Picture heavy fun review - MSC Armonia - Canary Isles and Madeira - incl. DIY trips

[ScrappinCSI]

]

I must admit that I sometimes get annoyed with the fact that my country was always the bad guy … Whereever we go, it was always us who bombarded something (or worse) …. Man, this sucks. Well, you might say get over it -it all happened way in the past … people have learned. Well, today Germany is the third biggest exporting nation when it comes to weapons …. Now that doesn’t seem right after all we screwed up in history, does it? Rant over

 

I feel your pain and grow tired as an American who has for 50 years had to constantly hear how evil my roots and family are. Full well knowing that in war all countries even America, have committed numerous atrocities. All I can say about the plaque is how can a submarine bomb something? Planes bomb, terrorists bomb. Submarines torpedo or perhaps fire a small anemic cannon. Be proud of your countries ability to produce the finest firearms in the world. Far Far better in quality than those produced in my country.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Okay, little side-track from our “magical mystery” explorations.

Apparently the bombing of Funchal and my “anti-selling-weapons” comment (and firm belief) caught some nerve. I realize it’s a fact that the weapon industry is large and profitable. I also realize and honor the fact that most products my country produces are of very high quality. I am very proud of that. However it would make me even more proud to hear that the weapon sales decrease – not because of lack of interest (sadly there is enough of that), but of conscious decisions on if and who to sell them to -- despite the fame of the product’s craftsmanship and the profit to be achieved and the jobs attached.

I really have no clue about the difference between a torpedo and a bomb ... for me it comes down to this: you sent something off to do harm ... it explodes somehow ... that makes it a bomb in my book --- underneith or above the water .... no matter.

Anyway, realizing my lack of knowledge I went back to do a little more research. So here’s the little more detailed version of what happened in the port of Funchal on December 3rd, 1916:

The captain of the German submarine U38 got the order to investigate if there were ships from the enemy in the port of Funchal. Portugal was neutral --- so not an enemy to either side.

Apparently it was not okay for ships from warring nations to enter neutral ports during the war.

When U38 reached Funchal it found three “enemy” ships: The British “Dacia” - a cable-laying ship, the French “Surprise” – a canon boat and the French “Kanguroo” – a transporting vessel. The submarine captain shot three torpedos … and all three ships sank. 34 crewmembers of those ships lost their lives and 7 civilians (fishermen?).

When the submarine left the port under water, it was fired at by the canons stationed on the city walls. About 15 km off the shoreline it surfaced from underneath the waterline and started a 2 hour long “bombardment” of those canon sites until some grenades were thrown over the heads of the canon-crews and finally the shooting on both sides stopped. The submarine sailed back to its base-port of Cartago (today: Kotor).

The same captain sank two civilian passenger ships each with hundreds of souls aboard in the Mediterranean with this submarine one year earlier. The “Ancona” was an Italian ship on the transatlantic route to America and the “Persia” (the most luxurious ocean liner of its time) which frequented the route from England to India.

But remember -- this world has countless beautiful and wondrous places and even if there always will be military quarrels in some parts, the ability and willingness to work together and solve conflicts peacefully surpasses them in number by far. So now please let us end this flashback of a gruesome war and keep on enjoying what this forum is for: cruises and the ports of call they sail to.

 

 

Stef

[ScrappinCSI]

You didn't hit a nerve! My name is Schmidt. I may be an American by birth but as the son of immigrants I'm German in mind and heart. My comment was meant to support your feelings not offend you. Apparently something is lost in translation.....

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

You didn't hit a nerve! My name is Schmidt. I may be an American by birth but as the son of immigrants I'm German in mind and heart. My comment was meant to support your feelings not offend you. Apparently something is lost in translation.....

 

:(I apologize for my temper and for my misunderstanding.

 

:oThank you for trying to support my feelings. I didn't get it -- really think it was a translational thing. Please don't hold a grudge.

 

:rolleyes:Hey and at least this way I found out a lot more about what actually happened that day --- gives the visit of the sight a whole new depth.

 

:oThank you:o!

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

Tell Tanja to just wait until I describe how the United Nations got together in Piedmont to teach me how to pronounce your last name! But that is at the end of the trip....

 

 

Denise

 

 

:confused::confused::confused:

 

... oh you're such a tease!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I am really enjoying your review. Amazing photos and so informative. I know nothing of this part of our world, so this is great. Just beautiful..can't wait for more:)

 

:)happy you're enjoying it ... :ohope I haven't scared everybody away now. I really don't know what got into me ... I blame it on hormones:rolleyes:.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Ribeiro Frio and the trail to Balcoes viewpoint

Watch out while driving on the 103, because if you blink you might miss the tiny village altogether. It really is only a couple of houses in a curve and that’s it. If it weren’t for the gazillion tour busses and incredible masses of tourists roaming along the one and only pathway, which happens to be the 103 itself, we would have driven right past it in the firm believe this couldn’t be it. Sigh.

Before the trip I had read somewhere that the real challenge was not conquering the trail, but finding a parking spot for your rental car. I’ll sign that and add the difficulty of maneuvering around the wildly parking in the middle of the road tourbusses. We only found one little space to sort of park the car in …. It took forever just to maneuver the car into it … and then, when we got out of the car and saw even more tour busses approaching, we were scared one of them might park in a way we’d be blocked or maybe even hit. …Since there was a real unpleasant mass of tourists roaming around already, we spontaneously decided to let it go and keep on driving north to our next sight.

If we WOULD have done the trail, we would have had the possibility to walk along one of Madeira’s famous levadas. Those are small canals filled with water running along more or less wide hiking trails. The canals usually start on the Paul da Serra -- a vast plain high up towards the west of the island, which supposedly resembles the Scottish Highlands, and lead down into all directions and nooks of the island. They have spectacular levadas right along steep cliffs, others with lots of steps and waterfalls and of course this little gem with hardly any difficulty whatsoever … I guess that’s what makes it so popular. The village also had a trout farm to look at and a restaurant/souvenir shop. They had the most gigantic table set up out front with souvenirs for the tourists … mostly woolen stuff.

Here is a collection of photos from my binder … obviously I can’t show you any own pics … but I guess it’s better than nothing and gives you a good first impression.

mix of foreign pictures:

Next up: Calhau and the walk towards the Cais Antigua.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Calhau and the hike to Cais Antigua

Usually it is my part to handle the maps and give directions. I’m usually good at it (unless I’m lost in Venice) … Tanja is always good at driving … so we both have our jobs on these port days and everything works out pretty well.

Sigh.

Remember how I told you about the numerous tight curves and the motion sickness? Well – I stopped reading maps, giving sensible directions or basically just communicating in any way whatsoever about 10 minutes after leaving Ribeiro Frio heading north.

uh-oh.

Tanja knew nothing of the whereabouts of our goal … no roads, no street name or even the name of the town … absolutely nothing! And now something miraculous happened that doesn’t make any sense to me … out of thousands of possibilities – unknowingly she brought me to the exact right spot! All I managed to mumble to her previously was that I needed a restroom URGENTLY and right away (Although I was able to manage not to throw up, my body decided to get rid of things differently – please don’t let me go into detail).

Well – this is how I looked like when we arrived in Calhau:

Yup, I was miserable.

But thankfully to the right of the parking spot after crossing this bridge, there is a public swimming pool with a public café/restaurant and joy over joy -- a restroom!

So Tanja hung out in the café while I hogged the one and only lady’s room. Okay, enough of that now … change of subject … isn’t that a pretty cow in the above picture? Here she is with her little one:

Oh, and this is the pool area … it was way too cold to be used.

Seen from the other direction:

But now let’s get to the reason why we were here in the first place. Calhau is the perfect place to start on an easy, yet thrilling hike to what’s called the Cais Antigua of Sao Jorge.

Here’s an overview:

Let’s start the hike in the next post.

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hike to Cais Antigua

You start off on this ancient stoney road, where you can still see indentations of former carriage-wheels from the past. At the beginning, there are some houses on the left and some of them are still inhabited. We liked this one particularly:

Especially the “Poseidon” fence and the giant cactus were quite cool. The gesture towards the God of the Seas becomes understandable as soon as you cross the street from this place:

Very cool old archway directly leading to the stoney coast.

Lol – had fun placing the camera and running to Tanja --- can’t believe I actually made it on time for the picture.

See? The pool building is way in the back, the pretty house with the cactus on the right and the path towards the gate on the left:

Nature is absolutely stunning here. Wherever you looked you saw either high, rugged mountains with lots of vegetation or the stormy sea with loudly crashing waves. If compared to a river, Madeira (especially the north) sure ain’t a mozying stream in a pretty park … it more resembles a white water canyon adventure. Absolutely wild!

Here’s a path leading inland:

But we stayed on the path along the coastline.

Stay tuned for more trail pictures.

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hike continued

To the right, there are some eerie ruins. But you can also see why this island is called the island of flowers. They are growing wild virtually everywhere – even in ruins along the rugged coast:

Well, in better weather and with a more stable stomach, this would have been a wonderful place for a small picnic.

 

Here the real trail begins:

And those signs are to be taken seriously! When we left Calhau and drove back up the small road to the freeway, we had to maneuver around a rock the size of a horse in the middle of the road, which had NOT been there on our way initially! Gulp. We could have been smashed!

obviously I didn’t know about the horse-rock at this time, however I was a wee bit skeptical about the safety of the trail:

Tanja wasn’t:

Wait for me!!!

Stay tuned!

Stef

[denisey]

It does look like you were better prepared for the weather!

 

I really don't like when there is road confusion! But it seems to be the theme today, that is what I wrote about too...change the names and locations and the story is the same!

 

Denise

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

It does look like you were better prepared for the weather!

 

I really don't like when there is road confusion! But it seems to be the theme today, that is what I wrote about too...change the names and locations and the story is the same!

 

Denise

 

Poor baby! But that chapel picture sure looks stunning. I never heard of it myself, but will make sure to make reservations whenever Tanja and I'll get to Padua. Lol -- and since Italy is our big goal to travel through intensely once we get the caravan, I'm sure we'll check it out sooner or later .... thanks for the tip!

 

:rolleyes: lol -- and I finally found you blog start as well --- gheesh, I would have known about your job right away, if I'd have been a little more thorough in checking for older posts. Sorry about that. What's your kitty's name? Pictures? I think our cats would yell bloody murder if we'd start to travel for a living. You must have a very generous feline queen, if she ONLY gives you a small liturgy once a week:D.

 

Lol -- or maybe BF is doing one heck of a job to keep her amused. Take him out for a romantic dinner -- successfully pleasing an insulted kitty is quite extraordinary and should be rewarded somehow:p.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hike continued

Well, it really is a stunning walk. The only problem was that my innards were still running wild and I had the feeling as if we experienced an earthquake. One of those rolling ones --- at least an 8 on the Richter Scale! My senses completely went bezerk and I had a hard time walking straight or even standing still without falling. I know that the earth didn’t move at all --- but my body didn’t believe my mind. Well, I was brave enough to manage the path for a while … until:

Gulp.

I know it’s only a tiny, harmless bridge … nothing compared to the one we had just crossed in Northern Ireland or the one that would wait for us at the end of this trail … but if your body feels like in the middle of a rollercoaster ride … it’s a different story.

Here’s Tanja, trying to show me it’s safe and easy …

God, it’s so beautiful here – I’d really like to keep on going.

But no ...

...looking at the moving waves finally made me stumble and I figured Tanja wouldn’t be happy to be forced to carry me back all the way if I really fell badly … So we turned around.

Sigh, here’s our proof picture … this is as far as I got:

--- Tanja’s already heading back.

Surprisingly she wasn’t mad at all and in good spirits. I on the other hand had to make a second looong restroom stop at the pool building before I was willing and able to get back into that car. Tanja was my hero, since she agreed to drive a huge detour around the eastern end of the island, so we could stay on the pretty straight freeway all the way back to the port of Funchal. God, I love that woman!

Here’s a collection of pictures from my binder, so you get an idea of what we WOULD have experienced if we had continued the hike:

mix of foreign pictures:

Lol --- no way I would have dared to cross this construction in my given state of dizziness anyway.

Although we didn’t do the complete walk, we enjoyed the half of it tremendously. It is definitely a walk I’d recommend!

Back in port, we had lots of extra time, since we had skipped the Balcoes walk and only did half of the Cais Antigua one … Perfect for me to take a nap and regain some strength … and the ability to think about food again…. Because next up on our itinerary would be High Tea (including snacks) in the Reid’s Hotel … and I would die from shame if I’d end up getting sick on that elegant tea terrace.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

High Tea at the Reid’s Palace Hotel

After a refreshing shower and a nap, we changed into a bit more elegant clothing. We had reservations for the tea terrace of the Reid’s Hotel for 16:30. I really don’t know just HOW early you have to make your reservations …. We booked a month in advance and it worked out perfectly. There is no chance you’ll get a seat without a reservation. Oh, and remember, you HAVE to dress up at least somewhat because t-shirts, shorts or sneakers are a reason not to be admitted to High Tea.

Anyway, let me tell you about the Reid’s Palace Hotel.

It is one of those places, which live-on through their heritage. The Palace Hotel once was THE luxury grand hotel of Madeira. Heads of state, kings and queens stayed here. The list is long and contains many famous names. It is utterly British and still reserved for a well-paying and highly expecting, mostly upper class audience. Well, cough ... we certainly couldn’t afford to get a room here.

… but we saw a documentary on TV once about the still celebrated tradition of High Tea in this hotel. So we vowed: if we’d ever visit Madeira … we would want to experience that …. And now tadahhh. Here we were.

The hotel was built by William Reid, a Scot who came to Madeira in 1836 as a 14 year old kid with no more than 5 pounds Sterling in his pocket and no family. He worked his way up through trading with wine and renting out rooms for the wealthy European tourists. In the beginning of course those rooms were tiny and shabby, but the more money he earned, the bigger and better got the accommodations he offered.

It was his life dream to build THE ultimate luxury grand hotel on the very best spot Funchal has to offer... and he almost lived long enough to actually see it completed. He died only 2 years before the hotel opened its doors in 1891.

Today the hotel has a rather difficult recent past. The electric was old, the plumbing disastrous and much more had to be done … however it proofed to be difficult and extremely expensive to fulfill those repairs without hurting the traditional structure. In the documentary we saw years ago, it was even said that it sadly was close to being shut down. So when we researched Madeira for our cruise, we were more than happy to discover it didn’t close afterall. Let’s check it out shall we?

Here’s a little appetizer from my binder:

 

Mix of foreign pictures:

The hotel is only a couple of minutes away from the port and we parked on the side of the road … they do have their own parking place … but I was afraid it might be valet parking and quite expensive. We preferred to park less glamorously yet for free and just walk across the street.

Here’s the menu:

Lol – and a fun question …. Just how many reflections of me are to be found in this picture? It cracked me up.

Let’s enter, shall we?

The tea terrace is beyond those glass doors in the very back, but you wait to be greeted and escorted in the hall with the shiny chandelier.

Speaking of it …. I really thought the design to be beautiful:

There also was a nice looking fireplace in that room:

And a piano on which actually some nicely dressed gentleman played on while we had our tea. Heavenly!

Almost on the terrace … stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Who's still out there? Feeling a tad lonely:(.

[Wriggler]

Who's still out there? Feeling a tad lonely:(.

 

I'm still here Stef :p

 

Been on our 2 trips and caught up on your posts - loving all of the photos and the review, as always

 

Carol

[spinnaker2]

I am here...waiting for the tea.

You all looked spiffy and ready to enjoy.

Sorry about the hike. Maybe you had a stomach bug?

My fear of heights would never let me cross that construction rickety wooden walkway along the cliffs. No way, no how.

[Shelley61]

Who's still out there? Feeling a tad lonely:(.

 

Me! I'm here! Loving your Madeira trip (though poor you for suffering on the car journey - I'm occasionally prone to travel sickness, and I suspect we'll be doing ship coach trips in Madeira... I've made a mental note to take some travel sickness medication in advance, just in case!).

 

(Love your shoes in your last picture by the way!)

[denisey]

There is no way you'd get me over some of those bridges! That is one of my great fears!

 

But Tea on the Terrace looks like it is going to be a treat! You both looked quite elegant for your tea...the price did make me gulp! But I've added this to my list, if I ever get back to Madeira!

[denisey]

Oh, and I LOVE old historic buildings that they keep going. They have several in the Pacific Northwest that I will take you and Tanja to when you come to visit! (hint! hint! hint!)

[Crabmanstyle]

Still here and enjoying it all! Had a new addition to the family last week-and the weeks before were mayhem!

[denisey]

Still here and enjoying it all! Had a new addition to the family last week-and the weeks before were mayhem!

 

Congrats!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:p thanks everybody --- I needed that. :p

 

 

:) now let us continue...

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

The tea terrace

 

 

We got the most perfect little table for two right at the giant "O" from the H

o

tel Logo outside.

 

What can I say --- the service was extraordinary, we were pampered like royalty. One almost feels like having time-travelled back for two centuries.

 

The menu for all the different teas was looong and each one had a thorough explanation about its taste and specialty. Boy -- I had never read this much about teas before. We are no experts and went for the Reid's blend ... I completely forgot the explanation for that one, but it tasted absolutely divine ... best tea in all of my lifetime ( lol -- which doesn't say toooo much, since I'm more of a coffee drinker).

 

But seriously it was an overwhelmingly tasteful experience. Lol -- I had never had "High Tea" before and was quite nervous I could make a fool of myself ... but I needn't had worried, since I had my wonderful Tanja along. She helped me out in how to pour the tea over the pretty little silver net thingy.

 

The tea was more than excellent, the sandwiches to die for - I could have killed for more of those avocado ones or the salmon ones or .... sigh they all were absolutely wouthwatering.

 

And when we were done with the sandwiches, we got freshly baked Scones. Here's a first - I never tried those before. They were still warm and quite yummy .... although they didn't surpass the incredible sandwiches in my opinion.

 

So the drinks were good, the food also ... what else? Oh yes!

 

The breathtaking view during it all!

 

To the right you look down into a perfectly kept enchanting park (I wonder if you would get access to that if you only do the tea in this hotel instead of being a "real" guest?). In the middle you have a wonderful ocean view with the Islas Desertas peeking through on the horizon. Well, and finally to the left you see a good portion of Funchal.

 

But now enough talk. Here are my pictures taken on the tea terrace. Enjoy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yes, we really enjoyed our High Tea. It was expensive .... but oh so worth it! We'll never forget.

 

We crossed the street, changed shoes (although I do like my "One-of-these-days-I'll-learn-to-Tango-Shoes" I didn't feel like walking onto the sky walk with them) and drove to our last sight for today ... the Cabo Girao sky walk.

 

stay tuned!

 

 

Stef

[bdoster]

High Tea at Reids is a special treat, I agree. The view is spectacular!

 

Love reliving through you! The terrace was closed when we were there to service. I walked out and made pictures...Know you had a perfect spot!

Edited June 4, 2015 by bdoster