Cristiano Ronaldo Footballer's Statue and My Favourite Sites in Portugal, Madeira and Portuguese Speaking Brazil

Portugal
First stop
is Lisbon.


Lisbon's Belem tower, a symbol of the city.

Monument to Henry the Navigator
At a distance the figures are very small. You need a zoom lens. You may prefer to read up about the statue people shown in advance of your visit, using Wikipedia or a guidebook.

The Algarve sandy beaches and rock formations.
See the Punta da Piedade (Point of mercy).

On one occasion we flew direct to Faro airport and did fly-drive, picking up a hire car.
On another holiday we enjoyed the drive south through cork trees down the west coast of Portugal.

Portugal Travel Highlights -
Lisbon, the capital city

Port and Douro Wine Route, Portugal
Algarve beaches via Faro airport

Madeira
In the capital Funchal you will find two or more Madeira wine locations. We booked from home in advance for all of our hiking group. A centrally located shop where you can book a Madeira tasting and talk for a group is Pereiro D'Oliveriras. We had previously met their rep when they were giving a tasting of Madeira wines in a wine shop in Eton in the UK.

Company Pereira D`Oliveiras, Funchal

Karelj - Own work. Wikipedia.

MADEIRA
Known for Madeira wine, switchback road, walks along the levadas, and the visual appeal of the little triangular houses, one of which we saw was a flower shop where I bought fruit seeds.

Cristiano Ronaldo, football player, statue by Madeiran sculptor Ricardo Velosa in Funchal, Madeira. Photo by TeWeBs in Wikipedia.
The airport was renamed Cristiano Ronaldo. A bust of the player was controversial as some people did not think it was a likeness or that it was not flattering. So the full size sculpture was commissioned.

You can also visit a museum all about the football player and an adjacent hotel.

Vineyard growing among other cultures in the tropical influenced climate near Santana, Madeira.

Karel Vízner, GEUM - Self-photographed

wine fields near town Santana, Madeira.

BRAZIL
Brazilian Tourist Board
https://www.visitbrasil.com/
See Rio, the beach, and the modern city of Brasilia.




Useful Websites

Travel

Portuguese Tourist Board

https://www.visitportugal.com/en

Pousadas

https://www.pousadasportugal.com/

Language

http://duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language
https://translate.google.com/

earwormslearning.com

Madeira
https://www.visitportugal.com/en/destinos/madeira
Story of vintage Madeira wind discovered in the USA
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/madeira-wine-two-hundred-year-old-found-fortified-cellar-new-jersey-liberty-hall-union-a7835881.html
http://www.kean.edu/libertyhall/about/history
Football Museum
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museu_CR7
duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira

TOURIST BOARDS GROUPED TOGETHER

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

ANGELA LANSBURY BLOG POSTS

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/port-and-portuguese-wine-labels-and.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-ask-for-food-and-drink-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/learn-your-first-ten-words-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-do-you-say-please-in-portuguese-is.

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2017/03/madeira-madeira-wine-portugal-and.html

About The Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, blogger, author of 20 books including an ebook on Improve Your English, from Amazon, and teacher of English and Business English and other languages to individuals, colleges and companies. For more information on learning languages see the previous posts. For information on sites to see in Spain and Portugal see the next post. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your family, friends and colleagues.

Fashion For Travel: Mail Order Holiday Clothes: Cape Blazers and white and pink or black blouses

I saw a girl on the Easyjet plane from the UK to Madeira. She was wearing a white cape blazer. Glamorous. Elegant. She was good enough to tell me where it came from. It was sold in white or black.

A cape blazer has a very strange construction. It's like a sleeveless jacket with a cape on top, fitted across the shoulders, with a large gap under the arms, and the cape extending the length of the arms.

Who do I rate tops
1 MANGO
White Cape Blazer
The Mango shop had only the white. I bought a Mango cape blazer in white in the sale at Funchal, capital of Madeira. When I got home I phoned their customer relations department to ask who had the black version. I eventually found the item available online in the UK, supposedly on sale but dearer than in the sale in Madeira - plus the postage.

I now knew the magic words to find what I wanted, cape blazer.

So I started hunting online on Amazon, eBay, Google, all over.

My verdict: Ten out of ten for style by Mango. Not so good on price, even in the sale. If travelling out of the UK, look for reduced prices in other countries.

Now that I have had other cape blazers, what can I say about Mango? Lined with a satin look lining. All stitching concealed. Hangs neatly, uncreased. Light yet thick. I went back and inspected it again. The reason it hands so well is that cape part is lined, as well as the body fitted sleeveless under jacket.

***

2 LAVISH ALICE
Burgundy Wine Cape Blazer
They also sell a cape blazer dress and split-front trousers (Americans say pants) and a cape blazer trouser suit.

I bought a second-hand Lavish Alice cape blazer from eBay in a huge size in wine colour. It was wonderful. I am now a fan of Lavish Alice Clothes.
A Lavish Alice cape Blazer was advertised at £27 by Asos Aug 30 2018 but out of stock.

It is lined.

It buttoned across the front so it stayed on. It hangs well.


The shoulders are not rounded but an angular design, but with the lining softening the shoulders, it seems to hang okay.
The label says the silky lining is polyester elastane like the main fabric. Do not iron. Do not dry clean. That'll save some people a bit of money.
Wash dark colours separately. Reshape whilst damp.

***

3 MISSGUIDED
White Cape Blazer
Note the name is miss as in Miss not misguided as in the adjective.
I bought a white cape blazer, very inexpensive, from ebay. It was a size 8 and I thought, that's much too small. But the price was cheap. I might be able to alter it.

I bid. I won.

The garment had a matching belt with a buckle. I eventually located the two slots for the buckle, not protruding tabs, slots. This holds the jacket in place, No flopping about. The belt creates a sleeker line - if you are slim. (If you are overweight you just emphasize your large booms. The metal-edged belt holes were generous enough in number to allow me to do up the belt even though the garment is size 8 and I am size 16.

The bodice part is lined, but not the cape. The shoulder is properly inset with curves and pintucks.

***

4 WHITEBIRD
White cape blazer. Large. Unlined. Shoulders with proper curved inset. I cannot find a website. I bought from ebay.


5 RUIYIGE
Pink cape blazer with red flower applique and button at neck.
Also comes in black and white.
The black would probably show the creases less, especially at night.This is sold on eBay by Twenga, Shopper.com and Shoptart.

On my screen the photo looks a slightly blueish pale pink. It's actually a more bright salmon colour.


RUIYIGE
Cape (rather than cape blazer).

I had expected a cape blazer and was initally disappointed with the cut and quality. It kept slipping off my shoulders, so I tied it up. Then I was much happier. Like a cape blazer it leaves your arms free. you might like to wear it with a long sleeve plain white top.

Square or T shape cut on shoulders. Single layer, no lining. You must turn back the two front vertical edges to hide the stitching.

 LILIGAL
Pink and white blouse
I kept typing lilgal, maybe because I am a little (short) girl.

Pink and White Blouse
Pink pintuck colour block blouse, button up.
This has a diagonal line, pink lower half, white sleeves and white pintuck top, pearly pink button with four holes sunk in the middle.
The back is half pink and half white as you can see from the left shoulder, on the right of the picture.

Liligal pink and white blouse with pintucks and pink buttons. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

$31.11 American dollars.
Lovely garment. Plenty room enough, with large sleeves and generous cut.

Not as glamorous on me as on the slim model. A slimmer fitting might have been more flattering. I ordered XXL large because so many garments are too small.

(I've had garments which were too small from China and from Patra in the UK, my favourite. In Singapore I bought satin reversible jackets and had to buy triple X to get them to fit over a sleeved dress or blouse.)

 I tried my Liligal blouse over a sleeveless dress and it still fitted.

The feel was great. Soft and stretchy. I wanted to wear it straight away.
Free returns.

I tried to give a review on their website but kept running into problems so I thought I would review it here.

I am now prepared to order the black version of the blouse, a size smaller.
***
Problems
Will items arrive in time for my holiday? Will they fit and match my other garments? What if I want to send it back?

Answers
These have been some of my recent experiences. Allow time.

Useful websites:
lavishalice.com
liligal.com
mango.com
http://missguided.co.uk
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/08/how-could-ebay-improve-customer.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other posts covering eBay and Prolady cape blazer, Mail Order, Madeira. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Scary Skywalks in Madeira and the Grand Canyon in the USA

Madeira
Madeira has a Viewpoint near the capital, Funchal. The lookout is free, with a glass section underfoot. The open top buses stop there.

The name is Cabo Girao - Skywalk, at de Lobos, which Google Translate interpreted as meaning wolves, but Wikipedia suggests chamber of sealions.

USA
Skywalk over the West Rim, Grand Canyon in Arizona in the USA.

Source	Skywalk, Arizona, USA Uploaded by v.dzhingarova
Author	l0da_ralta

Costa Rica
Another skywalk is in Monteverde, Costa Rica, Central America.  I'll have a guess at what the words mean. Monte verde is green mountain. The adjective comes after the noun, like frhe French Moulin Rouge, red mill. Costa Rica is rich coast.
Photo of Skywalk, Monteverde, .
Athor, Artur Sotillo from La Canada, CA, USA.








Useful Links
Chicago Tilt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKwgchbA7gw 
Shows it tilting 30 degrees with visitor and interview with the designer.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g35805-d9884785-r468510664-Tilt-Chicago_Illinois.html
visitmadeira.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Câmara_de_Lobos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_Girão

Must See Pestana Casino Park Hotel in Funchal, Madeira, designed by Oscar Niemeyer

Problem
The Pestana Casino Park Hotel is distinctive. I loved the descending spiral or curved entrance descending to the dining room which sudeenly ans you round the curve reveals a panorama of the sea and promontaries either side of the bay. But who was the architect?

I was reminded of the descending spiral slope of the Guggenhaim Art Gallery in New York. You would think they would have a huge plaque to the architect. I'ts not Guggenheim. It's Oscar Niemeyer.

Oscar who? I looked him up.

Answer
He dessigned Brasilia, capital of Brazil. he also designed the Brazil cathedral, very modern, with a circular design, and projections. It remidnes me of an orange with extended segment dividers. The casino next door to the hotel looks like that. I like the way the casino is in a separate building, away from children and those who don't want gambling at breakfast. If you've been to Las Vegas, you know what I mean.

One building looks out at the landscape. The other encloses you in a cocoon.

I didn't look up the architect until a fortnight after I had left Madeira. But all credit to the hotel and to travelling. The memory of the view of the dining room and from the dining room stayed with me. One of the world's great views.

Lots to see in Madeira, the CR7 hotel and museum featuring Cristano Ronaldo, the football player from Madeira, and the old thatched houses, small, triangular design, so different.

Thatched traditional house in Madeira. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Niemeyer
pestana.com
visitmadeira.com
tripadvisor.com
visitportugal.com
easyjet.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Top Ten Things I Love About London - contrasted with Madeira

Madeira. Thatched house in traingualr design - nothing like England's thatch. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

Problem
When you live in a city you stop appreciating it. Go away for two months, two years, even a week, and when you come back you see the differences.

Madeira
I spend a week in Madeira where the steep hills are dotted with many houses which had orange tiled roofs. Walls were white or cream, a few yellow, orange, pink or blue.

Lots of palm trees shaking in the breeze. Green gorse bushes contrast with yellow flowers. Magenta flower trees. Tangles of banana plants and sugar cane. In the north, hanging vines on pergolas.

Huge flyovers lead to and from the Cristiano Ronaldo airport. Tunnels weave in and out of the hillsides and cliffs around the capital, Funchal.

Cars park diagonally, noses in the air, or noses down like dogs pulling ahead on leads, on steep roads at diagonal angles. Unnerving. You watch the static cars, worried, wondering when one of them will start rolling backwards, or forwards, starting one of those falling domino chains.

Welcome To London
Driving from Heathrow airport towards outer London, what a contrast. At first driving from Heathrow through Hayes was a disappointment, dilapidated one storey shops had peeling paint.

But soon, reaching the suburbs of Ickenham, with its pub, then historic Harrow, then pretty Pinner, the buildings and greenery started perking up. Neat hedges surround freshly painted semi-detached houses in neighbourly pairs.

Triangular roofs are over the bay windows. The contrasting black or brown imitation Tudor wooden beams or imitating Victorian imitation Tudor, against white walls.

London's red brick from the red clay appears in walls along gardens. More red brick is in the walls of houses.

The semis give way to grander detached houses. Palladian columns. Large drives with two cars. Huge  oak trees, which once built the ships of the fleets for Elizabeth I. Magestic chestnut trees.

Green lawns of fine-leaved grass with picture frame borders of pink roses. Fences and gates - which you don't get in many cities of the USA where fences are banned and houses are exposed. No wonder they all have guns for protection when anybody can march up to the front or back door. To the British eye, every estate of houses set in unfenced lawns in some USA cities looks unfinished, like a show house which nobody has yet moved into.

CENTRAL LONDON
Central London has Victorian buildings and pageantry. The plane trees are big trees which don't mind pollution.

London, plane trees and pageantry.

SINGAPORE
In Singapore where we rent our flat, overlooking a swimming pool, the block is under threat of being pulled down.

 If that happens, it will be replaced with something more compact, crammed, smaller rooms, less space between the tower blocks, news. A neighbour says, "This is an old block. It's thirty years old!"

Singapore, palm trees and Chinese writing.

I am stunned into silence. When I fill out an insurance form asking the age of a building in London, I can't remember the age. I have to consult documents. Many of London's suburban houses were built in the nineteen thirties, when the railways expanded. Others have the dates of the 19.. or even 18.. on the facade.

USA
Even in the 'recent no history' USA, terraced houses which were homes of famous people, such as Edgar Allen Poe in Philadelphia, date back a century or more.

London's red brick walls are neat and have patterns from Victorian times. (The Nineteen Fifties introduced the blight of cigarette-box shape blocks of greying flats. The fact that low building standards mean they are short-lived and crumbling - or burning down like tragic Grenfell - is a blessing in disguise.)

London List
1 SEMIS.
Semi-detached houses in suburbs. Mock Tudor. London red brick.
2 BUNGALOWS.
Bungalows (one storey houses) with fenced front lawns and gates.
3 MANSIONS.
Majestic mansions, churches and town halls with steps up to Palladian columns (like the USA).
4 ART DECO.
Art deco railway stations and white houses with green tiled rooftops.
5 RED BUSES.
Red buses. Old style and new style. Jolly red.
6 RED POST BOXES.
Red pillar boxes. The pillar shape freestanding ones. We also have a few inset in walls. Jolly red.
7 BRUNEL STATIONS.
Brunel's railway stations - notably Paddington where you see his statue.
8 PUBS.
British Pubs. Old Victorian pubs with Toby jugs and horse brasses. Historic pubs. Many turned into gastropubs with green gardens. (Budget eating and drinking at Wetherspoons which make a point of preserving photos of local history.)
9 SHOPS & SHOPPING CENTRES.
London as a shopping base, with old arcades such as: Burlington Arcade; Selfridges; the original Harrods (not just the branches you get worldwide). Intu in Watford has a kiddie train (for a fee) and Xmas decorations at Xmas. Out of the city, take a drive to the vast new shopping centres, such as waterside Bluewater in Kent, or Lakeside.
10 HISTORIC STATUES.
Statues where you can take selfies with world-famous figures, such as writers Shakespeare, bust outside Guildhall, and Oscar Wilde reclining near Trafalgar Square, and dandy, beautifully dressed Beau Brummel standing near department store Liberty near Oxford Circus.

See my other posts for text and photos on: art deco, statues, Intu at Xmas.

Author
Angela Lansbury

Madeira's Marvellous Tunnels

Flag of Portugal. Madeira is Portuguese.

Problem
Madeira is a volcanic island with fingers of mountain crags and z shape roads winding up and down, not for the faint-hearted. (However, I soon got used to it.)

Answer
Enjoy the tunnels which save all that mountain climbing. Along the seafront from the airport to the capital, Funchal, depending on your route and hotel destination, you can pass through 12-20 tunnels. I kept counting them on my fingers.

Websites
visitmadeira.pt

Airlines
Skyscanner - comparison and booking website
skyscanner.net
Easyjet.com

Angela Lansbury

Easy Walks and Viewpoints in Madeira, especially Cabo Girao, Camara De Lobos

Photo from author Dirk Klasseen in Wikipedia.

Problem
How to get around?

Answers
If you want to drive your own car, you can hire at the airport. Or go online, find a good deal and take a 5 euro taxi from a Funchal seafront hotel to the Europcar or other office in Funchal, the capital city. Booking through our hotel coast about 50 Euros a day, about what our friends paid for the whole week.

Your choices
Taxi tours. You have a choice of six different tours. The map of the tours was in the back seat pocket of the taxi we took from the airport to our hotel.

Open top  hop on hop off bus tours with recorded guide:
Red buses.
Yellow buses.
One person said the yellow bus was very good and dropped her and her husband at the famous Reid hotel.

Local buses.
Levada walking tours.
Contact a company which does guided walking tours along the lavadas. I heard several guides who spoke fluent English as well as German and other languages, dropping into English when I stopped them, then back into German or other languages.

The cost of a guided Levada tour is about 12 euros for 2 persons, according to the sign on the tourist office kiosk which I passed late at night when it was closed.

Top sights include:
Botanical Gardens.
Wicker seated toboggan descent from uphill Monte, which I presume translates as Mountain or Mountain peak, pushed by two energetic people running in white suits.

Overlook At Cabo Girao, Camara de Lobos
One of the yellow top bus circuits takes you uphill to the unnerving glass-bottom lookout point, or Skywalk, which is free, at Cabo Girao, Camaara de Lobos. The open top yellow bus stops here. The viewpoint is a semi-circular suspended glass platform jutting out from the top of the cliffs, said to be the highest cliff skywalk in Europe.

Behind are a couple of snacks bars and various gift shops.
(The toilet costs 50 cents.)

Translation
I thought cabo was cape but Google Translate offered me cable. Nothing for Girao. Camara is chamber, de is in or of, lobos is wolf. So this was once a wolf's lair.

Easiest levada walks:
From Ribero (meaning river) Frio (meaning cold). The bus stops there. You can also park for free. The toilets are free in the cafe on the upper slope. The lady at the bar doesn't bother to check what you are doing although you walk past her. By the time you have done a half hour walk or two hour walk you are probably ready for a coffee anyway. Gift shop next door.

The walk on the lower slope (below the road) is alongside a levada, a canal about a foot wide alonside a wide path. The path eventually narrows.

On the upper side is another path, much easier, flatter, wide. A small cafe, barely more than a kisk is half way. At the end is a viewing platform with birds hoping for food.

Information
From the circular information kiosk on the front lawn of the seafront Pestana Casino Hotel.

Useful Websites
visitmadeira.com
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1190957-d1464866-r179794621-Cabo_Girao-Camara_De_Lobos_Madeira_Madeira_Islands.html
http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/explore/detalhe/cabo-girao-viewpoint

A new bust of footballer Ronaldo, and Sculpture of Fishermen At Sea to See

Map of Portuguese speaking Madeira in the Atlantic from Wikipedia. Note the proximity to Portugal, Gibraltar on the tip of Spain, and the coast of Morocco.

Problem - What To See and Where in Madeira?
Madeira used to be one of the world's dangerous airports, they say, until the runway was built out into the sea on stilts. Now you can arrive with your mind on the tourist sites you plan to see.

Cristiano Ronaldo Airport, Madeira. Photo by Peter Forster, from Flickr via Wikipedia.

1 Cristiano Ronaldo Bust At The Airport
The first site for visitors to look for on arriving at the Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport is the bust of the footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, created by sculptor Emanuel Santos when the airport was renamed.

When the sculpture was unveiled in 2017, although Cristiano himself liked it, many people on the internet did not. Frankly, I think it's very good. But then I am a caricaturist. I like the slight exaggeration which captures a character, whether or not it is flattering, it is memorable. The twisted mouth, the lopsided smile. Excellent.

Emanuel and Jesus
The sculptor, Emanual Santos, was very hurt by the criticism, although he came up with a wonderful motivational line: 'You can't please everyone. Even Jesus didn't please everyone.'

However, March 29, 2018, Emanuel Santos revealed his new, more serious face of Cristiano.

2 Fishermen Sculpture in Caniçal
I was very heartened to read that he was commissioned to create a sculpture of fisherman, two fishermen in a boat with oars, delightful white, in his home village of Caniçal. (It is pronounced canny Sal, like a canny girl called Sally.) The name comes from the Portuguese for fishing lines, and the area is now the main cargo port.

Portuguese Spelling And Pronunciation
That sign under the c turns it into an s sound, which is what it looks like. We are all familiar with words using the c is an s sound: place, palace police, pronounce.

Think of canister. You can see that the first letter of the name is c pronounced like a hard c like k.

The c with the cedilla, is easy to reproduce. ç (Type it and hold down the c key and tap the number one to get it printed in a text).

The capital of Madeira, Funchal, is on the south coast. Caniçal is anti-clockwise up the coast of the island.

3 CR7 Museum of football, Funchal, Madeira
CR stands for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo's CR7 Museum in Funchal, Madeira. Photo from Wikipedia author AbbyM.

Another photo opportunity with a full-size statue. It costs 5 Euros to go inside plus another 5 Euros for a photo with a Ronaldo mock-up. What do you see? Tropies, videos of scoring goals, fan letters, news of his donations, enough to entertain football fans and others. 

4 Wine Museum
Wine museum, winery and wine tour.

5 Cable car
Goes up to Monte. Monte like mountain, easy to remember. From there another cable car takes you to the botanical gardens. If you like that sort of thing. I prefer my feet on the ground.

6 Walks
Around town and across the island. See in Funchal on Avenido Zarco (Zarco Avenue) the statue of the man who discovered Madeira and was its first governor.

Of Passing Interest
You might pass the outside of the synagogue or the door of the cemetery. The synagogue is disused due to declining population of Jews. Zero.

Photo from Wikipedia.

So is the cemetery. Last used when the last Jew on the island died in 1967.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Christopher Columbus house
You might wonder why everybody needing better-paid employment didn't leave Madeira and go East to Spain and Morocco or west to America. One famous person did Christopher Columbus. It must be admitted that Christopher Columbus seems to have been born and died all over the place. So Madeira can lay claim to ancient and modern heroes, Christopher Columbus, explorer, and Cristiano Ronaldo, footballer.

I found a Jewish website which taught me about the geography and history of Madeira. Jews went west to Madeira from Gibraltar and Morocco. Madeira is in the ocean west of Morocco, and Gibraltar which points from Spain south to Morocco.

Food and Drink
Food is fish, fish, and more fish.
Madeira wine.
Passionfruit cocktail.

Souvenirs and Shopping
Madeira wine.

Madeira Wine Bottles at a wine tasting in England at Eton Vintners, Windsor and Eton. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Getting To Madeira
TAP Portugal (Star Alliance with Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and others) goes to and from Madeira (you have to type in Funchal FNC, Portugal).  You can go from New York or Brasil and other American continent airports, from London, Gatwick (LGW) or Portugal and other European destinations. You can also have a stopover in Portugal at Lisbon or Oporto.

(Other airlines include British Airways and some budget airlines.)

Hotels
The five-star Reid hotel where Winston Churchill stayed is on the top with an outdoor pool and sloping gardens. Winston Churchill stayed here. So did Bernard Shaw an several other famous people.

The rival luxury hotel is down by the sea.

Useful websites
Wikipedia Madeira
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira

Madeira Official Tourist Board Site
http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

Coniçal
Cristiano Ronaldo, footballer
Emanual Santos, sculptor
TripAdvisor

BBC article on Ronaldo statue
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39442098

Where Next? Cardiff, Wales - Emanuel Santos Bust
If you'd like to see another footballer's bust by Emanuel Santos, there's one outside Cardiff Stadium, of Gareth Bale, who plays for the Welsh team and Real Madrid (meaning not real Madrid but royal Madrid). The sculpture shows Gareth Bale's distinctive beard, moustache and topknot.

If you are not planning to visit Cardiff, at least when travelling to and through Wales you can think about it.  You see the stadium as the GWR train from Paddington goes west through Wales.

Cardiff Stadium, from the window of the GWR (Great Western Railway) train. 

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/05/gareth-bale-statue-emanuel-santos-cristiano-ronaldo-real-madrid

A detailed description of the life, problems and persistence of the sculptor Emanuel Santos.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2766946-a-year-after-internet-infamy-ronaldo-sculptor-gets-another-shot
Madeira wines and bottle labels:
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/madeira.html

http://www.cntraveller.com/article/travel-guide-madeira 
Mentions Columbus's house on Porto Santa, a 20-minute flight or two and a half hours by catamaran.

For a great photo of Emanuel Santos's sculpture of fisherman in a boat, see:

https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/cristiano-ronaldo-bust-artist/

Travelling to Madeira? Check out Tripadvisor.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g189167-d5993654-Reviews-CR7_Museum-Funchal_Madeira_Madeira_Islands.html
You can check out museums, landmarks, hotels and get ads for tours.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several posts on learning Portuguese and on Madeira. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Drink like George Washington: US Museum; Madeira Wine Tasting In England; and Visiting D'Oliveiras Winery and the Wine Museum In Madeira

Madeira wine was George Washington's favourite tipple, Jefferson's too, and Madeira from earlier eras was recently discovered in the USA. You can see displays in the Liberty Hall museum and read about them. What if you want to try and buy Madeira today, in England or in Madeira itself?

Madeira wine, which was offered at a free tasting at Eton Vintners wine shop in Eton, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Look in a large supermarket or shop for Madeira wine. I went to a tasting at Eton Vintners and tried several, going back five years, then ten or more years. 

As the clear, easy to understand label says, matured in oak casks. From the wine maker D'Oliverias. D means of. Winho means wine, in Portuguese. This bottle contains sweet wine. 

You also learn a few words of Portuguese, a free lesson. Produto is product and de is of. So similar to French. If you already know some French, Spanish or Latin, Portuguese sounds familiar. 

From the name of the country you can learn that EI is prounced EE-er. Likewise Oliveiras - you can work it out. I keep mis-spelling it like the English name Oliver, then remember the word Madeira and correct it.

You may recognize a catchphrase from a humorous Flanders and Swan song, 'Have some Madeira m'dear'.

That reminds me of sherry parties when I first went up to university. Madeira is a strong drink, best drunk, in my view, at the end of a meal with something sweet.

To understand Madeira, it helps to know its history. Madeira is an island in Mid Atlantic, a stopover in the old days before air travel for ships from the UK and Europe to the USA and on the way back.
According to UK importers and distributors Boveywines.co.uk, wines were sent East to Australia, a six-month voyage.

The country of Madeira has a balmy, springtime climate all year and grows grapes which can be turned into wine. The long journey of wines in barrels or bottles in heat probably evaporated some of the contents and did not ruin them but enhanced the flavour. Wine unsold at the other end got a double dose on the return journey.

Economics
If you are a winemaker and want to preserve wine, you can add some stronger alcohol, fortified wine, strengthened wine. It is cheap to make the wine used to fortify. The base wine has to be chosen and nurtured to provide the taste and aroma. But for fortifying, any cheap wine will do. So you are adding cheap wine, but increasing the price to the customer. Preserving and saving the unsold good wine for later. Using up the cheap wine you can't sell as fortifying wine. Good business. One might also think a good use of resources.

Necessity and Invention
At first, the change to the wine happened accidentally, wine fortified to preserve it, heated on a long voyage with unsold wine returned. Then it was done deliberately, sending fortified wine out and back on ship to improve it. Then, to save time, the wine was given the heat treatment, just being stored upstairs in attics (heat rises) in the heat without being sent off on a ship. Finally, the process was accelerated by boiling up or at least heating up the wine. The result is that Madeira can last for years and still be drinkable.

London, England, the UK, has always been a prime market for Portuguese wines, Port and Madeira, more recently Mateus Rose. Shippers, importers, exporters, drinkers, liked the Portuguese products.

The fashion for poor people, young workers, to drink beer, and rich retired people to drink soporific stronger alcohol seems to have changed with an increase towards drinking wine.

Despite the trend towards wine and away from stronger drinks, sellers are keen to sell all kinds of drinks, and I have been told that the profits on wine are low, the profit on spirits is high, and some businesses are kept afloat with the sales of the spirits subsidising the sales of the wines.

It seems to me the reverse of the loss leader idea, which is when a supermarket offers one free or cheap product attracting customers, who then spend on other goods. It's more like the hotels which make their profits on the suites and penthouses in high season, whilst offering lower priced rooms on lower floors and off-seasons to make the place look lively and busy and keep the staff employed all year.

How does this affect you and me and Madeira wines?

Madeira wine in the glass, offered at the free tasting at Eton Vintners wine shop in Eton. See the dark colour.

We tried five and ten-year-old wines, using the same glass. At first, I used one glass, sipped a little, spat and tipped the leftover in the spitoon. Then I rinsed the glass with water and rinsed my mouth. However, when I went to take a photo I realised I needed two glasses to compare the colours of the drink. If you kept two glasses, and saved the leftover of one wine to compare, you could see the change in colour. Like everything else, drink and food, stains on clothes, dyeing clothes, leave food or drink out for hours or wine for years in tanks and bottles and evaporation takes place, a stronger colour develops.  

Various spirits on sale in the spirits section of the wine shop.

In the UK
Look out for Madeira wine tastings. They are most frequent in the months leading up to Christmas. I have been to free tastes of assorted wines including Madeira at Berry Brothers in central London near The Ritz hotel and Piccadilly tube station, and more recently at Eton Vintners wine shop in the twin town of Eton and Windsor linked by a bridge across the river underneath Windsor Castle.

If you want to taste a Madeira in Madeira, you can go to the D'Oliveria (Vinhos) premises in Funchal, the capital and major city of the island of Madeira. In the Portuguese address you will notice, Ilha (island) da (of) Madeira.

Translations:
Portuguese - English
casa - house
do - of
horas - hours
e - and
ilha - island
museu - museum
rua - street
vinho - wine
vinhos - wines

English - Portuguese
and - e
hours - horas
house - casa
island - ilha
museum - museu
street - rua
wine - vine
wines - vinhos

Pereira D'Oliveira (Vinhos) LTD,
Rua dos Ferreiros, 107
9000-082 FUNCHAL
ILHA DA MADEIRA.

tel: 351-291 220784.
email:perolivinhos@hotmail.com

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm. Saturday mornings from 9.30 am to 1 pm.
You could plan to go in the morning, and find a restaurant for lunch, or in the afternoon, and find a restaurant for dinner.

They are just around the corner from the Wine Museum. I would prefer to do the museum before the wine tasting, but that's up to you and depends on the timing of your trip.

Wine Museum
Rua de 5 de Outubro
Funchal
Ilha da Madeira.

Blandy's Wine Lodge http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/explore/detalhe/madeira-wine-museum
Entry free.

Address:

Adegas de S. Francisco, Avenida Arriaga 28, Funchal

GPS:

32.648129 , -16.907894

Telephone:

(+351) 291 740 100

Email:

pubrel@madeirawinecompany.com

Web:

http://www.blandyswinelodge.com/

Open Monday to Friday 10-6.30. Saturday 10-1. Closed Sunday and public holidays.

Useful Websites
https://www.visitportugal.com/en/destinos/madeira
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/madeira-wine-two-hundred-year-old-found-fortified-cellar-new-jersey-liberty-hall-union-a7835881.html
http://www.kean.edu/libertyhall/about/history

duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/port-and-portuguese-wine-labels-and.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-ask-for-food-and-drink-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/learn-your-first-ten-words-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-do-you-say-please-in-portuguese-is.

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

earwormslearning.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other travel website:
http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Christopher Columbus Statues, Stories, Monuments and Relics

Problem
Where was Christopher Columbus born, where did he live and die, was he Christian or Jewish, where is he buried and where is his statue?

Answers
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, say the Italians. You fly into Liguria, a ribbon of land on the Italian coast on the Ligurian Sea, to Christopher Columbus airport.

Photo by Alain Rouille from Wikipedia.

A grand statue of Christopher Columbus is in Piazza Aquaverde, Genoa, Italy.

Columbus in Europe
He offered his services to the King of Portugal, and eventually was sponsored by the King and Queen of Spain. His brother was a map maker.

Columbus Statues, Cities, Memorials
SPAIN
A statue of Columbus is in Barcelona, Spain.

PORTUGAL
A statue of Columbus is in Funchal on the Island of Madeira which is Portuguese.

USA
You can see statues of him in America in: New York city, New York; Denver, Colorado; Pennsylvania. Many cities and areas are called Columbus or Columbia.

PUERTO RICO
A statue is in Puerto Rico.

BOYHOOD HOME IN ITALY
His boyhood home is in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. You can read about it in Wikipedia and TripAdvisor.

Christopher Columbus boyhood home museum, Genoa, Liguria, Italy. Photo by Jose Antonio from Wikipedia.

Burial
His body was moved around.

SPAIN
Columbus's body is currently in the cathedral of Seville, Spain. DNA testing has shown the remains are related to those of his brother.

It is not the only country to claim to have his remains.

Whilst it is fairly common to have part of a saint's body in a Greek church, they seem to send off body bits in all directions to bestow sanctity on sub-churches. I've heard of many places which have the heart of somebody, or even a finger. But to have two skulls from the head of the same man would stretch credulity.

I read extensively around the theory that Columbus was of Jewish descent, and a converse, or converted Jew.

If I remember rightly, some people claim that his grandparents were Jewish and from an off shore island, and they and/or his parents moved to Genoa.

In order to gain sponsorship from the devoutly Catholic King and Queen in Spain he had to be Catholic.

He was due to sail on the day the Inquisition started, but was prevented by bad weather and went a day later.

Two converted Jews were connected with his voyage. One was the man who gave the money for the voyage, after Columbus got approval to sail officially under the Spanish flag on behalf of the Spanish rulers.

Another member of the crew, known to be a convert to Christianity, stopped off at an island and did not go back to Spain. If Columbus were seeking a refuge for fellow Jews, why did he not stop there himself? Did he go back to tell others?

Or did he turn to Spain to protect his family who were in effect held hostage. Surely he could have sent the ship back, with the story that he had died and been buried at sea?

Christopher Columbus left instructions to his son to always write their surname in a particular way, a very elaborate series of squiggles, thought to conceal yet reveal to the knowlegeable a Hebrew letter which was a code to tell others he was a convert who wished to keep in touch with others who, despite having converted, were always at risk.

Others say this proves nothing. Besides, he was buried as a Christian in a Christian cathedral and that settles the matter. However, the mystery and controversy keeps interest in a story from centuries ago, the statues. and monuments on the tourist circuit. He took not one but four voyages. For those of us who find preparing for any long trip a challenge, he deserves his statue and it is worth a stop and a photo.

In Genoa you can see the house of Columbus.

For more, see Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liguria
http://wikitravel.org/en/Genoa
http://www.italia.it/en/discover-italy/liguria.html
https://www.umbriatourism.it
Also see the tourist boards for Spain, Portugal, Puerto Rico and the USA
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share posts.

I like Madeira's airport bust of Cristiano Ronaldo, and the CR7 museum website

Problems
A caricature of somebody looks weird. A bust doesn't look like them.

Answers
As the artist said, you can't please everybody. The bust pleases me. I love statues and busts of people. I was not interested in the footballer before but now I am.

I was interested to learn that Madeira's capital, Funchal, also has a museum about the footballer, local hero, partly because he is a rags to riches story.

The Museum is called CR7, the CR standing for Cristiano Ronaldo. Their website is in Portuguese and English. Just click on the letters EN at the top right to get the English.

However, it's pretty easy to read at least the headlines and captions in Portuguese, especially if you know French or Spanish or Latin or Italian. (I have fluent French and I have been learning Spanish and Italian on Duolingo - after a year of Italian and a year of Spanish I shall move on to Portuguese.)

Translating the words on the website at a glance
Cristiano - Christian
Ronaldo - Ronald
museu - museum
oro - gold
ballon - ball

CR7 Museum, Funchal, Madeira
The museum would be a good introduction to football even if you previously had no interest in it. The museum displays:
the gold boots; and
golden ball; interactive
exhibits allowing you to take a Selfie with still or moving objects and pictures of the world's favourite footballer.

Can I really make such a claim? Yes, go to the site and you will see his awards from football organisations.

Fast Facts
Madeira - Portuguese island

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo
From Wikipedia

See Photo of Cristiano Ronaldo
English: Cristiano Ronaldo
Photo Date 28 November 2015, 11:31:26
Source Football.ua
Author Дмитрий Журавель

Tips
1 Photo opportunity - Madeira airport.
2 Museum, Funchal
3 Facebook page on the museum
https://www.facebook.com/MuseuCr7/

Museum website
https://museucr7.com
Reviews from TripAdvisor
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g189167-d5993654-Reviews-CR7_Museum-Funchal_Madeira_Madeira_Islands.html

Portugal
I always found the Portuguese friendly. After investigation I discovered that the reason wasn't just personality of people living in relaxing warm environments. (The Italians are also warm and friendly.) Personality was augmented by happy history. The Portuguese have been friendly towards the British for centuries. The British were enthusiastic buyers of Port from Portugal, pink, sweet Mateus Rose in those attractive hourglass bottles which could quickly be converted into inexpensive bedside and lounge lamps the nineteen sixties. The friendship goes way back to the time when The Spanish rulers were waging war on Portugal and England so the Portuguese and British had a common cause.

Saved while researching - come back for more in five minutes.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.