne just before 10.00pm. Just before boarding, I took some photos of the ship, all lit up. She looked lovely. Back on Deck 11, we had just enough time to dump our bags in 11046 and get to the theatre on time for the show to start.
Tonight’s performance featured a ventriloquist. Usually we wouldn’t have been bowled over by a ventriloquist; thinking of some middle-aged man with a slightly-scary dummy on his knee shouting “gottle of geer”, but this bloke was something else. He was called Paul Zerdin and he had won America’s Got Talent. He had several dummies, including a cheeky one called Sam, and he had an amazing knack for throwing his voice. His show was absolutely hilarious, and he involved members of the audience, putting masks on their face which he manipulated to make them look and sound like dummies. When he came round with his mic in the audience and tried to get people to say the tongue-twister “One smart fellow felt smart. Two smart fellows felt smart” you can imagine what some people ended up saying. I laughed so hard I thought my sides would split. What a brilliant show – I will never look at ventriloquists in the same light again! 🙂
It was after 11 o’clock before we left the theatre, and we decided to finish off the evening by going to the Golden Lion for a nightcap, and to watch the Full Irish Duo.
We returned to stateroom 11046 just before midnight after a great day. We had another full day to enjoy in Funchal tomorrow and, after propping open our balcony door to enjoy the cool Madeira night air, we slept very well.