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Marion Ainge
Travel Writer
7:00 AM 24th February 2022
travel

Madeira’s Perfect Paradise: Faja dos Padres

 
It's a Shirley Valentine moment.

From a cliff top in Madeira, after two and a half minutes, a panoramic cable car sets me 250 metres down to Faja dos Padres, a rural, organic farm.

A path through a sun-drenched banana grove leads to a small beachfront restaurant. I sit alone at a table, sip cold wine from a carafe and watch the foam-tipped Atlantic waves caress the sun-bleached, pebble shoreline. My lunch is fried scabbard fish with banana.

Bananas, Madeira wine and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo, are the island's main exports. Ronaldo's mother now lives in a house (more like a small hotel) he had built for her in Funchal, the capital.


The island, or archipelago, has a year-round, subtropical climate, the temperature rarely falling lower than 20 degrees C, making it a favourite winter holiday destination, holiday home or retirement option for UK visitors.

And it's just a four-hour flight from the UK.

In Funchal, there's a wildly colourful, indoor fruit and vegetable market, where some stallholders are clad in traditional dress. Flower festivals and other floral events are held during the year. Botanical gardens feature subtropical and tropical flowers and plants, typically, the bird of paradise.


The capital also boasts a statue of Madeira's son, Ronaldo,and the iconic, historic Reid's Palace Hotel set high on a cliff. In the 1950s, frequent visitor, Winston Churchill, wrote his memoirs at Reid's.

Their signature afternoon tea will set you back around £35, but neighbours and friends will be impressed.

The popular, traditional downhill, toboggan, wicker basket ride, powered by two carreiros or sledge drivers, takes about 10 heart-in-the-mouth minutes.

Our first base is a piece of paradise - the delightful Solcalco Nature Hotel in pretty Calheta in the south west of the island, about 40 miles from the capital.

Built into the side of a steep hill, this quirky, eco-friendly, boutique hotel affords breathtaking views down to the sea and sheltered little sandy beach.

Best not to look down, though, as from this point, sunbathers are miniscule Barbie and Kens. The 'blind' four course dinner is sensational, unsurprisingly, as Chef Octávio Freitas is reputedly the best in Madeira.

Marseille sports journalist, Muriel, and I converse in each other's languages. Bien sûr, Muriel's English is better than my French. After breakfast on the terrace, we transfer to the four-star NEXT Hotel in Funchal, which overlooks the harbour and is an easy stroll to the old town. It boasts freshwater and seawater pools and has access to the sea.

All bedrooms have a balcony or a terrace. In the canopied Recharge restaurant I tuck into a lunch of fresh tuna, Hawaiian salad bowl with mango and rice. Fresh fish, particularly Atlantic tuna, is on the menu in almost every restaurant.

Just about an hour from Funchal is Madeira's North Shore. A serene area loved by walkers and nature enthusiasts with lush forests, green hills, caves, natural pools and waterfalls and at Seixal village, a beach of fine black sand.
Madeira's volcanic pools
Madeira's volcanic pools

At the viewpoint, the Véu da Noiva, bride’s white veil, waterfall drops into the Atlantic Ocean. In Porto Moniz swimmers bathe in pools between visible lava rocks, which slipped into the sea during volcanic eruptions.

Late afternoon, we board Maria and Marco's yacht and sail along Funchal's coastline. We pass the rose-pink painted Reid's Palace Hotel, perched high on a cliff.

I look back at Funchal Mountain clothed with its jigsaw of corrugated, terracotta-roofed buildings. We sample a bottle or two of Maria and Marco's award-winning wine produced in their Terra Bona family vineyard in the north of the island. This couple host private cruise and wine-tasting tours.

Maria brings out plates of caprese salad - ripe, juicy vine tomatoes sliced alongside ovals of marshmallow-soft mozzarella cheese and bitter black olives, drizzled with golden olive oil. Then, typical Madeira dishes of mashed cod and beans, slow-roasted tuna in olive oil and chunks of rustic bread. Will we be able eat dinner this evening? Another glass of wine and we hardly give it another thought.

Blandy's Madeira wine merchant dynasty was founded two centuries ago by a young Englishman. Today Blandy's is best known as the leading shipper of Madeira. Michael and Chris Blandy, of the 6th and 7th generations, maintain the world's finest stock of vintage Madeira wines.

At a Blandy's Wine Lodge workshop in Funchal, we join others at a long table, where each person is faced with six partially-filled wine glasses. We're tasked with tasting the six blends of differing ages, then challenged to concoct one of our own. We pour, we mix, we giggle, we taste, we repeat until he bell rings.

The quality is wasted on us and we're almost wasted. Mine isn't a winning selection but I don't care as the brandy in the alcohol keeps my spirits up.

At dinner one evening, I discover a liking for poncha, the other traditional beverage. This one is made with fresh citrus juice, honey or brown sugar and white rum. I ask to try the Pescador version - a concoction of 70 per cent white rum and honey, downed by burly fishermen to keep themselves warm before they set sail to cast their nets at night - but the host just laughs in my face.

Factfile
www.visitmadeira.pt
www.solcalconature.com
www.hotelnext.pt/
www.facebook.com/terrabonanaturevineyards/
www.blandyswinelodge.com