Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): September 2024

Madeiran Cuisine

"Food is the passport to a thousand journeys, each bite an adventure." –Unknown

Madeira's cuisine is influenced by many different flavors and ingredients due to its location in the Atlantic Ocean between Portugal and Morocco. Seafood is a staple of the traditional Madeiran diet, and the island is known for its oily fish like tuna and skipjack tuna, as well as leaner fish like black scabbard. Other popular seafood dishes include limpets, octopus and squid. Here are some other traditional Madeiran dishes:

Bolo do Caco - A traditional local flatbread made with flour and sweet potatoes and cooked on the stovetop or fire. It's served warm with garlic and parsley butter. We loved, loved, loved this bread. I will be making some at home.

Bolo de Mel de Cana (sugar cane honey cake) - A dense sponge cake made with nuts and spices and considered the island’s oldest desert. Tastes a bit like a spicy fruit cake.

Pão de Deus ("Bread for God") - A traditional Portuguese bread made with a blend of soft bread topped with a sweet coconut layer. This one we wanted to try, but never seemed to find it.

Espetada (skewered) – Grilled beef traditionally cooked on skewers made of the local laurel wood. The meat is cut in cubes and seasoned with garlic, rock salt, and bay leaf before cooking it over hot coals. Most of these were large enough to feed several people. The servings of these are very large.

Prego – A sandwich made with bolo do caco bread spread with garlic butter and a thin beef steak. Sometimes it’s served with lettuce, tomato, cheese and ham. It's truly delicious. I'd have to say they're almost better than a hamburger.

Lapas or Limpets (Barnacles) - Are mollusks, similar to clams, which have a conical shaped shell, living strongly attached to rocks along the shoreline. Served in Madeira grilled with butter, garlic and a squeeze of lemon. Wanted to try these but just didn't.

Caldeirada (stew) - A unique fish and seafood stew cooked in a clay pot. We saw this on the menus, but didn't have a chance to try it.

Espada (black scabbard fish) - A Madeira traditional food that looks pretty scary and unappetizing until it's cooked. It has a delicate in flavor and a Madeiran food not to miss. Stan had this fish at least four times and loved it.

The traditional way to serve it is with fried bananas.

Octopus - Although not a traditional Madeira dish, it's incredibly popular on the island. You can have it cooked in lots of different ways, as a starter, as a side or with rice. It was our first time to try octopus and it was very good.

Carne de Vinha D’alhos (Garlic Vineyard Meat) - A Madeira dish that consists of small pieces of pork meat marinated in garlic and wine for at least a day, and then cooked in the marinade. We didn't have a chance to try this one either.

Nata - Devine little treats with a crusty flaky pastry filled to the brim with sweet egg custard and caramelized on top. Very popular in Portugal. We had these little treats in many places.

Madeira Wine - originated in the 18th century, when the island started exporting wine to the rest of the world. They found that the wine that wasn’t sold and was returned home was much more aromatic and flavorful than when it first left the island. We have tried this wine here and at home and we aren't big fans.

Poncha - A traditional alcoholic drink made with aguardente de cana (sugar cane rum), sugar and either orange juice or lemon juice. Some varieties include other fruit juices. These were very good...somewhere better than others.

Brisa Maracujá – A naturally carbonated soft drink made from purple passion fruit juice and treated water. It was created in 1970 and was the first soft drink in the world to be made from pure passion fruit juice. I did try the original and I wasn't a fan.

Tunnels in Madeira

“Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.” — Drake

We were very impressed with the roads in Madeira. They're well maintained, well marked and easy to navigate. We noticed two main differences between Madeira and the USA...lots of roundabouts and lots of tunnels. Without the tunnels travel would be almost impossible.

Madeira's mountainous terrain led to the construction of a network of expressways with over 150 tunnels and more than 135 bridges and viaducts. The tunnels are part of a free expressway road network that circles the island. The tunnels are not straight and flat, and can have steep climbs, tight turns and turn offs. The longest tunnel is almost 2 miles long. The tunnels may look modern, but in fact they were built between the 16th century and the 1940s.

See how much mountain is above some of the tunnels.

Most of the tunnels were lite well and always very clean.

Just a few pictures of the roadway. (photos from the internet.)

One of the pretty roundabouts.

Sept. 22 - Flying Home

“When we get home, home is still the same, but something in our minds has changed and that changes everything.” -Anonymous

Our trip home went much smoother than our trip over. We got up at 4 AM and left for the airport at 4:30. Luckily the airport is only a mile from our hotel. The hotel arranged for a taxi to pick us up and fixed us a box breakfast for us to take with us. This truly was a wonderful place to stay our last night in Madeira.

Check in at the airport was smooth, although they seemed to have a lot of security checkpoints. Customs coming in was a breeze. We upgraded again to business class which gave us plenty of room to rest on our seven hour return flight. We arrived in New York at 9 AM and had close to four hours until our flight to Ithaca. Getting through custom and taking the train to the next terminal was a breeze, but going through security took a while. JFK is huge! It felt wonderful to be back on the boat...so glad we flew to NYC.

I was tired and enjoyed my breakfast...I forgot to take a picture. We had a cheese omelet with mushrooms and tomato, fresh fruit and croissants.

We were back in plenty of time to have one last visit with Bob and Loretta before the boating season ends.

Sept. 21 - Last Day in Madeira

“Traveling allows you to become so many different versions of yourself.” -Anonymous

We moved from our beautiful little bed and breakfast near São Jorge to a nice resort on the east coast near the airport. Our flight leaves at 6:40 (we hope), so we wanted to be close. We're spending our last evening in Madeira at the Albatroz Beach & Yacht Club. It's a pretty property sitting on the cliff overlooking the ocean.

We had a slow morning enjoying the nice breakfast the inn serves then we packed and headed east. What a contract between today's scenery and yesterday. The mountains on the north shore are very green and lush. The cliffs on the east coast are very dry and barren. For such a small island Madeira has a very diverse terrain. We stopped at a unique overlook on our way east. It's called Guindaste Viewpoint. Their glass walkways protrude from the cliffs, offering panoramic views of the coastline. Wonderful views are not in short supply here...everywhere we look there's some beautiful to see.

Guindaste Viewpoint.

Stan was taking a picture of me...taking a picture of him.

Looking down 85' to the shoreline.

Looking east from the Guindaste Viewpoint.

Looking east to São Lourenço Point.

The landscape here is so dry. It felt like we had arrived on a different island. Pretty in its own way, but I like it a bit greener.

Looking west from the parking lot.

The Ponta do Ros viewpoint.

Looking south towards Caniçal, Machico and Santa Cruz.

Machico Beach is one of the few sandy beaches of Madeira, with sand imported from North Africa.

Machico is a pretty fishing town with access to the ocean with lots of cafés, shops and ocean tours for the tourist. It offers some of the most spectacular ocean views in Portugal.