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

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

What a lovely review, gives me a full flashback from our great cruise on the MSC Armonia in January. I loved the food onboard:)

[laurieal]

I'm very happy I found your review. Your pictures are lovely, it looks like you and Tanja are having a fantastic time, and I love DIY travelling.

 

However, the number one reason why I'm glad I found this review is because it led me to your Serenade review and some of those ports are very relevant to my interests. I'm heading over there right now :)

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

What a lovely review, gives me a full flashback from our great cruise on the MSC Armonia in January. I loved the food onboard:)

 

Lol -- it's for that "full flashback" feeling of the cruise I'm writing this entire thing:D. Glad you like it too and it reminds you of your own cruise:).

 

:o It helps to keep the longing of the sea down while we're on dry land, doesn't it?

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I'm very happy I found your review. Your pictures are lovely, it looks like you and Tanja are having a fantastic time, and I love DIY travelling.

 

However, the number one reason why I'm glad I found this review is because it led me to your Serenade review and some of those ports are very relevant to my interests. I'm heading over there right now :)

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences!

 

 

well, welcome to the review :). Always happy to share experiences with other DIY travellers! Looking forward to your questions on the Serenade review (if you have any).

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dailies fay four --- madeira day one

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Msc Excursions for Madeira (both days) and an overview of our own itinerary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see. there is no yellow line to Curral das Freias ... the yellow lines show the car routes, which we actually drove. I'm sorry to say we didn't get to visit that particular sight ... too many other things ... too few time. Sigh. But let's start with the port of Funchal, shall we?

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Madeira – port of Funchal

When we woke up on Tuesday and went for a coffee around 6:30 a.m., we were VERY surprised to see we were already anchored in Funchal. The ship was supposed to arrive in port no sooner than 9:00 a.m. Bummer, we missed the arrival …. But yay as well --- almost 2 more hours in Madeira!

Too bad, that we had an appointment with the car rental place to pick us up at the port no sooner than 9:00. Oh well, we were too giddy to remain onboard for that much longer and decided to take a sneak preview on foot.

When you get off the boat and through the port building, you get spit out next to a loooong wall with countless paintings of all the ships which have ever anchored here. I knew this is a tradition for tiny sail boats, which anchor at Faial Island, Azores…. Because if you don’t draw a picture saying who you are …. Very bad luck indeed …. And I’m sure nobody would want that who’d still have quite a distance to sail on the Atlantic Ocean in a nutshell. So virtually everybody does it. Period.

But I didn’t know this counts for Madeira and for all the huge cruise ships, Navy ships, expedition ships etc as well. You call ‘em, they’re here. Royal Caribbean, Holland America Line, Sea Cloud ( I and II), MSC, Princess, Aida, Tui, Costa …. The list is endless. But the very first painting you see when you exit the port building is this:

Lol --- I knew cruisers easily confuse the weekdays …. But the phenomenon of not knowing in WHICH PORT you are currently at is quite new to me.

Even the beautiful Gorch Fock was here. She’s the magnificent training-Windjammer of the German Navy.

To show you more wall-paintings would take too long, so let’s continue with a step to the right … and tadaahhh you are met by the largest amount of taxis I have yet encountered in a port.

They offer everything … single trips, various sightseeing drives and even spontaneous full day island tours. Especially given the conditions of some of the back-roads and the multiple bizarre traffic rituals …. Definitely worth considering as an alternative to hiring a rental car … but more about that later.

To leave the port on foot you just walk past all these taxis and through the tunnel seen in the back of the picture.

This is the tunnel seen from the other side.

The ship in the middle is the ferry to Porto Santo, an island next to Madeira. It leaves at 8:00 every day and it’s easily distinguishable from all other boats, since it has a giant picture of a seal on both sides (quite cute one, actually). Porto Santo is quite unknown, but has beautiful white sandy beaches. So if you think you’ve seen it all, why not hop on the ferry and check out a hardly known island? Just keep in mind that it won’t regularly return until 20:30 in the evenings … so check your all aboard times ahead of times to see if it is possible for your day in port.

To the left of the ferry you see the Santa Maria --- YES the one that Columbus sailed on to the new world! Okay it’s not the original one, but an exact copy! You can book 3 hour tours on her to the coast at Cabo Girao with a stop for swimming… quite fun in the summertime I’m sure. She leaves at 10:30 and 13:30 every day.

Behind the Santa Maria you can see an Aida cruiseship, which was in port today as well.

One of the wonderful things about docking overnight was the views of the ship and the city at night:

more to come...

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

... But even during the day, we loved this view:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lol, the nightly atmosphere was spectacular though!

 

And being in port for so long gives you a chance to see so much more … like this guy not walking his dog but this fella:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here it flies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if you think handling birds of prey is a guy thing …. Think again:

 

 

 

 

This lady “walked” him on our second day in port and was nice enough to halt for us to shoot a picture. Thank you!!!!!!

 

And last but not least an overview picture of the port as seen from the back-end of our ship:

See the rock with the tunnel through it ? … and the second one behind it? Well, that second one is something special --- actually it sort of is its own country with a constitutional monarchy … but I’ll tell you that story in the next post.

Straight above the second rock, you can see a pink old fashioned hotel sitting on the cliff … that is the famous Reid’s hotel. We’ll cover that later on as well.

Stay tuned.

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hi!

 

:osorry, but we have family over for the week and I won't have enough time to continue the review during that time:(:eek::(. Don't worry -- I haven't abandoned you ... just need to take this week off. Will be back though --- promise:cool:!

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Principality of Pontinha – the semi-sovereign rock in the port of Funchal

When Tanja and I strolled to the exit of the port first thing early in the morning, we saw some steps to the left, leading up to this rock… and I thought: Let’s head up there to check out the view. Little did we know then that we were about to enter a separate and itsy-bitsy small country in doing so. Well, we didn’t truly enter … the state boundaries (aka the front gate) was still closed this early in the day.

I guess the king likes to sleep in. But his feline decipels were already up and awake:

The principality has a human population of 4 … but we counted at least 11 cats. All proudly wore a collar in the country’s official bright green color. They roamed around Madeira, Portugal as freely as Fort Saint Jose, Pontinha (lol – which is the house on the rock aka capital of the principality). A nice example for open boundaries.

Later on during the day the principality would have been open for visitors … against cash of course…. But we didn’t return to check it out. Lol -- although that platform with the Santa-Claus-type statue looked oddly interesting enough.

Nevertheless – here’s a short background information about this somewhat sovereign rock:

In the year of 1419 two Portuguese sea captains landed on the rock and carved steps and a shelter into it. Tadah, it was inhabited. Now a long time nothing happened until in 1903 the Portuguese King Carlos I signed a regal letter stating that the rock with the Fort of Saint Jose on top of it shall be sovereign. Why on earth he did such a weird thing? No clue. Too much wine? a lost bet? a joke? If anybody knows – tell me! Anyway, the original letter giving this tiny piece of land to one of his family members is still existent and is kept in the Tower of London these days.

Today’s ruler of Pontinha is Prince Barros (a descendant of Carlos I), who is head of the constitutional monarchy, which forms the government of Pontinha. In 2007 Pontinha seceded from Portugal …. But I really don’t know if it ever was granted the official country status by the United Nations …. Lol …. I somehow doubt it. But still …. It is a fun little tourist attraction with absolutely gorgeous cats. Check it out!

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Driving on Madeira (part one of four)

 

We booked a rental car from Brava cars. We liked the fact that it was a local company and they offered a pick up and drop off service to and from port – not to mention they had the best available rates and we’d be able to use the car for 24 whole hours … so we’d be able to do some additional driving in the next morning before eventually having to return the car --- absolutely perfect for us.

The one and only thing that would have pushed our excitement-level even higher would have been receiving a small, maneuverable car like a panda … at least we thought so initially. Well, when the pretty and very friendly gal from the rental place drove up to the cruise building, we were shocked to see our rather HUGE car to be:

Aaargh … I knew we’d have small roads with lots of tight curves … would Tanja be able to manage with this stretchy thing?

Sure she would!

Here she is after successfully tackling the ascend into the hills behind Funchal … and believe me … on the road we took by mistake that was quite an achievement.

Tadahh – she brought us back to the port safely. The cool thing about Funchal is that you can drive onto the port grounds (just by showing your cruise card) and park all you want -- even overnight for free, at the very end of the pier.

More to come!

Stef

[denisey]

I hope you had a good visit with family, and can I admit that I was just a little bit glad I didn't miss too much while on my holiday!

 

We loved our Panda in Italy, Dennis said it was quite powerful for a little car and it had plenty of room for our 2 small bags.

 

I borrowed many ideas from this review and your others on ways to be organized and well planned for our trip. It was a real success and I always knew where we were headed!

 

Thank you!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Driving on Madeira --- hazardous roads, bizarre traffic rituals and VIP sightings

Madeira has exactly

one

freeway. It circles around the entire island. On this road you pretty much will be driving as much time inside of countless tunnels as outside of them. This makes travelling on the freeway quite easy and straight forward. Madeira is hilly. In fact it is merely the tip of an ancient mountainrange that leads down more than 3000 meters into the sea. Most smaller back-country roads are either curvy or steep or preferably both.

After we missed the correct exit from the freeway to get to the 103 leading inland, we spontaneously decided to weave our way towards the mountains on small backroads and eventually through the Curral dos Romeiros, which would lead us back to the previously missed 103.

Oh my God

… remember how I wished for a small weak car like a panda originally?

Our much stronger Ford got slower and slower on the steeper than steep roads and …

diminished to a full stop right in a tight curve leading straight up!!!!!!!

Picture sitting in a car tilting upwards … it’s a feeling like sitting in a rocket about to be shot into space --- and nothing goes! I was ready to freak. I mean we were stuck in this curve and no way I’d mentally survive rolling the steep road backwards all the way … Tanja kept calm though and revved up the engine to a point I smelled rubber and eventually started to move forward and upward again through some genius move involving the hand brake …. Of course in first gear revved up all the way…

... a panda?

No chance in hell it would have made it. So for the very first time …. I was happy to have gotten a bigger, stronger car.

Here’s an example of a steep road … it got worse, but my nerves didn’t allow me to hold the camera still at that point anymore, so no picture proof.

At some points, the drive through the Curral dos Romeiros makes you feel like you’re the sole survivor of mankind after some sort of tragedy:

On other occasions it will pamper you with wonderfully stunning views of Funchal (so pretty that I was too much in awe to remember pointing and clicking the camera).

The pretty view, which you can’t see, would be off to the left side of the road … how could I take this picture and not point to the left ?…. I am puzzled too… oh well, but see how steep the road continues in the distance?

Exciting Encounters.

When we were on the one and only freeway there was this car which passed us in lightning speed… Just to be followed closely by a second one right behind it. The first car had a pretty flag waving in the wind on both sides and a diplomatic license plate. The second one was a big security car. I wondered who was in the first car… I had never seen that particular flag before … it definitely drove by darn fast (trouble in paradise?). Here they are about to turn into a roundabout:

Later on at home I found out it was the president of Madeira’s own personal flag. It looks like this:

foreign picture:

How very cool, the president himself drove right by us.

Just yesterday I googled to find out what this guy looks like and found out that we saw the now former president, who was in office for an amazing 37 years! Two weeks after this wild drive he was replaced by a new one … Maybe that`s why he was in such a hurry --- to catch some last and important votes.Guess he wasn't fast enough anyway.

Weird traffic rules.

Of course it is always a challenge to drive in a foreign country. When I returned from the US to Germany it took me quite some willpower not to turn right at a red light. In Scotland of course it was driving on the “wrong” side of the road, which made it challenging …. But all that was peanuts when compared to driving on Madeira. Our first challenge was to find the entrance to the freeway from the rental car place … oh, there were signs. We followed them until the signs miraculously kept disappearing and we frequently ended up in the middle of nowhere. You really have to pay attention. We misread a tiny sign telling us to turn left. We kept on driving … no possibility to turn left into a somewhat decent street.… odd. We turned around just to miss the tiny sign altogether and ended up once again in front of some school and dead end road. Sigh … turning around again we slowly drove down the street again … sure enough: there’s the sign saying turn left … oh what the hell … let’s try it ….and what do you know … the tiny path --- pretty much leading over a backyard actually brought us onto the freeway. We were amazed.

But don’t worry, to get onto the freeway from the port is fairly easy: take the second exit at the roundabout right at the port exit … it’s the one that will instantly lead into a tunnel and follow the signs from there. No surprises here.

Speaking of roundabouts. Warning!!!!!!! They always had an inner and an outer lane. In Germany it is normal to wait your turn to enter the right lane if it is free and only use the inner lane if you continue for more than one exit and wish to pass the slower people in the right lane … if you wish to leave the inner circle you have to show others by using the blinkers before doing so …. Oh and of course it would be absolutely necessary for the right lane to offer a free stretch of pavement approximately the size of your car before you change into that lane again to eventually leave the roundabout. Well --- let me tell you: here it is completely different. We almost crashed four times until we realized it was actually

us

misbehaving and not everybody else. I’d love to tell you the “correct” way of handling a Madeiran roundabout … but truth is I haven’t figured it out. We observed everybody zipping into the left lane right away and exiting from it as well cutting over the outer lane as if it didn’t exist …. But why do you have two lanes if only one is in use? I’m sorry to admit I am clueless. But once we also changed to this technique, we were not honked at anymore, so I guess it works out as a basic strategy.

Okay, enough for today.

See you all tomorrow --- stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I hope you had a good visit with family, and can I admit that I was just a little bit glad I didn't miss too much while on my holiday!

 

We loved our Panda in Italy, Dennis said it was quite powerful for a little car and it had plenty of room for our 2 small bags.

 

I borrowed many ideas from this review and your others on ways to be organized and well planned for our trip. It was a real success and I always knew where we were headed!

 

Thank you!

 

Whoohooo you're back! I really enjoyed the facebook pics. Lol --- "Mussolini's revenge" almost made me spill my coffee :D although I'm sure it was less pleasant for you guys:o.

 

Our Fiat Strada died on us and we had to get a new truck ... this time I have to admit we didn't buy a Fiat ... too much money for too less power. We plan to get a caravan in a couple of years and it wouldn't have been strong enough to pull one ... so now we are the proud owners of a Nissan Navara. I feel like I'm driving a school bus when I'm driving that giant thing, but it does feel good to have 190 horses underneith the hood. I think our experience in Madeira and getting stuck traumatised me a wee bit. Lol -- however, maneuvering into a parking spot in which this giant fits presents me with a whole new difficulty level:rolleyes:.

 

 

Stef

[denisey]

Well, Yah! on the new truck but I can't imagine getting that into small European parking spaces!

 

You're driving adventures reminded me of some of ours in Italy, finding the dang road was fun sometimes. But how scary on the steep, steep road. I do remember Madeira being very step, and we never left Funchal!

 

Isn't it great to have a great, calm-ish driver as a partner!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

Isn't it great to have a great, calm-ish driver as a partner!

 

:p:p:p I so totally agree with you !!!! Yay Tanja. :p:p:p

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Driving continued

Some impressions from our drive:

A waterfall right at the side of the road at Curral dos Romeiros.

On the 103 towards Ribeiro Frio --- yes, we have to pass that hilltop seen in the right of the pic.

After crossing the barren hill top you descend into another world:

It was misty, weirdly lit and felt absolutely magical. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a unicorn would have crossed the street right in front of us.

At some points, the mist was so dense that you could hardly see the road ahead anymore.

Shortly before reaching Ribeiro Frio.

This was taken somewhere on the 103 after Ribeiro Frio and before the northern Island stretch of the freeway.

Uhm … pumpkins?

The drive north on the 103 is naturewise unsurpassed. Yosemite can close its gates in comparison -- and I'm a huge fan of it otherwise ... Yet be aware that this road might make you extremely neauceous if you tend to motion sickness ... the curves all the way tend to do that to you. The best scenery including a gigantic waterfall was neither appreciated nor captured on picture by yours truly because of that. I was extremely busy with concentrating hard to not throw up in the rental car.

More to come…

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

some more pictures of driving around on the island:

The western route towards the skywalk

The newer eastern route back from the skywalk to Funchal (in the future I’d prefer this route for both ways)

And even the freeway offers some spectacular views along the way:

Mhh, we seemed to pass this bridge quite often.

Now let’s continue with the sights we saw in the order we visited.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[spinnaker2]

I have forgotten just how beautiful the island is. And I forgot how steep the inclines and switchbacks of the roads.

I could not go on the overlook/skywalk as my fear of heights kept me away.

I believe that the island has many microclimates, hence the magical mist you experienced.

Enjoying your review!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I have forgotten just how beautiful the island is. And I forgot how steep the inclines and switchbacks of the roads.

I could not go on the overlook/skywalk as my fear of heights kept me away.

I believe that the island has many microclimates, hence the magical mist you experienced.

Enjoying your review!

 

:) Thank you!

 

:oLol for a while I thought its just me and Denise left. Good to hear you're still around:p!

 

Yes Madeira is absolutely breathtaking ... and we'll get to the skywalk later on ... so wait and find out if we succeeded in swallowing down the gigantic lump in our throats that developed just by just looking at the glass floor.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora da Paz aka Our Lady of Peace

 

Right after successfully crossing the Curral dos Romeiros and just seconds before reaching the connection to the 103 inlands, we stumbled upon this sight (which we didn’t even know existed).

What is it you ask? Obviously we didn’t know either …. But thankfully they had an info poster:

So now you know.

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.

Anyway, this place gave us a minute to breathe and meet up with the furry population of Madeira:

Those were very friendly guys … but I was still in awe about the gorgeous and outgoing cats of Pontinha …. So the pups actually only came in second place.

 

This treestump was scary …

I guess they have lot’s of lightnings here… the skies today didn’t really look too promising either at times.

Gulp.

But the view behind the stump was awesome:

Okay… one more “proof-we-were-here” picture:

…and off we went to our next stop --- Ribeiro Frio.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Denisey,

 

I am loving your blog ... just can't figure out how to comment on that site .... so I'm commenting here ... hope that's okay.

 

You fly for a living? I always thought that the crew gets better rates on privat flights --- not true? Or maybe I misunderstood the term "work flight".

 

Keep it coming! I love your style of writing! Tanja keeps asking me about your trip ... I told her all about your itinerary and now we're both impatiently waiting for more!

 

:p:p:pThank you so much for taking the time to write about your trip:p:p:p!

 

Stef

[floridianny]

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:)

[denisey]

Denisey,

 

I am loving your blog ... just can't figure out how to comment on that site .... so I'm commenting here ... hope that's okay.

 

You fly for a living? I always thought that the crew gets better rates on privat flights --- not true? Or maybe I misunderstood the term "work flight".

 

Keep it coming! I love your style of writing! Tanja keeps asking me about your trip ... I told her all about your itinerary and now we're both impatiently waiting for more!

 

:p:p:pThank you so much for taking the time to write about your trip:p:p:p!

 

Stef

 

Aw, Thanks! That is quite a big compliment coming from you! You are my travel hero!

 

I am a Payroll Consultant, so I swoop in, fix payroll problems, and swoop out again. So I fly a lot, but am not an airline employee (I realized that I phrased that poorly, flying for a living!) I am working in Los Angeles right now.

 

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....

 

Now, back to Madiera!

 

Denise

[spinnaker2]

and regarding your rant on weapons...

war is sadly a big business for certain companies...

just a comment.

back to your magical mystery tour.