Sunday, December 4, 2011

Madeira

Laura and I honeymooned in Madeira nearly ten years ago. We always thought we'd go back someday, so when we found ourselves only a few hours' flight from Madeira we starting scheming for a vacation there. And, during the boys' week-long break in October we made our return. Ostensibly, this was our ten year anniversary trip. It's actually closer to nine years since our wedding, but it provided a good excuse to totally blow the budget. It's a good thing milestone anniversaries don't come along more often!

Photos follow. I don't think we need a lot of commentary. But, knowing me, I may not be able to hold back.

Relaxing on the balcony with a glass of Madeira after our long flight. (Yes, it is a lot closer than when we were in the US, but it was still 4 hours of flying plus a 90 minute layover.)

What I was looking at.
The hotel did a great job with the kids. These bears were part of a "welcome package" for each child.
They felt really special.

We went to see some caves, but the boys were most interested in the ducks there. And, as you can see, Calvin never let go of his bear once during our stay in Madeira....

Laura's favorite flowers.

The caves. Yes, the boys are out of focus, but if I'd used a flash everything would have been pitch black behind them.

We had to drive over the mountains to get back from the caves.
Can you tell it was really windy up there? Are you sure?

Calvin wouldn't come out of the car.

A beach. Laura is an artiste. Actually, doesn't this look like the front of an album cover?

Man, I wish the kids would always behave like this!

Sorry, I don't know why I included this. Me playing with a polarizing filter on the camera.
I have a lot more if you're interested....
Laura and Elliot sitting close to the water.

Hahaha! A little too close!

The next day we took a cable car up into the hills above Funchal. But, how would we get back down?

We ride these wicker baskets down the streets of Monte. Ernest Hemingway rode these and found them to be exhilarating. A guy who wrote about fighting with bulls. Apparently, he'd never ridden a roller coaster.
On the other hand, a roller coaster doesn't travel down normal streets. Later, when we were going fast enough that these dudes where riding on the back of the basket hurtling down a rain-soaked hill as cars narrowly missed us zooming up the hill? Pretty frightening, actually.
This was the closest thing we saw to a smile from Calvin on this particular day.

We stayed at Reid's Palace, an old British-oriented hotel in Funchal. One of the things it's known for is high tea on its Tea Terrace overlooking the ocean. We weren't sure about bringing the kids to this traditional, semi-formal event. But, the kids club at Reid's announced they'd be taking kids to their own tea in the cocktail bar one afternoon, so Laura and I immediately booked our own grown-up tea reservation!

High tea at Reid's.

Oh! Calvin doesn't look very happy in this picture, either. I think he was having a good time.

Older boy.

The Fun @ Reid's child minders really dressed up!
Random shot up toward the hills from Reid's pool. Beautiful, no?
Every day we hoped to take a hike along the levadas, or irrigation canals, up in the Madeira mountains, and day after day it was too rainy or overcast up in the higher elevations (we generally had sunny warm weather down by the ocean). Finally, on Thursday, we got our chance to take a hike.

These levadas have had maintenance paths that run along side them for years and years. Then, one day someone decided to catalog many of the different routes as potential walks or hikes and the idea took off. Today, one of the most famous activities in Madeira is to go for a "levada walk."

The area on the north side of Madeira where we began our walk.
Early in our walk. Calvin is in a backpack because he's not as good a walker as Elliot and also because we didn't trust him to...well, you'll see.

At the beginning of our walk, these levada paths were wide and were used basically as sidewalks to get to some of these little houses on the side of the hill.

See what I mean? This is practically a boulevard!

Then things got a little bit smaller.

Then, quite a bit more treacherous. See why we wanted Calvin in a backpack?

Okay, this is ridiculous! At least they provided a railing! (Sort of - it was just wire threaded around those poles and I wouldn't let Elliot actually touch it....)
Waterfall across the valley.

I love how Elliot is "explaining" how these work! Anyway, this does two things, moderates the water flow before the levada starts a new course, and catches gunk (leaves, branches, dead animals) that falls in upstream.
 
This goat was not wild. Why someone had a goat in some random enclosure up here I can't figure out.

Looking up the valley toward the interior.


Looking down the valley in the other direction toward the ocean.

I can't remember if this was an overflow to release excess water or a place where a waterfall came down and the levada captured part of the water. If you lean to your right and look to the left of us in the picture, you might be able to tell! ;-)

Taking a little break. Notice these poles are missing the top wire....

It's a good thing our battery died, or I'd treat you to a hundred more pictures of the levada.
Reid's Palace includes a restaurant called Villa Cipriani that is on a cliff right over the water, and we ate there every night but two during our vacation. The service was impeccable. When we went to dinner there the night we arrived the boys were tired because it had been a long day and it was past their bedtime in Switzerland. When one of the waiters saw how tired Calvin was, he went inside and got another chair to slide together with Calvin's and make a sort of bed, and then showed up five minutes later with a wool blanket to lay over him! Talk about service! Anyway, after that night, we were in love with Villa Cipriani.

Laura at dinner on our last night in Madeira.

Elliot and me.

The little man.
 
The whole family with Reid's in the background.
Calvin in his "bed" the first night on my crappy camera phone.
Of course, the thing that really made the vacation great was the pool. We spent most of our time most days hanging around the pool. Calvin liked going to the Fun @ Reid's play area, but Elliot just liked swimming in the warm freshwater pool and playing with parents, new friends, or by himself. I liked catching up on reading. Laura? I think she liked playing with Elliot in the pool best of all. Pool pictures get old fast, but here are a few to show you what we did with most of our time....

The main pool area.

Where were we, again?

Laura playing with Elliot.

Laura playing with Calvin.

I don't know what Laura is doing behind Elliot. Nor do I want to.

Elliot out of the water.

Calvin out of the water.
The pool area was at the top of a cliff 30 meters or so above the water. But, there was also a small salt-water pool and bathing area at the bottom of the cliffs. We did go swimming in the ocean one day, but, alas, no photos!

Madeira is not the easiest place to get to, but it remains the most beautiful island in the world, in my opinion. If you have a chance to go, please do!