Rhonda: Hi y'all. Today we were up and off the ship to Madeira . We did our first tour offered by the ship. Can't say I would do that again but the tour was ok. It was a lot of people on a big bus. There was not much time at each stop and it was herding old cats to get everyone back on the bus ( and never on time).
Having said that, the city of Funchal is beautiful. We couldn't believe it when our guide said that this is not the pretty time of the year! There are tropical flowers, fruits, bananas, papayas, everywhere and I mean everywhere. Any tiny crevice, with a hint of water, had a wild succulent growing.
Chris: I'm with Rhonda on the big bus thing but man, our bus driver was absolutely amazing. They all are, I guess , or they wouldn't still be alive. We went up into some pretty high mountains with narrow winding roads with sheer drop offs on one side and a stone mountain on the other. It was scary enough when there was no other traffic around us but when we had to pass on-coming traffic it was fascinating from a driving standpoint and really scary from an "I would prefer to stay alive" standpoint. Meeting a car was one thing, now step up to meeting a van, a little trickier. Now here comes another bus, what the hell, let's just put on a driving tightrope with no net show. We thought it was scary on the mountain roads in Cabo Verde, and it was but at least we were in a vehicle that was small enough that I think I could have driven it up the mountain but that big ol bus ? Nope. I think I'd have a better chance of landing a 747. At one point we met another bus and it was too narrow for us to pass so our driver backed up, around a hairpin curve, to a section of road that was a little bit, and I mean little bit, wider. When the other bus passed us they were not a mouse tail width away from us and I have no idea how they did not scrape against the rock wall on the other side. I looked down out our window and couldn't see any road or ground at all, we were right on the edge of the road. It really was amazing driving and having grown up going on the road with my dad in eighteen wheelers I've seen some driving. I gave us a fifty fifty shot of living thru it but I guess if your going to go out, watching something amazing would be the way to do it, but then again if we had gone over the side of the mountain it would have been almost, so close, to amazing driving.
Rhonda: When we got to the top by the skin of our teeth, we got on the most amazing cable car down all the way to the sea. The panaramic views were out of this world and it took about 20 minutes top to bottom. We have been on several on this trip and this one was by far the longest trip in length and in time.
Next up was a winery to taste Madeira wine. Not my favorite. It's too sweet for me but I can see how it would be good with a desert. We, and some other couples, were not ready to go back to the ship so we had the driver stop and let us out in the old town for lunch.
Chris: It was a really cool area, look one way and you see the ocean and the harbor, look the other way and you see mountains and lush vegetation. And on the streets there were sidewalk cafes after sidewalk cafes, just the spot for us, we absolutely love sitting in a sidewalk cafe in another country and just talking and nibbling and drinking and watching life in Portugal as was the case today, pass by. It's such a big part of traveling for us. We love it.
So we were looking at the menu on the street and the guy who seats you who is actually the French word that starts with an M and ends in D that I can't even get close enough to spelling for the spell check to catch and fill it in for me showed us something on the menu and said it was really good and very traditional Portuguese food so we said ok, give us a table outside.
We sat down and a young man brought us menus then came to take our order. He said you must get the goat stew, it's unbelievable. We said the start with M end with D guy said get this traditional beef dish and the waiter said yes, its traditional but you can get it anywhere on the island, we are the only restaurant that has the amazing goat stew, but we want to order the beef and so it went, back and forth. This is probably the only time we will be here so we want the beef. If it's your only time you must have the goat. Finally we said, no, we want the beef. He gave us a bit of a dirty look but said ok. We really couldn't tell if he was playing with us or if he was serious.
Two other groups came in and sat at tables next to us and as time went by he talked and joked with them but not us. We were asking ourselves, are we being punished for not getting the goat ?
So after watching this for awhile I said to him, come over here, come right here. He came and stood next to me and asked, right here ? I pointed right next to me and said here. He pushed me over a bit and sat on the edge of my chair with me and asked, right here ?
I said, you play with those people and you play with those people but not us, are we being punished for not getting the goat ? He smiled and said, oh, you are jealous. And then it was on !
Rhonda : It was on indeed! He was quite funny and full of himself. We talked about how good his English is for having grown up speaking Portuguese. He hangs out with Americans and really speaks it well. But then he said, I want to move to the United States but I am now afraid of getting randomly killed. WHOA. Shot to the heart. That's what people think about America now. That's so sad but I can't argue the point. He said in Funchal there were maybe 2 murders by guns in the last year. How do we possibly defend our country? We can't. Children should not have to learn to play dead. Never. We did really have a good time with him, don't get me wrong. And the food was very good, even though we didn't want the goat stew. The rest of the day/ night was uneventful. Except I swear, someone , lots of them , need to get a good dunking in the pool. I am soooooo over the perfume and cologne. I have a head cold that's going around on the boat and if I can smell you it's way over the top! And tomorrow is a sea day so we have time to write. And be warned..... I have a whole rant on selfies. Yep. It's coming.
Love yall.
Comments