Madeira - Part III

Madeira is a truly beautiful place, geologically part of Africa but culturally part of Europe, a volcanic island around 200 miles off the coast of Morocco it's a little green haven in a vast sea of azure blue. There are many microclimates here, the North side gets the rain and the South side plenty of sunshine, in the West there are big Atlantic rollers beloved by surfers and in the East the only piece of land flat enough to host an airport. It's only 286 square miles, which is about the size of Anglesey in Wales but it seems like every square inch of the place is producing some kind of crop or other, from bananas to grapes or sugar cane and as can be seen in the picture above the mountainous terrain is extensively terraced and subdivided into smallholdings.

One of the days we were there we took a boat trip along the South West coast of the island and luckily spotted a whole pod of Bottlenose Dolphins and a rather huge Bryde's Whale ambling along, amazing views. On the way back to Funchal port we passed the little fishing village that Winston Churchill spent a lot of  time painting in the 50s, called Câmara de Lobos it's a quaint place where last year we had a splendid lunch, fish as fresh as it could be and a delicious local white wine. The picture below shows Winston's go at painting the place, it's totally recognisable although there are obviously a few more buildings these days.

We were all sad to leave the island and head back to a drizzly and grey Gatwick, although from chatter on the plane on the way home I suspect it will be more an "au revoir" rather than a goodbye, until next time! 

Madeira - Part II

While in Funchal, Madeira last week we paid a visit to our favourite little bar in town, the beers were up to scratch and the mexican inspired food on point, pictured above is a tasty West Coast IPA from Spanish brewers Garage (Barcelona) if only we had a venue with a similar offering in our home town.

The hotel we stayed in had some old photographs on the wall, apparently back in the 50s the geezer above visited the place, he knew the family that owned the establishment and came here to Madeira a couple of times to partake in his hobby of oil painting. There's quite a bit of Churchill memorabilia around the place, a nice little money spinner for the locals!

There are some exotic looking plants on the island, I snapped the ones above while walking around the hotel gardens, interestingly the same flower is depicted on some of the chinaware used in the hotel, tea pots and saucers etc.. No idea what it's called but it certainly looks the part!

Madeira - Rematch

Just got back from a relaxing week in Madeira (see above) we went here last year in May and enjoyed it so much that we decided that we must return! This time I took my Mother with us as a late treat for her 80th birthday last year, she's into gardens and gardening and so this was like a paradise for her, warm but not hot with flowers and interesting plants springing from every nook and cranny. The picture above was taken from a lookout spot at the top of a very tall sea cliff on the South side of the island, the cliffs are among the tallest in Europe and there's a glass floor to an overhanging viewing platform which is perched 580 meters (1900 ft) above the Atlantic ocean, not somewhere you'd want to be if you are in anyway afraid of heights! Below is the view looking down at my feet..

Heat Wave White

We cracked open one of my new bottles of Verget Saint-Veran Lieu (Inter)dit last weekend, it was delicious, great balance, white fruits, creamy and long, the perfect garden wine for the heat wave we've been having in the UK this last week or two.

Friday Smirk

I bet not many people can remember the "Danish Cartoon" incident back in 2005 but it was a massive red flag warning to the "West" about what was to come from Islamist extremists (and many other kinds of extremists) 

It's relatively easy to whip up a frenzy of "offence" and then to target that toward violence when people are largely ignorant (i.e. uneducated) and feeling oppressed, we see this kind of thing all over the place nowadays! Isn't it ironic that since 2005 the "violent mob" strategy, from frothing (Islamic) flag burners to gun toting (Christian) abortion clinic botherers, seems to be just the default way politics gets done these days.

Virtual Queuing

Hanging out in London Bridge/Borough the other weekend and for lunch we popped into one of my favourite little restaurants there, Padella. It's a pasta joint really and makes all of their own onsite (you can watch them doing it) so you know it's fresh! You can't reserve a table here and the queue is usually long, the best way to secure a place is to go into their "virtual queue" online and grab a time slot, it's a little rough and ready but usually works out ok. The turnover here is fast and the whole experience is designed to be in and out, which when you're having a quick lunch or going to the theatre is perfect! The menu doesn't change much, which in some ways is good since you find your favourite and stick with it, I usually go for the beef shin ragu but can sometimes be tempted by the Dorset crab Tagliarini, a glass of Chianti or a beer from Bristol maestros Wiper and True goes down a treat with a solid plate of pasta, recommended! 

Flat White Aliens

We were having a coffee in Gails in Windsor the other week and I noticed a little plaque on the wall (see picture above) Apparently HG Wells the famous Science Fiction author used to work in the same building, obvious not serving up Flat Whites, but as a draper's apprentice in 1880! It's quite a leap from drapers apprentice to science fiction writing, I wonder what inspired him to do that? It's amazing the amount of history that surrounds us every day on our little island!

Midweek Mirth