Peckish Travels

Bob and I arrived into O’Hare airport from Heathrow on Wednesday afternoon about 1:30 pm. In Chicago, our airport assistant who pushed Bob in the wheelchair took us all the way from the plane through customs to baggage claim and then onto the tram to the Multi-Modal Transportation Facility where we caught a bus to Janesville, Wisconsin.

My cousin Jared who had let us park our car at his place for about 6 weeks picked us up at the bus station in Janesville. We then drove him back to his house before heading to our hotel. I then spent most of two days with my mom, with Bob staying at the hotel the whole time due to his hip. I got to help my mom finish a jigsaw puzzle, do some shopping, and see an aunt and another cousin as well.

This morning we left Janesville for Des Moines, Iowa. We left at 8:00 am to try to avoid the snow that was coming into Wisconsin. We were successful. On our 4.5 hour drive to Des Moines we learned from our homeowner that our housesit that was to start on Saturday, March 7, is likely off, as she was scheduled for a tour of Israel. Trump’s decision to bomb Iran has thrown those plans up in the air.

We visited Bob’s sister and brother-in-law in Des Moines before heading to our hotel. Bob and I have a number of doc appointments while we’re here, starting with Bob’s appointment on Monday with an orthopedic surgeon to learn what may be needed to help improve his hip.

Today Bob and I traveled from Madeira to London Heathrow, which I’ll describe later, but I need to confess to some “confusions” I had while we were in Madeira.

First, the evening of the first full day we had in Madeira, we walked up a pretty restaurant-lined street to a market where we bought food for dinner. As we were walking back by the restaurants, I commented to Bob that “they even have an Iranian restaurant.” Bob was immediately interested as he has an Iranian friend from Austin that he thought of when I said that. Well, if you notice the word “Madeira” is Made + Ira. So, when something is made in Madeira, it is termed Madeiran. When we walked by a Madeiran restaurant, my mind saw it as Made + Iran and read that as a made in Iran restaurant or an Iranian restaurant. Bob never let me forget it, as there were quite a few “Iranian” restaurants that we saw while in Madeira.

My second misinterpretation came during our first tour when the guide was talking about a walk that you could do from Funchal to the fishing village that we were looking over. He kept saying that the walk started at the Lidl in Funchal. Well, there is no Lidl supermarket in Funchal (I looked!). On our second tour,we picked up people from a hotel near the Lido Beach (didn’t know there was such a thing), when I suddenly realized where the walk started (thus my walk yesterday).

Finally, I just guessed when I should have looked something up. In my viewpoints blog, I showed a photo where I thought I was looking through an avocado or mango tree. I was not. Due to our second tour guide’s insistence on telling us all things flora in Madeira, I learned that the tree I had looked through was actually a kapok tree, whose flowers are a silky fiber used to stuff pillows.

So there you are, some Americans are able to admit mistakes…

Our travel goal today was to get from Funchal, Madeira, to the Sofitel Hotel at the London Heathrow Airport. First step was to get from our hotel after breakfast to the Madeira airport. That was easily done, as Bob had scheduled car transportation via the Bolt app for pickup at 8:30 am.

We were flying Easy Jet airlines and had requested Special Assistance due to the current state of Bob’s hip. This didn’t mean much on our arrival, but we got the full treatment this time. Bob had a wheel chair pickup at check-in that took us all the way to the gate and then to an impressive people mover transport onto the plane.

It looked like this.

First, we stood on the flat platform in front of the bus where we were lifted up to entry level into the bus. There was Bob and another woman who had the Special Assistance. I just got the benefits. We strapped ourselves into our seats and when the plane appeared ready for us, the bus drove over to the plane.

It moved the platform to bus and platform to the level of the plane door, and we walked directly onto the plane. All other passengers were also bussed out to the plane where they climbed stairs onto the plane.

Tomorrow, the hotel has scheduled a wheelchair pickup for Bob here to assist with getting us through check-in to the gate and onto the airplane. While it is a bit heady to go right to the front of the line for travel, it will be even better when we can finally understand next week what is going on with Bob’s hip and when it can get fixed.

Bob and I returned to our room about 1:00 pm from our tour. Bob was ready to chill given his hip problem, but I was up for getting out. I decided to walk about 25 minutes to the Lido Beach and then walk south along the coast towards a fishing village. This area has a lot of very nice hotels, natural and private swimming areas, etc, The following are my photos of the walk out and back with minimal descriptions. You will notice that the beaches are black and/or rocky.

Once Bob and I understood that walking was difficult for Bob, we booked 2 tours for while we were in Madeira — one full-day tour and one half-day tour. Today was our half-day tour to Nun’s Valley.

We were to be picked up between 8:55 and 9:10 am. Our driver, Eduardo, picked us up almost 10 minutes early. It turned out to be one of my least favorite tours ever. There were only 6 of us on the tour, so the tour company ( the same one we used last Friday) used a smaller vehicle. There were 2 seats alongside the driver and 2 sets of three seats behind. We were the first couple picked up and were put in the seats next to the driver since another couple had requested the row of seats immediately behind the driver. This was a tight fit for the whole trip with me between Bob and the driver, holding my backpack on my lap.

If anyone knows me,they will know that I like a certain amount of personal space and certainly don’t want somebody right next to me blathering on during the whole trip. Mostly, he wanted to share information about the local flora, but I see no need to stop in the middle of a highway to share any information, let alone the different colors of calla lillies that can be found in Madeira.

We stopped initially at a viewpoint over Funchal called Pico Dos Barcelos. It was a nice 360 degree view, although at the time we were there it was too hazy over the ocean to get good ocean views.

The 2nd stop on today’s tour was at Eira do Serrado, which overlooked the Nun’s Valley. It consisted of a hotel, souvenir shop and cafe near a steep slanted and then stepped walk to a viewpoint over the Nun’s Valley. I was a bit miffed that the tour company hadn’t suggested another trip for us as I had said that Bob was walking with a cane. He was unable to get to the viewpoint.

Finally, our last stop was in the small community of Nun’s Valley. We had 45 minutes in a town with a few shops, a church, and a museum.

Bob and I decided last night to head to the large Savoy Palace (residences and hotel), which looms over our little hotel, as Bob had found that they had a rooftop bar. Upon entering, those of us who are not guests or residents of the multiple Savoy properties in Madeira are required to pay 30 euros up front for a card as a minimum charge. Any amount spent over that would be charged at the bar. Since we had seen that their cocktails cost about 15 euro anyway, we were okay with this. We paid the nice hostess, got the card, and were escorted to the elevator for the ride up to the 16th floor.

We just had our 2 cocktails and then went to our little supermarket to pickup dinner. On the way, we scored a big head photo for Bob.

Today, Bob decided to hang out in the hotel (room, lobby, courtyard) as tomorrow we have another tour. I decided to walk to some viewpoints around Funchal. I also saw a bit of Old Town and more impressive sculptures. There is also a bit of a soundscape included near the end, but there are few notes. Basically, just a set of photos around Funchal.

After a couple of viewpoints along the coast, I walked up a ways for the next viewpoint.

I walked down from the 3rd viewpoint and walked through the Old Town portion of Funchal. Lots of narrow cobblestone streets, cute small restaurants, and lots of painted doors.

I found another viewpoint listed on my phone, so back up.

I then decided to start heading back to the hotel but found a garden and fort to check out on the way.

A few Wikipedia facts about Madeira and Funchal. Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean, about 500 miles southwest of mainland Portugal and 520 miles west of Morocco. It was discovered in 1418 and claimed by Portugal in 1419. The word Madeira means wood in English. The entire island (actually archipelago) has a population of about 250,000. Funchal is the capital of the region. Funchal’s population of just over 105,000.

Bob and I decided to stay in Funchal today and took a Bolt into the town center to check out the market and a bit of a Main Street that runs from near our hotel to near the market. It was hopping. We can’t imagine how busy this place must be in the high season.

After we left the market, we made our way along the Avenida do Infanta for a few blocks before Bob caught a Bolt back to the hotel (sort of — the driver left him at the sister property and Bob had to make his way up hill to our room).

Also along the street were a series of brightly colored vendor huts selling typical Madeira products, often including alcohol.

I checked out two very pretty parks along the street. The first one, in the direction I was headed, was the Municipal Garden. The next few photos are of this garden, which in 2000 won a Gold Award for the European Competition for Cities and Towns in Bloom.

Onward down the avenue where the sidewalks are covered in tiles (not unusual for Portugal), including a center pedestrian median that ran for a block or two.

The next park I explored was the Santa Catarina Park, which runs for a number of blocks from the Avenida do Infanta to the Avenida do Mar along the water. It is at a higher level than the seafront, so also provides some lovely views to the Atlantic.

Along the street were some government buildings and banners advertising the start of a European Summit here on Monday.

Today Bob and I took a full-day Discover Madeira tour to the west and then north of the island. We had a full van of a driver and 14 guests.

We learned a little bit about Madeira. First, bananas are a main crop, and we saw banana trees all over the terraced slopes of the island. The bananas are only exported to mainland Portugal due both to limits of production and EU standards for size, etc of fruit. Sugar cane is also a main crop, and we saw lots of eucalyptus and then laurel trees, one variety of which provides the bay leaf for cooking.

It is also an island of tunnels, with almost 200 on the island to facilitate transportation. We had 8 stops during the tour.

Stop 1: A viewpoint of the fishing village, Pico Da Torre

Stop 2: A pay to view stop at Cabo Girao. There is a glass floor viewing platform here.

Stop 3: The small, pretty community of Ribiera Brava.

Stop 4: We then drove to the top of the west part of the island to Fanal, which is a UNESCO site to help preserve the native laurel trees.

Stop 5: A brief photo stop at the Ribeira Da Janela, as we came back down the mountain before reaching our long stop for lunch

Stop 6: A 1.5 hour stop at Porto Moniz in the north of the island. This town is known for its rock with a window and its natural pools.

Stop 7: A photo-op of a waterfall near Seixal, also along the north coast

The 8th stop was another photo-op of a waterfall, this time near Sao Vicente

Last night we ate at the hotel restaurant. We had great seafood — clams and octopus — and a great local bread — bolo do caco (flat bread made with sweet potato and served warm with garlic butter).

This morning after breakfast (included with room cost and served in the same dining room), Bob and I walked around our hotel and walked down to the sister property. Almost all walking is up or down here. It reminds us of the Amalfi Cost, and is sadly less than ideal for Bob’s hip at the moment.

After returning to the room to collect some things, we returned the same way, took the elevator down from the bridge to the ground level, walked through the lobby of the sister property and out onto the street to reach the lovely and busy Avenida do Mar to see a bit more of Funchal. There were two cruise ships in, so it was hopping. Bob walked for about half of it, and then had to stop and took a Bolt (like Uber or Lyft) back to the hotel. I continued to the end of the pedestrian promenade along the water and then did my run.

Tomorrow, we have an all-day tour to the west part of the island.

Bob and I left our housesit in Tunbridge Wells and the sweet Nellie on Tuesday. Our very generous homeowners made a car reservation for us to take us from Tunbridge Wells to the Hampton Hotel at the Gatwick Airport. It seemed to be a good sign that our driver was from Portugal and the hotel receptionist was from Madeira (our Portugal destination).

Once we started on our journey today (after a good workout for me in the Hampton fitness center and then a free breakfast), it was a quick 5 minute walk to the EasyJet gate. We had asked for special assistance with Bob’s hip, so after we got through security, we waited in the special assistance lounge until 1:00 pm when we were taken by a special assistance hostess all the way on board our flight. It pays to be disabled,

It wasn’t as handy once we landed, as we had to wait to debark until the very end and then we were walked quite a ways to customs, where we went through the new enhanced EU screening before picking up our luggage.

We grabbed a cab ( number three in line that would take credit cards) to take us from the town of Santa Cruz to our hotel in Funchal (about $50). Once in our room, we unpacked while enjoying a free bottle of sparkling wine from hotel.com through which we had made the hotel reservation,

I took advantage of a Tuesday dog walker’s day to do a final train trip out of Tunbridge Wells. This time I went all the way to the coast (about a 35-40 minute ride depending on the number of stops) to the town of Hastings (as in the Battle of Hastings, which as we all now know happened in the current town of Battle).

Hastings has a current population of about 91,000, and Wikipedia tells me that it remains a popular seaside resort and fishing port, with the UK’s largest beach-based fishing fleet. I definitely saw a number of fresh fish vendors in my 2.5 hour walkabout.

My first walk was down to the beach to see the Hastings Pier, which I sadly deleted photos of when I was editing my photos on the train ride back to Tunbridge Wells. Lesson learned (hopefully) about multi-tasking on a moving vehicle.

I was walking along the coast towards the East Hill. Hastings has two hills — East Hill and West Hill — both of which you can ascend via funicular (when they are not closed for necessary maintenance). I wanted to go up to the top of the East Hill, as there is a country park there and the views (when not raining or foggy) are supposed to be good. As I learned through some posted signs, neither funicular was running, but I was still able to get to the top of the East Hill.

Some discoveries before I got to East Hill —

The rain had returned, so I made my way back down to continue walking east along the coast.

I briefly went into the Shipwreck Museum, but both this and the Fisherman’s Museum were being used for lessons for a school class. I did get to see the world’s earliest archaeological evidence of a ship’s steering wheel which was recovered on the Goodwin Sands in Kent. I also learned about Samuel Pepys role as Secretary to the Admirality during the reign of Charles II and James II. Prior to this trip, I only knew Pepys for his diary, but we saw a show on tv the other day about the Great Fire of London, in which Pepys played an important role. Both of these efforts (naval and fire) were likely detailed in his diary, but I don’t remember the contents of what we read in school.

I then walked back into Old Town to do more exploring there.