Fun in Funchal

October 9, 2016

The crossing from the continent was only half-hellish. We encountered a slight blow and a little bit of a roll but nothing that we hadn't encountered before. We'd had similar seas in the South Pacific and the South China Sea on previous voyages. Mrs G. medicated herself up and survived the crossing a little groggy but with no other apparent injuries.

This was our first experience in Portugal. We had experienced the Portuguese language before as we had been to Brazil in 2014, but Funchal, Madeira is actually a semi-autonomous part of the mother country. And what a fascinating place it is.

The Portuguese first settled it around 1424 and it soon began to become important for its sugar and wine production. As we saw first hand, the climate and soil of Madeira combine for the perfect gardening conditions and after the early settlers discovered these things, the island quickly prospered. Our hero Christopher Columbus, had many connections to Madeira and Portugal. The first and foremost connection was his wife. Columbus married the Portuguese daughter of the first governor of Porto Santos. Porto Santos is a small island about 43 kilometres northeast of Madeira and it is also a Portuguese possession. Columbus also had another connection in that he actually worked in the sugar trade in the 1480s. During part of this time, he lived on Madeira and it was there that he rubbed shoulders with many Portuguese ship's captains and navigators, developing the ideas and honing the skills he would perfect later on. Columbus also returned to Madeira on his third expedition to the New World, spending some time in Madeira where he was given a hero's welcome.

Funchal is a city built up the south side of a steeply-sloping dormant volcano. Some of the suburbs rise up 1200 meters above sea level and the streets zig-zag up the side of the slope, connecting houses built along the edges of cliffs. This side of the island is the driest side and it is where most of the population and the majority of the tourists hang out. Unfortunately, it has been so dry on the south side of the island lately that Funchal has experienced some brutal wild fires.  Scores of homes and much of the vegetation in wide swaths down the mountainside were lost in 2015. We would see the damage first hand as we passed over it in a cable car that climbed from near sea level, 3700 meters up the slope to the suburb of Monte.

Arriving in Monte, at the ultra-modern cable-car station, you have a wonderful view of the city below and you are surrounded by some very nice public and private gardens that frame summer homes built for the wealthy. Rich folks have been hanging out up there since 1565. Up 72ish stairs from the road coming out of the cable-car station is the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte which dates from 1741. Inside is the tomb of Charles I, the last Hapsburg Emporer of Austria and King of Hungary who was exhiled on the island and died there in 1922.

And how does one get down from Monte and back to sea level? Sane people might go back down on a cable car or hop into a taxi. But Gym and Mrs. Gym chose a different route. For 15 euros  you can pay a couple of Portuguese guys to push you down the narrow 45-Degree road in a large wicker basket on a wooden sled. No insurance forms are required, no seat belts are in evidence, no helmut is provided and the wooden "skis" on the sled are waxed so you can enjoy sliding down the pavement at a decent rate of speed. Sounds like fun, eh? It was fun, we didn't hit any cars and we traveled 2 kilometres to arrive at the bottom unscathed. We tipped the two Portuguese guys that accompanied us down the hill riding on the skis.

Also near Monte is the Madeira Botanical Gardens. Notwithstanding the fact that the gardens are not at their peak in October they were still very beautiful when we were there. And the view from up there is spectacular. They protect several species of flora that are endemic to the island there and have one of the most spectacular patterned gardens

Before re-boarding the ship Gym tried a little of Madeira's fortified wine and Mrs. Gym checked out some of the local needlepoint in a shop in downtown Funchal but we successfully resisted the temptation to make any major purchases.

That evening we left Madeira to begin a 5-day crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. This would be the longest stretch we had ever traveled between ports. We would be watching Hurricane Nicole very closely as it appeared that our ship and was headed to the same port-of-call at roughly the same time.

The lower cable car station

inside waiting in line

The cable cars hold up to 8 people

gliding over Funchal

riding over top of a school

one of the many traffic circles

buildings are constructed along terraced shelves

looking back down from the top

Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte which is close to the Upper cable car station

Inside Monte's church

Inside the church is the tomb of Charles I, the last
Hapsburg Emporer of Austria and King of Hungary.  In the
tomb is a portrait of the man below which are some
of the many tributes to him. He was actually beautified
by the last Pope and may become a saint some day.

What's with the wicker baskets and the Portuguese guys?

making bad choices/seated in the wicker basket waiting to get a push

and down we go

there is a sled in front of us passing a truck

watch out lady!

who is dumb enough to park on this road?

nearing the bottom

the patterned garden at Funchal's Botanical Garden

multiple terraces

angel's trumpet...cool stuff

the view from the botanical gardens

close-up of the patterned garden

exotic fruits

needlepoint shop

a beautiful green space just above Funchal Marina

a good view of the ship

a statue to our hero Columbus (in portuguese)

a cool panorama

I will have to check this hotel out on my next visit

pulling out of Funchal

Calling on Cadiz

October 7, 2016

We visited Cadiz on October 7, 2016. Cadiz is historically important for many reasons, some of which are  as follows:

1. It is one of the oldest cities in western Europe, having been populated by every civilization all the way back to the Phoenicians;

2. It has always been the base for Spain's Navy and is close to the site of the battle of Trafalgar;

3. Christopher Columbus left from Cadiz on two of his four voyages to the new world; and,

4. Gym and Mrs Gym were there in 2016. 

Location, location, location...Cadiz was built in the perfect place. It was established at the end of a thin peninsula surrounded by water. Today, two big bridges help connect the city to the mainland but for thousands of years the city's ongoing existence was guaranteed by its location. Cadiz has until modern times, been very easy to defend. The evidence of various civilizations thriving and surviving at this site are being dug up all the time in property development and renovation projects. We saw some of that evidence in the Cadiz Fine Arts and Archaeological Museum. There are particularly good Roman and Phoenician exhibits there. The museum was part of a walking tour we took around the old town.

Cadiz has retained its charm as the local governments have wisely limited the development of high-rise buildings. This has kept the narrow streets and old town squares popular places for tourists and locals alike. A walking tour is really the only practical way of seeing most of the sites, since many areas are not accessible to vehicles bigger than scooters. In this very walkable city, Gym and Mrs. Gym easily chalked up 10,000 steps on the day. 

After the tour and some exploration on their own, the intrepid couple re-boarded the vessel for the last time from the European mainland just before dinner on October 7, 2016. They settled in for a 36-hour crossing from the mainland to the island of Madiera, Portugal.

Even before leaving the European continent, thanks to the internet, the author was able to use NOAA, The Weather Network and other such sites to track Hurricane Matthew and a yet to be named low pressure system in the Caribbean Sea. Appropriately, that unnamed storm would be named Nicole (our daughter's name) as the tropical depression became a tropical storm and then started moving in a northerly direction, in the easterly wake of her big brother Matthew.

The Old City Wall of Cadiz 

The use of marble tiles again in an urban park

Plaza San Juan de Dios leading to the Old Town Hall

Statue to Segismundo Moret, a Spanish politician (his mother was Irish)

The Od Town Hall

These officials are coming out of city hall to join a procession
that will wind through the streets and end up at a Church where flowers will
be placed in honour of the Virgin Mary

 

Oyster stone is the primary building block of Cadiz. It is sandstone that
contains pieces of the shells from ancient shellfish.

An interesting use of a used cannon barrels is shown
in this picture. They were used to keep carriage wheels
from hitting the corners of buildings

ballast stones were used as pavement on many of the streets

What are the white markings in the stone of this plaza?

Ignore the modern art in the centre of the picture and notice the front
door to a church in the background and the white markings on the floor of the plaza

The markings are are the floor plan or blueprint of the Cadiz Cathedral
laid out in front of the church itself 

And here is the massive Cadiz Cathedral which took 116 years to complete.
Because it took so long it had several lead architects and exhibits
multiple architectural styles

The old city boasts 129 different watchtowers. Everyone in the 18th and 19th
centuries wanted to monitor incoming ships bringing wealth back from the new world

The beach on the edge of old Cadiz. You are never far from a decent beach.

the high rent district

de Mora house (perhaps we are related)

Plaza de San Antonio

The museum is located on the Plaza de Mina which is dominated
by the gigantic banyan tree populated by parakeets and other exotic birds

Two Phoenician sarcophagi in the Cadiz Museum

a

Phoenician artifacts found in Cadiz

A roman statue of Emperor Trajan from Cadiz now
safely in the museum

You know you are not in Calgary when parakeets compete with pigeons 

approaching the monument to the Constitution of 1812

a bad panorama of the Plaza de Espana and the monument to the
Constitution of 1812

After pulling out of the docks this US Destroyer sped by.
The US Navy has a base near Cadiz

Heading west into the open Atlantic 36 hours from Madeira