Time for home

After an enjoyable weekend, with some sunbathing and lots of doing, well, nothing really, it was getting closer to time to pack and prepare for home.

The weather hadn't been as good as when we came here previously, but nevertheless we'd stayed dry all week and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. All that was left was to take one last photo for the album on the balcony of our hotel room.

The Principality of the Pontinha - the world's smallest state?

Looking down from the hotel towards the harbour, the new harbour wall can be seen to join with an outcrop of rock, where steps climb to a viewpoint at the top. By lunchtime the sunshine of morning had been lost to cloud, so after a bite to eat we decided to take a stroll down the hill to take a look.

At the bottom of the staircase, two locals were guarding the entrance, charging one euro admission to walk to the top. For my shiny euro coin, I was given a leaflet explaining that I had just met His Excellency Prince D. Renato Barros, sovereign leader of the historic island of Pontinha, which had been ceded from Portugal in December 2007. Right.

The rock had been landed on in July 1419 by two captains belonging to a sea expedition by Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the great Portuguese explorers of the fifteenth century. A fort called Sao Jose was built on the rock, which was separated from the main island of Madeira at that time, but over the years as Madeira and Funchal developed, the rock and fort simply became part of the harbour wall.

In 1903, King D. Carlos I of Portugal supposedly signed a Regal Letter stating the territory of the Principality of the Pontinha shall be sovereign. The original letter is apparently kept in the Tower of London (it wasn't on display when we visited the Tower a couple of years ago, but then again we weren't exactly looking for it), and this forms the basis of the claims of the current Prince (who also claims to be a descendant of the King who signed the letter).

The rock is less than 200 sq m in area, and if recognised by the United Nations would be the smallest sovereign state in the world.

Whether you believe all this or not, it's a great story and for imagination alone is well worth the euro coin I paid towards its maintenance. Co-incidentally, whilst looking out to sea from the viewpoint, a replica ship from Henry the Navigator's day, taking tourists back from a morning sail, was heading back towards Funchal and the harbour.

Passing time...

Today we finally spent the day doing exactly what we came here for - basically nothing but relaxing in the warm sunshine!

The Casino Park hotel and casino were designed in the late sixties by the legendary architect Oscar Neimeyer, who at the time had fled his native Brazil in exile and was living in Paris. Niemeyer was responsible for many great buildings throughout the world and specialised in modern designs, using curves rather than straight lines wherever possible and maximising open spaces in the interiors. The hotel and casino are both great examples of both these traits and I'll post more about Niemeyer, who has recently celebrated his 101st birthday, shortly.

Before the hotel was built, the land it sits on was previously occupied by a grand villa with a history: the Empress of Austria, Elisabeth of Bavaria, came here in the 1860s and again in the 1890s for extended stays on health grounds. Today, Sissi's statue stands in front of the hotel as a reminder of the history of the site and the enduring popularity of the island.

The hotel gardens overlook Funchal harbour, and many of the guests left their sunloungers to watch a large cruise ship moor up in the harbour. Funchal is a regular stop for many cruise ships, and whilst today's ship, the Valletta-registered Atlantic Star wasn't the biggest in these parts, it was still intriguing to watch it manoeuvre towards the dockside.

Having returned with my camera, I also took the opportunity to snap the American frigate which has been anchored in the harbour all week. There doesn't appear to have been a great deal of activity on board, so I guess there's no immediate crisis to worry about in this part of the world.

In between sunbathing and swimming, I took the camera up to the top floor of the hotel to take some shots, and the result is this panorama looking out across Funchal and the harbour, with the unique hyperbolic shape of the casino in the foreground. The casino was where we were heading in the evening - we'd booked to see the show 'Viva la diva' together with a four-course meal, and a fantastic time was had by all.

Relaxation - inside and out

At breakfast this morning the heavens opened and we watched the rain bounce down around the swimming pool whilst we engorged ourselves on the wonderful selection of food provided by our hotel. We had hoped to enjoy a week's relaxation by the pool but the weather has had other ideas so far and we were beginning to feel frustrated.

We decided to seek out the hotel's indoor facilities and found they were superb - a large pool with jacuzzi, a steam room, sauna, ice room (we weren't convinced about this one) and beauty salon. Carole was keen to try out a back and shoulder massage and as I was on holiday too, I booked one too as I didn't want to be left out!

After a couple of hours of relaxation, we checked out the weather and was pleasantly surprised to find that the rain had gone and the sun was out - at last! Finally we were able to claim some sunloungers by the outdoor pool and sunbathe, as well as having a proper swim.

The pool area and gardens look great in the warm sunshine and everyone was suddenly in a much better mood.

In the evening we returned to our newly discovered street round the corner from the hotel where we enjoyed a great Italian meal - we've certainly not gone hungry during this holiday!

Cable cars, gardens and toboggans

Another day and more cloud. Our bad run of holiday weather looks set to continue for at least another day, although there is hope that the sunshine might be along tomorrow. Having explored the centre of Funchal yesterday, we were keen today to visit the gardens high up on the outskirts of town. But we needed a head for heights...

Several years ago whilst in Vienna, we did what many tourists do and visited the big wheel made famous in the novel The Third Man. The pods were little more than wooden sheds which swayed erratically and then stopped altogether for 10 minutes part-way round and Carole was petrified.

Ever since then she has steadfastly refused to leave solid ground (except by plane), so I was taken aback when she said she'd risk the 15 minute journey to the gardens at Monte via the cable car.

It's fair to say that our journey up to the gardens wasn't full of conversation, and the colour had drained from her face by the time we got to the top. And having reached the top, we would eventually have to make the reverse journey down again (unless we took the toboggan ride, which will be explained later).

Having recovered sufficiently from our journey uphill, we walked up the road to the gardens entrance and then inside. Maybe it was the threat of rain, but the gardens, whilst very pleasant, didn't live up to their billing in the brochures. The paths had become slippy in the drizzle and the slope of the land made exploring hard work, but more than this there simply wasn't very many flowers to see - just lots of trees and foliage.

The gardens had a strong east asian feel, with an impressive array of Chinese terracotta soliders near the entrance and a pergola set in a Japanese garden complete with coi carp.

On the way back uphill we explored the main lake in the garden, where the water cascades down impressively over a walkway. Whilst there we encountered a bride and groom, who were being photographed in a number of settings throughout the gardens.









On leaving the gardens, we walked a little further to visit the church at Monte, famous these days for being the starting point of the Monte toboggan ride downhill into Funchal. We'd been watching tourists hurtling down the streets bordering the gardens earlier and weren't inspired to give this a go - the two guys 'steering' the toboggan at the back didn't look at all in control and it made the cable car feel like a much better option!

Whilst descending back to Funchal via the cable car, the clouds were starting to lift and the sun finally began to shine. With the improved weather to spur us on, we headed straight for the open-topped bus nearby and took the tour around the city. The tour took us through the old and new city, past the historic Blandy's wine shop and the harbour, then up out to the west of the city to a wonderful viewpoint at Pico Dos Barcelos, not far from the sea yet over 1000ft high.


At night, after enjoying cocktails in the hotel bar, we headed out but away from the town centre and in less than 100yds from the hotel, found a number of excellent restaurants to choose from. We opted for a chinese banquet in keeping with the oriental theme from the gardens earlier and enjoyed an excellent meal to round off the day.

What's happened to the weather?

One of the reasons we chose to go back to Madeira for a second time was because our holiday in Sardinia last year was interrupted by poor weather whereas our memories of Madeira were of wall to wall sunshine. Sadly the sunshine has only been seen briefly so far, whilst we descended the steps of the plane, so our plans to relax by the pool have had to be put on hold. Instead, we spent the day exploring the sights of Funchal, learning a little of the history of Madeira and doing some shopping.

One famous early resident of Madeira was Christopher Columbus, who lived on the island for several years and married the daughter of the governor of neighbouring Porto Santo. His statue now looks out to sea, overlooking Funchal harbour.




Madeira is colourful in spring, and the Bird of Paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) abounds throughout the many parks and gardens around the city. They are common to warmer countries and are plentiful on the island, so much so that the airport is happy to arrange to box up bunches of the flowers for visitors to take home.

The cloud refused to lift throughout the day, meaning we had to research several cafes, shops and bars during the afternoon, so the day wasn't wasted!




By evening, even though the rain stayed away, the cloud remained stubborn, giving the night-time view from our balcony a rather dramatic look.

Holiday time!

After counting down for weeks our holiday has finally come round and we started our journey with a breakfast pastry at the airport. We were on our way to Madeira, where we'd enjoyed a fabulous holiday a couple of years earlier, and we were even going back to the same hotel, the Casino Park in Funchal.











The early morning flight meant we were on our hotel room apartment looking out to sea by early afternoon, and the only disappointment was that the sun, which was shining brightly as we landed at the airport, had disappeared behind a veil of cloud.

In the evening we headed down the hill into the centre of town and found a small Italian restaurant, where we indulged in pizza and tiramasu as well as sampling a bottle of wine. Setting a marker down for the week ahead...

Helping Beryl & Terry celebrate their Ruby Anniversary

Although we were due to go away on a week's holiday, our flights weren't scheduled until Monday which meant we were free to join my Aunty Beryl and Uncle Terry for a meal out to celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary.

It was also an opportunity to catch up with cousins Neil and Kay and take some rare family photos too!


Beryl and Terry elected to visit the Clog & Billycock, over in Pleasington, just on the outskirts of town, and this was our first visit since it was taken over and refurbished by celebrity chefs Nigel Howarth and Craig Bancroft from Northcote Manor. Years ago the Clog was a run-down locals' pub but the conversion has transformed it into an impresssive modern restaurant. The menu is packed with traditional pub fayre with a modern slant and the food was sensational.


After a lovely meal we returned for the traditional cake cutting photos, capping off an enjoyable evening.

Celebrating Jules' 40th Birthday

Yesterday we met up with friends to celebrate Julie's 40th birthday at Rogan's in Cartmel village. We had a great afternoon, the food was fantastic and we even had a duck race in the nearby beck before the day was out!

We had the top floor of the restaurant to ourselves and even a smaller room where the children could be kept entertained.

Julie had several heart-felt thank yous to share and even though it was her birthday, it was Julie who was giving out the presents!

Anne received a big bouquet and an even bigger hug.

Craig has so many stories to share about his sister!

Stewart ran the quiz to see how much Julie's friends really knew about her.

Ken had the job to catch the ducks in the river at the end of the duck race.