Thread: Anybody coming to Funchal/Madeira Portugal?

Hi Neal,

Thank you so much for your kindness, it's always so nice to be complimented like that.

It's really my pleasure to post in Cruise Line Fans and to let you all know a bit more about my country, specially Madeira, and myself.

Loving to write helps, a lot, in all the process. And this is the kind of writing I like, transmiting the reality.

Speaking of which...I came to the computer right now, to start one of my "contributions".

As you may have seen some posts ago, Lars persuaded me to post here some advice I gave him about a visit to Lisbon. Even though I can't give a very detailed information about Portugal mainland, I was there a couple of times already, so I have an overall idea of what it's about.

Yes, I'll tell Rúben how much you liked the website, I'm sure it will be very important for him, because, when it was ready, he kept going over it, again and again, trying to decide if it was good enough to go online. As I had waited for so long, I kept reassuring him that "yes, it's good enough...and then we can always change or add whatever we want"

Oh...I have been remembering you telling me about your daughter and her husband and that they were moving from South Africa to Australia. Am I correct? How are things going on with them now?

Some weeks ago, I noticed in Lars signature, that he’s sailing from Lisbon to Oslo next year, so I asked him if this was his first visit to Lisbon. He said “no”, but asked if I had some recommendations for his pre-cruise stay there.

When Tim started the Portugal forum, Lars suggested that I post here the same advice I had given him.

So, after having postponed it for several days, I decided that today I had to do it. I got up at 7am and decided that, right after breakfast, I would seat in front of the computer.

Soooo…by now it must be about 7:30, right? Wrooong! At this very moment my computer says 1:17pm and this is after I said bye-bye to my daughter, started answering Neal’s post, cleaned Daniel’s taxi, phoned my mother-in-law, kissed Daniel goodbye, ironed some clothes, filled the washing machine up with more clothes, finished answering Neal’s post, said bye-bye to my two sons, answered the door twice in a row, made lunch, had lunch, put the machine load out to dry, answered the door again, washed the dishes, said hello to my daughter…

Back to Lisbon! If you are lucky enough to have Lisbon as one of your ports of call, you can be sure you’ll have a very fulfilling day. Lisbon is a riverside city, which, by itself, is enough to grant it that very special something. It is a very walkable place for good walkers, so, after you find transportation to the centre, you’ll be able to stroll around as you please. Don’t miss Praça do Comércio, Rossio, Avenida da Liberdade, Baixa and lots, lots more.

A bit further up is Castelo de São Jorge, you may prefer to take the tram as it is an uphill walk. From there, you’ll have the most amazing view over Lisbon, a “must see”.

Not far from the centre of Lisbon, you’ll have the Belém area with Torre de Belém, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, Monumento dos Descobrimentos and…yummy, yummy, yummy…Pastéis de Belém. These are small puff pastry cases, with a custard like filling and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar…simply divine!!!

In the vicinity of Lisbon I can recommend a visit to Cascais and Sintra. Cascais is a beach area and Sintra is a very quiet, very green, very relaxing small town, you'll love it! From there you can visit Castelo da Pena, or take a longer tour until you reach Cabo da Roca, the most Western point of the European continent.

After answering Lars, I thought I’d Google Lisbon to see what would come up. That’s when I came across this extremely useful website, with a wealth of information and very good for anyone planning to visit Lisbon. http://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/itineraries.html


So…what else could, possibly, be better than having Lisbon as your port of call? Only spending there a couple of days pre-cruise…!

Originally Posted by biaria

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Oh...I have been remembering you telling me about your daughter and her husband and that they were moving from South Africa to Australia. Am I correct? How are things going on with them now?

Well, that WAS the plan. Currently they are both in New York City where they thought Heath had a job lined up. It fell through so he is looking again. My daughter has had some major medical problems so she has not been able to teach the yoga classes that she wanted to teach. She is better now and will be starting them up after Christmas.

Currently Heath is having a hard time finding a position. He is a mining engineer and with the global economy in the doldrums, no one is doing much exploration right now.

Hi Neal,

Sorry to know about the problems your daughter and son-in-law are going through.

Unemployement is creeping up everywhere, it's so hard to be young nowadays. I hope Heath finds a job soon.

I also wish a fast recovery for your daughter's health problem. Nice to know she's better and starting her yoga classes soon.

I also have working age children. At the moment, only the two elder ones work, as the other two are still studying. I'm so gratefull that the girls have their jobs: one is a nurse the other one is a teacher and I'm hoping so much, that the boys are as lucky, once they finish their studies.

My son went through a major period of "nothing" until this year. He lost three jobs (not his fault) and had a hard time even in the restaurant business which had been his fallback. He is 35 now and was intimidating the managers of the restaurants since he is so good at it.

Earlier this year he started doing Karaoke as the announcer and is holding his own. It doesn't pay a lot but he is happy and he met his fiance through the job. Things will look much better when the economy improves.

Daughter is currently negotiating for a yoga seminar in Mexico around March and she is once again building up her clients. She too is very good at what she does and now that she is teaching again, her old students are flocking back to her.

With the economy the way it is nowadays, one can't be choosy about a job, or the opportunities will all pass you by.

I'm glad your son is working again and is happy and even met his fiance.

Things are looking very bright for your daughter, I must say. So nice that she's getting her old students back, it shows how good she is.

My younger daughter, Mónica, 26, is a gymnastics teacher at a regular school, but she also gives hip-hop lessons, as an extra activity, at the same school.

Apart from this regular job, Mónica gives dancing and aerobic classes in 2 different sports' clubs and, to top it all, she belongs to a dancing group that performs in hotels at night.

She's very busy and I give her all the support I can, to help her succeed.

That’s right, Christmas is coming and Madeira is ready for it.

Christmas is the most important time of the year for us Madeiran people and that means lots of preparations. From the overall cleaning of the house, to all the backing and cooking, not forgetting all the decorations and the presents for everybody, the weeks before Christmas are always lived in such turmoil.

Apart from this more private aspect, Madeira itself is all decorated with light ornaments of all shapes, sizes and colours, which bring a feeling of bright magic to the air.

All public places have their own Christmas trees and nativity scenes.

Big flower arrangements and also ethnographic scenes showing our traditions, or Christmas related decorations, were built in town, for all to see and enjoy, locals and tourists.

As usual, and as outgoing as we all are, on certain days, like weekends and those days around Christmas Day, people like to go to town and take a look at all there’s to see.

Sounds like your daughter is as busy as mine. In case you are interested, here is her website.... Welcome to Omjiva.

Neal,

Thanks for sharing Shanna's website with me. I loved going through all the different pages. Her life must be very, very interesting.

Spirituality is something that interests me a lot and is a way to a better and more fulfilling life.

When I got to the links page, the one that caught my eye was the African Yoga Project. I looked through the pages with so much interest and I particularly loved watching the pictures.

Thank you for the kind words! I will let her know that you liked it.