Thoughts on Madeira

Cruise ships
Virtually every day one or two cruise ships docks in the port. Yesterday one of them was a huge 4500 passenger Carnival line cruise mostly full of Americans. The Blandys wine lodge where we did our tasting tours early evening had taken 800 cruise ship passengers around in the morning. Consequently most mornings the town is full of cruise ship tourists and many of the shops (but not restaurants as the ships are full board) are geared to serving them. And the tourist season lasts all year. Despite this the locals seem to remain friendly, if a little persistent in the sales pitch, and the have retained much local culture.
Weather
As the plane arrived there was a short shower which thankfully had passed by the time we reached the hotel. The afternoon was a mix of cloud and long spells of sunshine. Yesterday was mostly sunny. Throughout the temperature had remained steady between 24 C during the day and about 19C at night . We have been able to swim in the hotel pool in the afternoon and eat outdoors in the evening in short sleeves. Today was again sunny but we took the cable car up to Monte which was covered in low cloud and it drizzled off and on during the 1 hour queue for the toboggan. The joy of descending into the sunshine combined with the exhilaration of the ride was fun. The guide at the wine lodge said that this year the temperature had not exceeded 29C when the rest of Europe was getting 40c.
Tourists
Although nowadays Madeira claims to be suitable for all age groups - with many active experiences hiking in the mountains- the predominant demographic is still geriatric. Most seem to be German, British or Portugese and everyone speaks English. The only Portuguese we get to practice is obrigado/a - thank you, which we have to say a lot as everyone is so kind and helpful.Read more