Year: 2013

Yesterday the first of 12 cruise ships arrived in Funchal to join the New Year’s Eve party in Madeira. This is the “The World” – a completely different kind of … Read more

On a seasonal note we  have had some great photos sent in of the Christmas lights in Funchal (the first outside the Sé and the second in Praça Município). Thank … Read more

Madeira’s favourite son, Cristiano Ronaldo, accompanied by his model girlfriend, Irina Shayk, and Madeiran President Alberto, João Jardim, officially opened the CR7 Museum yesterday. According to BBC Sport, the Real … Read more

Not been a pleasant night on the island – a lot of wind and rain and the “tormented” seas continued, and are still with us this morning. A lot of … Read more

The Portuguese Institute of Ocean and Atmosphere (IPMA) today placed mountainous regions of Madeira under a red warning (the most serious of a scale of four)  because of the forecast … Read more

I had an e-mail from Jon and Debs at Casa Parsons the other day which I immediately asked if I could reproduce on the blog. The reason for the request … Read more

Apologies for the short notice but this has only just come to my attention:

… Read more

The Diario is reporting today that Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed he is considering investing in the hotel business in Madeira in partnership with the Pestana Group, owner of several hotels … Read more

The Vine Hotel won the title of ‘World’s Best Design Hotel’ under the World Travel Awards 2013 announced in Doha last night – a major event with over 700 attendees… Read more

Apparently recent heavy rainfall in the north of the island continues to have a serious impact, with the road between Faial and Porto da Cruz closed to traffic yesterday – … Read more

EU is the enemy of democracy?

The on-line newspapers are building up to a frenzy at the thought of UK borders opening to Bulgarians and Romanians on the 1st of … Read more

easyJet have just published the following announcement and e-mailed visitors arriving at Madeira airport tomorrow (Saturday):

There is a border control strike taking place at all Portuguese airports from 23rd

Apologies for the silence over the last week – had a few problems with the broadband connection but back up and running at 120Mbps+ now. I may have to revise … Read more

A recent Trip Advisor comment about Cais do Carvão, part of the seafront immediately west of the Lido and before Clube Naval (formerly Quinta Calaça), expressed the opinion that it … Read more

The Finnish flag company , Finnair , debuted a new model in Madeira on October 27 – their first A321, which also sported the latest paint scheme as part of … Read more

Watching another block of flats, the Royal Princess, leave port on Saturday, you were immediately struck by the unusual bearings – she stayed parallel to the south coast of the … Read more

Two more Continente Stores open

The Diario reports that one month after the opening of five new stores in Madeira, Continente Modelo will open two new supermarkets on the island … Read more

TAP have announced a promotion on flights booked from Lisbon or Porto to Funchal – provided they are booked by October 20th. The fare of €46.00 includes all taxes, and … Read more

Heat turned up

Higher temperatures are forecast to return to the island the Portuguese Institute of Ocean and Atmosphere (IMPA) issuing a yellow warning between now and Tuesday.

“The warm … Read more

Politics dominate the press at the moment with the local elections imminent. However the Diario’s “More” supplement last weekend featured an article entitled “From Green to Grey”, with shots of … Read more

First of three flood defence sytems opened

The President of the Regional Government convened the media on Friday to publicise an investment of € 2.75 million in four sets of … Read more

Jon Parsons kindly sent in the following “public information” update those officially resident on the island – having been  stopped by the police recently!

Following a recent "meeting" with our … Read more

Bit of a “back to work” feel about Funchal this week after most of the locals seem to have had most of August as holidays as usual. Schools still closed … Read more

The training ship Creoula will be in Funchal over the weekend. Part of the The Universidade Itinerante do Mar (“travelling university of the sea”) project created in 2006 by a … Read more