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Wednesday, 19 April 2023

Madeira (2): Mercado and Monte Palace Gardens

Not to Mention a Walk and a Cable Car Ride

Brief Intro


Portugal
Madeira
Madeira, as you probably know, is a Portuguese Island in the Atlantic, 1,000km south west of Lisbon and 700km west of the Moroccan coast. It measures 50km from east to west, 20km from north to south and rises to 1,861m (6,106 ft) at Pico Ruivo. It has 250,000 permanent inhabitants, half of whom live in the capital, Funchal. Our hotel was in the Lido district, 40 minutes' walk along the coast west of central Funchal.

Madeira

Having mapped out our week yesterday in consultation the tour company rep, we started by making our way into central Funchal. Buses are plentiful and taxis inexpensive, but it was a pleasant morning, so we walked.

Walking into Funchal

We made this 3km walk most days we were in Madeira. It takes under 40 mins and as urban walks go is relatively undisturbed by traffic. It also passes several parks and open spaces and, apart from the gentle slope down to Funchal centre, is largely flat. The photographs were taken at various times over the week.

Some of the local architecture is interesting, one building cannot decide whether it is an apartment block or a cruise liner.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Funchal's finest

Reid’s Palace Hotel

A little further on we passed the more traditional bulk of Reid’s Palace Hotel. Opened in 1891 it was Madeira’s first luxury hotel and is now a Belmond Hotel, part of the Louis Vuitton empire. Previous guests include Albert Schweitzer, George Bernard Shaw, a clutch of British Prime ministers (Lloyd George, Churchill, Eden), actors (Roger Moore, Gregory Peck) and a military dictator (Fulgencio Battista) – see my Cuba posts, particularly Viñales to Trinidad de Cuba.

Reid's Hotel, Funchal

William Reid was the son of a Scottish crofter who came to Madeira in 1836 full of entrepreneurial spirit. He died before his hotel was finished but his sons, William and Alfred, completed his project. Old photographs show it standing alone, almost on the cliff top, but although it has been swallowed by Funchal’s gentle urban sprawl, it still has a sizeable botanical garden, boasts traditional British décor and serves afternoon tea on the terrace. Pity about the missing apostrophe, though.

If you drop in for coffee, there is no café as such and on inquiring you might be told with polite condescension that they are too busy with their own guests to deal with you. I knew I should not have worn my ‘eat the rich’ tea shirt.

Kapok, Savoy Palace and Jacarandas

A little further along after Estrada Monumental runs into Avenue do Infante, the road crosses a ravine.

Ravine below the Av do Infante

Growing from the ravine bottom is a large tree of the Ceba/Kapok family.

Kapok, Funchal

200m further on, the Savoy Palace Hotel is appropriately grand, and the two men outside in pink tail suits and pink top hats stand out as the management would. no doubt, would wish

Savoy Palace Hotel, Funchal

The Avenue do Infante is a true avenue, being lined with jacarandas.

Avenue do Infante, Funchal

They were in flower at the start of our week, but the longer we stayed the finer they became.

A Jacaranda near its peak, Funchal

Eventually Av do Infante drops down….

The Avenue do Infante descends to the city centre

….to a rare example of a roundabout worth a photograph.

Rotunda do Infante António Duarte, Funchal

Beyond is the semi-pedestrianised street with the Café do Teatro where we frequently had a lunchtime beer, and twice lunchtime limpets.

Av Arriago and the Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias

This road ends at the Cathedral (previous post).

Mercado dos Lavradores

The Farmers’ Market, a couple of hundred metres beyond the cathedral, is not particularly old. Built in Estado Novo style (or so I read) the market was opened in 1940. This is not promising as Estado Novo was the dismal, dictatorial regime forced upon Portugal from 1932 to 1970 by António de Oliveira Salazar. Early Estado Novo architecture was pretty much Art Deco, which describes the Mercado well enough. If you can imagine a two-storey Art Deco building on a corner plot, then my lack of a photograph will be no problem.

The market is stuffed full of locally produced fruit and flowers and locally caught fish. According to VisitMadeira It can be defined as a living museum where the freshness, vivacity and tropicality of the archipelago's flavours take centre stage – a word salad resulting from going over the top in someone else's language.

Fruit and Veg, Funchal Market

Madeira is not a tropical island (Funchal is 9° too far north) but locally grown tropical fruit, papaya, passion fruit, pineapple, custard apple, bananas, dragon fruit and more can be found in the market. Madeira’s topology does not allow for bulk production, but there is enough for local needs.

Fruit with a large bowl of little bananas in the centre, Funchal Market

At the back is the fish market. Fish markets tend to open early and it was winding down by the time we arrived but there were still plenty of black scabbard fish. This evil looking beast thrives in the deep water around Madeira, and appears on most restaurant menus (see Madeira: Eating and Drinking)

Black Scabbard Fish, Funchal Market

There were also some huge tuna.

Tuna, Funchal Market

Upstairs in the touristy bit I was talked into buying more dried figs than anyone could really need. Lynne was annoyed with me, with some justification, but she was wrong when she said that they would be rotten by the time we went home and we would just dump them. Dried figs last as long as you can keep your hands off them, the survivors went home and contributed to meat dishes, desserts and nibbles. There was no wastage.

Monte Palace Cable Car

The Monte Palace Tropical Garden sits on the hill above Funchal. It is a must see for every visitor, and a number 22 bus will take your there from central Funchal in 25 minutes.

But who goes by bus? Just behind the market is the cable car station and for several times the bus fare you can swing elegantly up the mountainside and enjoy the views. This is what tourist do, so we did it.

Having bought our tickets from the travel company rep yesterday we walked past the long queue at the ticket office, straight onto the cable car and were away.

We're away, Funchal Cable Car

I left my Heart in San Francisco was written in 1953 by then amateur songwriters George C Cory (music) and Douglass Cross (words). It was not a success until Tony Bennett recorded it as B-side in 1962 and it soon became his signature tune. I first heard it on Juke Box Jury, in the early the 1960s, though it was not the song, and Tony Bennett was not the singer to appeal to a lad in his early teens….

Up the valley, Funchal cable car

…or to this grumpy old git, but I have always preferred words to music and one line stuck in my head: to be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars. I had been on cable cars up mountains in Switzerland, and having no mental picture of San Francisco, I thought he was singing about that sort of cable car.

There are no cruise ships in at the moment - keeps the queues down

Reality dawned much later, but (fortunately) before we visited San Francisco in 1984. Being hauled up a hill in an antique tramcar clamped to a moving under-street cable was simultaneously the highlight of that day and a huge disappointment. ‘Halfway to the stars’? Mr Cross, you should have your poetic licence endorsed for that – 6 points at least! Now, please remove your earworm from my head.

We have arrived, walking to Monte Palace Gardens, Funchal

This digression nicely fills in the spaces between the photographs, but has nothing to do with Madeira.

The Monte Palace Tropical Gardens

Brief History

In the 18th century Charles Murray, the British Consul, bought a property near Monte in the hills above Funchal and created the Quinta do Prazer, the first of many fine estates in these hills. In 1897, Alfredo Guilherme Rodrigues bought the Quinta and built a residence inspired by the Rhineland palaces, later converting it into the "Monte Palace Hotel". Rodrigues died in 1947, his family closed the hotel and the estate passed to a financial institution. In 1987 José Manuel Rodrigues Berardo bought the estate and re-established the gardens to include exhibitions spaces as well as exotic plants and Madeira natives. He laid out tiled paths and remodelled the streams, lakes and bridges.

The Gardens

The entrance to the garden is across the road from the cable car station. The garden covers 70,000 m², sloping downwards all the way. We paused frequently on the way down, and less often during the ascent. Although I like a good garden, I know very little about horticulture – as will became obvious.

Before the flowers we had a look at the impressive mineral collection, in their own way as beautiful as the flowers.

Just part of the impressive Monte Palace mineral collection

We started with a brief Shakespearean moment...

But Soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

...then started our descent.

Down towards the flowers

We soon reached the Chinese garden...

Down to the Chinese Garden, Monte Palace Gardens

...with its line of guardians...

Chinese guardians

...and impressive water features. Here is one...

Water feature, Japanese Garden, Monte Palace

...and here is another...

Another water feature

....and some bright red flowers. Please let me know if you can identify them.

Spectacular flowers, anybody know what they are?

Then it is down to the Japanese Garden...

Down to the Japanese Garden, Monte Palace Gardens

...and more spectacular but as yet unidentified red flowers. The Chinese regard red as an omen of good luck.

More as yet spectacular but unidentified flowers, Monte Palace Gardens

In the Japanese garden...

Japanese Garden, Monte Palace Gardens

...with more spectacular red flowers. I can identify these as fuchias though they are bigger and showier than the fuchsias in our garden.

Fuchsias, Monte Palace Gardens

Through the bamboo...

Bamboo, Monte Palace Gardens

...and we arrive at the Mont Palace itself.

Monte Palace

Then we retraced our steps back to the top. On the way down we had somehow missed the flamingos. I thought they were models until, as I passed close to the pond, one of them stretched outs neck and looked at me. It did not look impressed.

Flamingos, Monte Palace Gardens

And Down Again


Madeira toboggan
One way to descend is by the traditional Madeira toboggan, a wicker chair on two large wooden runners piloted downhill by two appropriately dressed men (carreiros) at speeds of up to 30kph. It might be fun but we did not do it. For a start a shortish ride costs €30 for two, and secondly it does not go all the way down, you still have to take a bus down into Funchal – or back up to the start if you have return ticket on the cable car. I have borrowed a publicity still from VisitMadiera, it is their copyright, but I am providing free advertising and making no money myself, so I rely on their goodwill.

The runners (malhares) are greased – traditionally with tallow – and we later saw old films of horse-drawn vehicles in the flat part of central Funchal with malhares rather than wheels.

We had return tickets on the cable car….

Down into Funchal

… and having descended we repaired to the tables outside the Café do Teatro. Lunchtime had passed and we did not feel like eating, but a beer seemed a good idea. Then we walked back to our hotel to spend what was left of the afternoon in indolence.

In the evening we dined on squid and wrasse – see Madeira: Eating and Drinking for this and more local food.

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