Hello it's the 8th June - still on Madeira
Yesterday was mostly a laze about day where I read a book
and caught some very patchy suntanning. We weren’t too fussed about doing touristy things during
the day since we were booked to watch the evening Funchal fireworks from the
catamaran – ‘Sea the Best’.
Funchal fireworks are world legendary and we have been lucky
to be around for the first of 4 Saturday displays in June. Different companies
who produce firework displays are competing against each other during the June Saturdays
and the one reckoned to be the best display gets the task of setting up the NEW
YEAR firework display, which is filmed for worldwide consumption: hugely famous
in firework demonstrations. Yesterday, Saturday 7th June, was the
turn of a Portuguese firework outfit; next week’s company are based in Canada,
followed by 2 more that are Portuguese.
To start the evening, we taxied from our time-share
apartment to Funchal harbour and had a wonderful dinner at a ‘reconstructed’
restaurant named ‘The Golden Gate’, one street up from the waterside.
There has
been an original ‘tea room’/ eating house on the site from Victorian times but
the initial décor had subsequently been replaced over time. Around the
millennium, the original plans were resurrected and a ‘reconstructed’ version
created to give the old ambience- a very well done rebuild.
Opposite our balcony table was the beautiful Banquo de
Portugal building and a statue commemorating Joao Goncalves Zarco.
I haven’t
yet encountered statues for the other 2 main navigators who settled on Madeira, but if there’s one for Zarco I imagine there
will be similar accolades for the others. Perhaps a task during the downtown walkabout
planned for this afternoon? (Sunday)
After dinner, we wandered down to the harbour to find our
catamaran, passsing the old fortifications buildings at the sea front- where the main defensive action took place in years gone past when the many pirates attempted to land on Madeira.
The marina is full of beautiful and sleekly expensive boats, I’m not
even going to try to say what types - I’m pretty sure there was every kind
there.
 |
| Sea the Best |
The firework display is set off from the end of the long
pier where the cruise ships dock – though there was no cruise ship in port last
night. People converge on many different places to watch the fireworks, the
Casino being a popular venue. My sister-in-law, whose time-share apartment we
are using, recommended we try to watch the fireworks from the water. She has
seen the firework displays from different viewing spots over the years of
coming to holiday in Madeira, so we followed
her suggestion.
The catamaran- Sea The Best - is used for many types of day
trips. You can do dolphin and whale watching, and hope to view giant sea
turtles and a variety of sea birds. Sometimes it’s possible to snorkel or swim
from the catamaran, weather permitting.
For our evening ‘fireworks’ trip, the
deal was around a couple of hours worth of powering out from the harbour with a slow sail along the coast. As the sun set, the clouds rolled away to leave a clear starlit sky. We
gently puttered along, a little way out from the shoreline and were able to admire the tiered lights of Funchal as they clothe the mountainside. By the start of the display we were in position opposite the end of the long pier, the engine idling. The crew had our champagne
and strawberries ready for the first blinding flashes.
It was a spectacular display seen from such a wonderful
vantage point. My photography skills are limited at the best of times, though are
even more challenged in capturing fabulous sparkling fireworks from a slightly
undulating catamaran. The firework show was naturally accompanied by suitable
music relayed to us on the catamaran via the local TV/radio station which had a
fashion show event on a red carpet catwalk on the harbour side.
Ubiquitous it may be, but – it
was a great night out!
Tune in for more from Madeira, though today is our last day. This is where a non-smiley face is appropriate.
Slainthe!
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