BRINGING YOUR HOLIDAY IDEAS TO LIFE!
Marion Ainge enjoys a Shirley Valentine moment in Faja dos Padres
Madeira is a perfect piece of paradise ...
From a cliff top in Madeira, after two and a half minutes, a modern, panoramic cable car sets me 250 metres down to Faja dos Padres, a rural, organic farm where a path through a sun-drenched banana grove leads to a small beachfront restaurant. I sit alone at a table, sip cold wine from a carafe and watch the foam-tipped Atlantic waves caress the sun-bleached, pebble shoreline. My lunch is scabbard fish with banana - both fried, I think, and delicious.
Bananas, Madeira wine and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo, are the island's main exports. Our driver tells me that Ronaldo's mother now lives in a house (more like a small hotel) he had built for her in Funchal, the capital.
The island, or achipelago to be correct, has an ideal year-round subtropical climate, the temperature rarely falling to lower than 20 degrees C, making it a favourite winter holiday destination, holiday home or retirement option for UK visitors. In Funchal, there's a wildly colourful, indoor fruit and vegetable market, where some stallholders, clad in traditional dress, smile for the camera. Flower festivals, exhibitions and other floral events are held during the year. Beautiful botanical gardens feature subtropical and tropical flowers, typically, the bird of paradise blooms, and plants. The capital also boasts a statue of Madeira's son, Ronaldo, and the iconic, historic Reid's Palace Hotel set high on a cliff. In the 1950s, frequent visitor, Winston Churchill, wrote his memoirs at Reid's. Their their signature afternoon tea will set you back around £35, but neighbours and friends will be impressed. The popular, traditional downhill, toboggan, wicker basket ride, powered by two carreiros or sledge drivers, takes about 10 heart-in-the-mouth minutes. Great fun, though.
But our first base is about 40 minutes' drive from the capital. The delightful Solcalco Nature Hotel in pretty Calheta in the south west of the island is a piece of paradise. Built into the side of a steep hill, this quirky, eco-friendly, boutique hotel affords breathtaking views down to the sea and sheltered little sandy beach. Steep stone steps without handrails and upwardly winding paths take no prisoners though. Best not to look down to the beach, though, as from this point, sunbathers are miniscule Barbie and Ken dolls. The 'blind' four course dinner is sensational, unsurprisingly, as Chef Octávio Freitas is reputedly the best in Madeira. Marseille sports journalist, Muriel, and I converse in each other's languages. Bien sûr, Muriel's English is better than my French. We savour smoked salmon and capers followed by a fish course with a spicy lentil broth, then rare beef, mashed potato and field mushrooms. Dessert is an exquisite chocolate fondant.
After breakfast on the terrace, we transfer to the four-star Savoy Signature's NEXT Hotel in Funchal,which overlooks the harbour/cruise ship port and is an easy stroll to the old town. It boasts a rooftop bar (great cockails!) and pool and another larger pool alongside the sea with steps to the ocean. All bedrooms have a balcony or a terrace. In the canopied Recharge restaurant, I tuck into a lunch of fresh tuna Hawaiian salad bowl with mango and rice. Fresh fish, particularly, Atlantic tuna is on the menu in almost every restaurant.
Just about an hour from Funchal is Madeira's North Shore, a serene area much lovedby walkers and nature enthusiasts. Here there are lush forests, green hills, caves, natural pools and waterfalls and at Seixal village, a beach of fine black sand. At the viewpoint, the Véu da Noiva, bride’s white veil, waterfall drops into the Atlantic Ocean. In Porto Moniz swimmers bathe in pools between visible lava rocks, which slipped into the sea during volcanic eruptions.
Late afternoon, back in Funchal, we board a yacht owned by Maria Joao Velosa and Marco Noronha Jardim and sail along the coastline. We pass the rose-pink painted Reid's Palace Hotel, perched high on a cliff. I look back at Funchal Mountain clothed with its jigsaw of corrugated, terracotta-roofed buildings. We sample a bottle or two of Maria and Marco's award-winning wine produced in their Terrabona family vineyard in the north of the island. This couple host private cruise and wine-tasting tours. Maria brings out plates of caprese salad - ripe, juicy vine tomatoes sliced alongside ovals of marshmallow soft mozzarella cheese, and bitter black olives, drizzled with golden olive oil. Then, typical Madeira dishes of mashed cod and beans, slow-roasted tuna in olive oil and a basket of local rustic bread. Will we be able eat dinner this evening? Another glass of wine and we hardly give it another thought.
Madeira wine-tasting and testing is our next endeavour. Blandy's Madeira merchant dynasty was founded two centuries ago by a young Englishman in search of better living. Today the Blandys is best known as the leading shipper of Madeira wine. Michael and Chris Blandy, of the 6th and 7th generations, work in the company and maintain the world’s finest stock of vintage Madeira wines. At a Blandy's Wine Lodge workshop in Funchal, we join others at a long table, where each person is faced with six partially filled wine glasses. We're tasked with tasting the six assorted blends of differing ages, then challenged to concoct one of our own to be judged by the inhouse experts. We pour, we mix, we giggle, we taste, we repeat until the bell rings. The quality is wasted on us and we're almost wasted. Mine isn't a winning selection but I don't care as the brandy in the alcohol content keeps my spirits up.
At dinner one evening, I discover a liking for poncha, the other traditional beverage in Madeira. This one is made with fresh citrus juice, honey or brown sugar and white rum. I ask to try the Pescador version - a fierce concoction of 70 per cent white rum and honey, downed by burly fishermen to keep themselves warm before they set sail to cast their nets at night - but the host just laughs in my face.
Marion Ainge Nov 2021
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