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Monday April 18th |
4.30am |
Got up and showered etc. Finished watering the plants and had a light breakfast. |
5.40am |
Taxi arrived to take us down to Wycombe Railway station. |
5.58am |
Train arrived for us to go to Marylebone, and then on to Victoria to get the Gatwick Express which takes 30 minutes
from Victoria. |
7.15am |
Caught the train to Gatwick arriving at the Airport terminus at 7.46 am.
We then walked to the Thomas Cook check-in desk and booked in and deposited our luggage. |
8.00am |
Keith telephoned us to wish us safe journey and happy holiday. |
8.10am |
We had our breakfast at “Frankie & Denny’s”. Full English for Stan and I had scrambled eggs. After we had eaten our meal
we went to the Departure area and through the security checks, Stan was well frisked (must be the beard) |
9.00am |
We waited a short while to find out the departure gate number we needed, which turned out to be Gate 90.
This required a short coach trip to the plane. |
9.30am |
We waited in Departure lounge until asked to board the coach and had a trip around the airport, and then got into the plane. |
10.00am |
We were comfortably settled when the pilot advised us that the plane had to be moved forward as there was a small problem
with reaching the fuel hydrant, so short movement of the plane and then the next coach loads of passengers were allowed to board the aircraft. |
10.35am |
We took off for Maderia, and had a comfortable flight although it was quite warm in the plane. During the journey
we ate our lunch, which we had taken with us (A Huge sandwich called a ‘Tesco Wedge!). |
2.10pm |
We arrived at Funchal Airport and walked across the tarmac to the Airport building.
The airport is alongside the coast. Weather lovely, sunny and warm. |
2.17pm |
We had collected our luggage and located the Thomas Cook representative and were
introduced to our driver who would take us to Funchal and the Hotel Raga. |
2.50pm |
We arrived at the hotel and checked in at Reception. Our room was 908 on the ninth floor! (Good job there was a lift).
The room was very good and a basket of fruit was waiting for us. Whilst we were unpacking and settling in occasionally there appeared to be
a tap on the door. Stan answered the door twice and then we decided the tapping was ‘noises off’ and so ignored the next knock, which became
more persistent and when Stan answered that knock it was the chambermaid with a floral arrangement and a card wishing us a Happy Anniversary.
When we booked the holiday we had told the young man, Scott that the travel vouchers had been a gift to celebrate our golden wedding, which he
had recorded and so we received these lovely flowers.
After a rest on our balcony we went to explore the local area and Stan had a coffee and I had an orange juice. We walked for quite a while
toward the centre of Funchal, down as far as Reids Hotel and then returned to our hotel around 6 o’clock. When we got back to our room we
found a bottle of “Espumante Nouvens” sparkling wine/champagne with” the compliments of the Hotel Raga” sitting in a bucket of ice and some
glasses, so we had a celebratory drink on our balcony. We had a short rest and changed to go down to the Hotel restaurant for our evening meal. |
7.30pm |
We discovered that the hotel restaurant was self service and was very crowded so we decided to go out for our meal.
We chose the La Paella restaurant just a few yards from our hotel. This was a great start to our holiday as the meal and service were excellent.
Stan chose the vegetable and tomato soup and I had melon with ham as starters and then we both had the local speciality, which was Scabbard fish
– house style- that included some shellfish in a tomato sauce. This was served with fresh vegetables and new potatoes absolutely excellent.
Stan had vanilla ice cream and I had mango and pineapple. A superb meal and a great start to the holiday using the euros Keith and Hazel
had given us for a meal whilst we were away. We walked back to the hotel and relaxed on our balcony to digest the meal |
9.30pm |
The moon was shining across the bay and some stars were out. Funchal looked lovely with lights glued to the hillside. |
|
Tuesday 19th April |
8.00am |
We had a good nights sleep and then had our breakfast in the hotel dining room. |
9.20am |
We went to the Thomas Cook presentation at the Monumental Lido Hotel and were advised of the various attractions
and excursions that were available around the island. |
10.15am |
We took a taxi into Funchal to the English church which cost 5 euros and ensured that we got to the correct place,
We looked around the church and took some photographs and then went in search of the English Library which was shown on our map as almost
next door to the church. We were not successful but did climb up to the fort and looked out over the town. |
12.30pm |
Having walked down from the fort we decided to have a snack for lunch at a small café near the English Church.
We asked for a chicken salad, which looked the best possibility of a snack, as there were no sandwiches listed. These turned out to be
very substantial and kept us going for quite a while. |
2.00pm |
We then explored some more streets in the area looking for the English Cemetery, which we eventually located near
to the café where we had our lunch, but the gates were locked. So we could not go in. |
3.30pm |
We walked down to the harbour and saw two cruise liners docked; one was the Queen Elizabeth II and the other the Aida Vito.
We enjoyed a drink and then were ‘ hijacked’ by a man doing a survey for RCI who offered us each a card. Mine won us a free!! Holiday, Stan’s
won him a bottle of champagne which the agent changed to two bottles. In order to collect/gain these prizes we were taken to the Regency Group
office that then transported us to the Regency Hotel for a presentation which lasted about 90 minutes. We were aware that they were trying to
sell holiday apartments or similar but, as we were tired we took the ride as we were assured we would be taken back to our hotel afterwards.
We were taken to the Regency Hotel (very up market) and listened to the presentations etc. We came away having declined the opportunity to
sign up for the Regency club and discounted holidays for three years but we did receive the two bottles of champagne/wine, and a taxi ride back
to the Hotel Raga |
5.40pm |
We returned to our room for a rest on the balcony and enjoyed the view. The sea was very calm. |
6.00pm |
We visited the local supermarket “Pingo Doce” and bought some orange juice and water. We also telephoned Don
Stansbury to wish him Happy Birthday. |
7.30pm |
We went out for our evening meal to the Casa Italia restaurant and had a pizza which we shared. Stan had soup for
a starter and I had a “small” salad. I do not think the word small really features in the vocabulary here. After our meal, which was
very good, we returned to the hotel and Stan watched some football on the TV in our room. |
|
Wednesday 20th April |
7.15am |
Got up and showered and went for breakfast |
8.00am |
After breakfast we decided to take a taxi into the centre of Funchal to explore the shops etc.
We found the local market place, which was amazing! It was absolutely full of fruit & vegetable stalls and loads of flowers as well,
with the local fish market nearby. There were some wicker baskets on display as well. We bought two custard apples after we were given a
taster. We could have tasted everything there I think. We had been trying to get a charger for my mobile telephone without success, as I
did not have the correct adapter for European electrical sockets. We then strolled along to see where the cable car was situated, there were
very long queues, and so we visit a little street market and bought Stan’s many pocketed waistcoat for 10 Euros and then as I did not feel
100% we decided to return to the hotel, collect some other clothes as it had turned a little chilly and book a short trip to Nuns Valley |
12.30pm |
We booked our trip for 3.00pm and then went to the supermarket to buy some lunch which we ate sitting in the little park
area watching lizards enjoying the sunshine and then returned to our hotel for a short while. |
2.30pm |
We went down to “Strawberry World Tours” to board the minibus for our tour up to Eira do Serrado and the “Mihourdho”
(viewing point) 1064m overlooking the hidden valley. We stayed there for about 30 minutes giving everyone a chance to walk up to the viewing
platform and take photographs etc. The scenery was superb and the driver ‘Duarte’ (Edward) was excellent both as a driver and for his knowledge
of the area. We then travelled down into the valley Curral das Freiras and enjoyed tea and cakes – traditional Madeira cake that was very
moist and very sweet and chestnut cake – very good. We also sampled some of the local liqueurs and bought a bottle of the local passion
fruit liqueur. I also bought the “Birds of Paradise” tablecloth for 15 euros as my souvenir. We returned back to Funchal via another
viewing point at Pico dos Barcelos and arrived back at the Lido area at 6.05 pm, having had a wonderful trip. Stan booked another trip a
whole day tour of the East of the Island for the Friday also with Strawberry Tours. |
6.16pm |
We returned to the hotel and had one of our custard apples between us. Having rested we then washed and changed
and went out for our evening meal. We ate at a restaurant west of the hotel called Sol Y Mar. We both had grilled scabbard fish and
vegetables. It was very good. As we walked back to the hotel we discovered another Pingo supermarket where we bought water and coca-cola |
|
Thursday 21st April |
8.00am |
We had our breakfast and then prepared to go to Funchal town centre |
9.45am |
We went in by taxi to the centre and then walked/ climbed to the English cemetery. It was closed but we were fortunate
to catch the eye of the gardener who was inside watering the plants and flowers and he let us enter. We had a good look around the graves
and headstones and managed to make a few notes and took some photographs. One of the inscriptions, which we felt, was worth noting was
one commemorating a lady who made her life very worthwhile, and who was brought back to Madeira to be buried with her parents.
The inscription read as follows: -
|
|
Adolphus Lindon
Archdeacon of the Madeira
And Canary Islands
1st Feb 1853
20 Sept 1907
And his wife
Laure Hellene Lindon
Nee Mieg
Born May 21st 1847
Died December 21st 1914
Their daughter
Elia Alice Madeleine Monier-Vinard
Croix de Guerre
avec Palmes 1914 –18
French Resistance 1940-44
Born 17 December 1884
Died 7 April 1958
|
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We then left and had a drink at the café we first visited on Tuesday and then went to visit the Municipal Museum.
Unfortunately, this was closed for refurbishment. We then strolled around Funchal for a while looking at the shops and still trying
to get a telephone charger. I had felt it would be easier to ask for a charger than try to explain that I wanted an adaptor.
We then walked to the cable car station “Telefericos da Madeirias” and purchased return tickets and went up to Monte on the cable car
– 12 minutes ride and all very interesting and quite high. A photographer took our photo as we started the journey up to Monte. |
12.10pm |
We arrived at the top in Monte and bought the photograph of us which was offered at the top for 5 euros
(very clever salesmanship) quite good of us both. We walked through some very attractive gardens and then arrived at the village square.
We visited the “Alto Monte” café and had drink and tuna sandwiches – very good. |
1.00pm |
We strolled around the village and then decided to visit the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens -Jardim Tropical
Monte Palace. They were very large and very interesting, and I am sure we did not explore all of the parts, but all fascinating and very steep. |
3.15pm |
We got back onto the cable car and returned to Funchal where we explored some more of the city including the
Institute of Embroidery exhibition and sales rooms. There were some very lovely tablecloths etc for sale all very tempting. We also
visited Casa du Turiste - The Famous Shop -, which was also very good and had lovely embroidery in it as well. We also had a drink and
a piece of cake each. |
5.30pm |
We took a taxi back to the hotel and prepared to go out for our evening meal. |
7.30pm |
We ate at the Coffee Shop Café attached to the hotel and then returned to the hotel
to prepare for our trip around the east of the island on Friday. |
|
Friday 22nd April |
|
The knocking woke us both at 4.00 am and then we dozed until 7.00 am when we got up for an early
breakfast in order to get to the coach in good time. The ‘Best of the East’ tour started at 9.00 am from the Monumental Lido Hotel.
This trip took us through several of the villages including Camacha, where we visited the wicker factory and saw the men weaving
baskets and garden furniture etc. We then went up to Pico Arieiro, which is the third highest mountain -1810 m –, and then down again
to The Cold River – Ribeiro Frio – where there was a trout farm. We walked round the trout farm and then explored a small section of
the start of the Levada, which went from Ribeiro Frio to Portela. We had a very welcome coffee and then the coach moved on to Santana. |
1.15pm |
We arrived at Santana, where we stopped for lunch. We had a very pleasant lunch at the Hotel Colmo and then
explored the village. We photographed some of flowers, which included Proteus and Strelitzia better known as ‘ Bird of Paradise’ and
the thatched houses. We next visited Faisal, Portela, Ponta de São Lourenço which was the furthest east point of the island where we saw the
building of the new port especially for freighter traffic to release the port at Funchal to be able to take more leisure cruisers and then on to
Santa Cruz and under the airport runway seeing the new structure from the road below and back to Funchal and the coach stopped outside the
Strawberry Tours offices near the Monumental Lido Hotel. |
5.00pm |
We returned to our hotel and enquired of the receptionist as to where we could get an adaptor for my telephone
charger and we were directed to an electrical shop in the road running along the back of the hotel. We went up to our room for a freshen up
and found a gift of Ferrero Rocher chocolates and a Thomas Cook travel bag and card wishing us “Happy Anniversary” from the Thomas Cook
representative Tess.
We then went out and explored the back road for a while and then got further directions and found the shop and purchased an adaptor.
We then went back to the hotel and put my mobile phone on charge and promptly received two messages. We then changed and went out for
our evening meal. |
7.30pm |
We ate at the Premier Restaurant also in the road behind the hotel. Stan
had soup and I had a salad and then we both had grilled sea bass followed by fruit salad and tea & coffee.
All very good and not too expensive and then we returned to our room. We tried to telephone Hazel to wish her mum Happy Party
but could not get through. We wrote the last of our postcards and addressed the envelopes, by using envelopes to send the cards we hoped
they would get back to England either before we did or at least soon after our return. |
|
Saturday 23rd April |
8.00am |
We had our breakfast and then went to the Thomas Cook Service Centre near the hotel to see
if they knew of the English Library which we had not yet found, before we went into Funchal. We purchased the walking
map in the Eden Mar shopping mall on our way to the Thomas Cook Centre. Unfortunately there did not seem to be any information
on the English Library. |
9.30am |
We arrived in Funchal and walked up to road where the English Church was situated, just in case there
was anyone at the church who could help us in our search for the library. Stan checked again at the building further up the road
in case that was open and was the Library building, - it was not open and so we went to visit the Church again. As we approached
the church, a door on the ground floor of the Parsonage building was open, and glancing inside we saw a gentleman sitting at a desk
with rows of books on shelves behind him. This proved to be a Mr John Grant and he was sitting in the library. Success we had found it!!!
We talked to him for some time and he searched in some of the rubbings of old headstones that had been taken and some other records to see
if he could find anything that could be of use to us. He advised us that he was probably the only person interested in family history and
most of the records were at his home. He gave us his personal details on one of the “Able Labels” and suggested we telephone him at 1 o’clock
after he had searched the records he had at home for Smiths. |
10.30am |
We walked back down to the centre of Funchal and had a drink in the flower gardens café and then went to buy
a few souvenirs to take home. We did not go into the Flower Market, as it was very busy, heaving with people and very hot. We wandered
down to the harbour and saw the P & O cruiser “Oceaniana “ was docked alongside with the Mytravel “Carousel” both of which had come in
earlier in the morning. We then went to “Casa da Touriste” – The Famous Shop – and bought the two embroidered bread roll holders and
then walked up to the “Christopher Columbus “ gardens and enjoyed the flowers and trees etc. |
1.00pm |
We telephoned Mr Grant and he gave me all the Smith information he had managed to locate in his records
which I recorded in the back of our book Portuguese phase Book – 13 records in all- caused a queue at the telephone booth! Having
recorded all that information we walked back up to the park for a drink at the café. |
2.30pm |
We returned to the hotel and went to our room to sit on the balcony for “champagne” and biscuits and fruit.
The wine was one of those given to us by the Regency Holiday club people. |
3.00pm |
Stan went to see if he could find the levada marked on our map that we could use to walk along to Câmera
de Lobos on Sunday whilst I had a rest. |
4.15pm |
Stan returned having walked a considerable way, but felt that the levade was now a major road. |
6.00pm |
We washed and changed and went out for the evening meal and also to purchase some Madeiran wine and liqueurs |
7.15pm |
We decided to have pizzas at the Casa Italia and I ordered a “Bambino” and a half salad, both large in my
estimation, however very enjoyable. After the meal we purchased some Madeiran wine and some Ponchas – the local liqueur and returned
to the hotel |
|
Sunday 24th April |
|
Our last day in Madeira. We had breakfast as usual and then prepared for the days activities. |
9.15am |
We started our walk to Câmera de Lobos which is west of the lido area where our hotel is situated.
We walked along the road, as the levada was no longer there. The weather was good, not too hot and with a slight breeze.
We walked steadily admiring the houses and views and banana orchards and saw one garden laid out to grow tomatoes. It was approximately
4 km and we arrived at 11.30 am. There was a sort of regatta taking place in the harbour which involved one person gliding across the
harbour on an aerial runway as far as they could, they then dropped into the sea or into a boat and had to swim to the far quayside, climb
up the steps and then run back to the centre area where they took their turn to paddle canoes out towards the harbour mouth go around a boat
and back to the shore. We believe it was a timed event all very energetic but the competitors seemed to be enjoying themselves. We walked on
around the harbour and explored the town a little. |
11.30am |
We visited a café/ bar and had a drink and then walked further into the town. After exploring the streets,
we walked up another road and found “Churchill’s Restaurant and café”. This was situated where Sir Winston Churchill used to sit and paint
some of his watercolour scenes. It was one of his favourite locations. We had our lunch here, cold drinks, very welcome and toasted sandwiches.
Stan selected cheese and tomato and I had tuna fish. They were excellent and we enjoyed the scenery and watched some people hang-gliding from
Cabo Girão at 580m (1900 ft), which is reckoned to be the world’s second highest cliff. |
1.30pm |
We took some photographs of the restaurant and took a taxi back into Funchal, which was really very quiet
as it was Sunday and most shops were closed which made exploring quite easy. We sat on the harbour front for a while and enjoyed the
sunshine whilst watching some ships manoeuvring in the water. |
3.00pm |
We wandered along the harbour and stopped for a drink and a slice of coffee walnut cake, We then
strolled back up to the square and returned to the hotel by taxi. We visited some of the souvenir shops near to the hotel and
purchased a few items and then returned to our hotel room to get ready for our evening meal |
7.30pm |
We went to La Paella for the last evening meal of our holiday because we liked it so much, and both of us
had the scabbard fish with banana. It was absolutely delicious. Apparently this is the traditional Madeiran way to eat scabbard fish.
We also had Tiramisu for dessert. As always we were greeted with a small glass of Madeira wine to start the meal. |
9.30pm |
We returned to the hotel and watched the TV and also sat on our balcony and enjoyed the evening. |
|
Monday 25th April |
7.30am |
The weather is glorious and Carol phoned to check which terminal we would be landing at when we arrived
at Gatwick and to confirm that she was picking us up from the airport- so we would not have to walk home! Keith telephoned to advise us
that he had put the heating on and to say it was raining hard at home in England. We had our breakfast and sat on the balcony as usual
and then went down to the supermarket to get some food to eat during the flight home. |
10.00am |
Returned to our hotel room and packed our luggage and then left a tip and a bottle of wine (the second of the
two we won) for the chambermaid with a note saying “ For you & many thanks “ |
11.20am |
We checked in our key and reclaimed our passports and then talked to Tess - The Thomas Cook
representative and told her we had found the library next to the church and then rested in reception until 12.30 when the
mini-bus arrived to take us to the airport. |
12.30pm |
The mini-bus picked us up from our hotel and then went to the Monumental Lido Hotel to pick up
2 more people and then on to the Tivoli Ocean Park for a further couple and then we were on our way to the airport at 12.50 pm. |
1.15pm |
We arrived at the airport and checked in our luggage and then looked around the airport for a café which
was not successful but we did buy a packet of “Birds of paradise” flower seeds. |
2.00pm |
We went through to the boarding gate area by presenting our tickets and going up more stairs to the second floor.
We were boarding at gate 3 and so waited to go through to the departure lounge |
2.30pm |
We went to the departure lounge and waited to be called for the flight. |
2.50pm |
We presented our tickets and then walked out into the lovely sunshine to board the
Our tickets were row 28 A & B near the tail end and so we boarded the plane (an Airbus 320) at the rear and settled down
for the flight home. As always there was not too much legroom. It was a smooth flight until nearing Gatwick when it got a
little bumpy. The weather was much colder and it had been raining. |
6.45pm |
We landed right on time and disembarked. I phoned Carol on her mobile to let her know we
were going into the baggage hall. Having collected our luggage we walked through the Customs Hall and saw Carol waiting for us. |
7.15pm |
We started the last part of our journey home in the luxury of Carol’s car. It was drizzling and sometimes
raining quite hard. We were back in England! |
8.35pm |
We arrived home and having thanked Carol for collecting us from the airport, we put the kettle on
for a welcome cup of tea. |
