Madeira Day 2 - Levada Walk

Water is Madeira's most abundant natural resource. About a month ago heavy rainfall over a 1-2 week period caused some serious flooding and landslides that damaged parts of the island. We saw construction work to rebuild damaged areas, but things seem to be pretty much back to normal.

Levadas are handmade channels that carry water from the mountains down into the valleys to be used for irrigation and drinking. We went on a guided 11km hike along one of the levadas in the central region of the island known for its waterfalls. The weather was very overcast, cloudy, and rainy at the start of the day but thankfully cleared up by the afternoon. We were about 2-3 weeks early for the wildflowers that grow all along the trail but we still enjoyed the green and did get to see some flowers. Check out the giant dandelion, it hasn't flowered yet. How'd you like to see that in your salad (quite a mouthful - right Dad)?

After the hike we walked for about 30 min to get into the city of Funchal and explored the old city, market, churches, and along the waterfront before heading back to our hostel. If you get dizzy looking at these you can thank Allison - she likes to put an artistic flair in her pictures - it does give them more pizazz! For the record, she did admit she might have overdone it a bit! :O)

At the market we got to sample some different kinds of fruit. The lady at one stand came right up to us. If you stop to look for just a second, a piece of fruit will be thrust into your hands to sample. They'll rattle on in Portuguese/English - "Very good - you try....you like? You buy?" Allison and I sampled different kinds of passion fruit, anonas, and mango. It was all yummy. I even used a little Portuguese and the lady got a big smile on her face and went on with even more Portuguese. Allison did a good job using her Spanish to help pick up on some phrases. Together we were a good team. Here's some fruit we bought!

Madeira Day 1- Nun's Valley

We arrived in Madeira about 10:30am and found a bus that would take us to Funchal the capital city. The bus driver was very helpful and dropped us off close to the hostel. The hostel was larger than we expected and seemed more like a hotel.

We picked up some tourist brochures at the airport and ended up using Madeira Happy Tours. At their office they recommended we join their afternoon tour to the Nun's Valley that was leaving in the next 15 min. We decided to go for it! The weather was beautiful and the views from up in the mountains helped us get a better feel for the island.

 The Bird of Paradise is the flower of Madeira. You see lots of terrace farming all over the island. They make use of as much land as they can. Lots of tunnels have been built to make travel across the island from one valley to the next shorter.

After the Nun's Valley we spent some time wandering around the area close to our hostel. We walked along the water, found an Asian restaurant for dinner that was quite yummy and finished our evening with a stop and Pingo Doce- the grocery store to stock up on food for our hike the next day.

Spring Break!

I was so excited to have my sister Allison come to visit me over my spring break week. She arrived Saturday morning. That afternoon we took the train into Lisbon and went to the Oceanarium. It's the largest aquarium in Europe. They had many different kinds of fish and marine life.

We decided to travel to Madeira, a small Portuguese island south west of Portugal and west of Africa. It was described to us as the Hawaii/Caribbean of Europe. Many people from all over Europe (Germany, England, Ireland, Netherlands) come for vacation. Because of this the island is very much a tourist spot and most people spoke English. We spent 4 days and 3 nights on the island. It was beautiful! Here are a few pictures. More details and pictures to come...

Sporting Portugal vs. Atletico Madrid

Thursday night my roommate Gina and I got to go to a soccer game in Lisbon. Pedro, one of the teachers at ICSC, is a big fan of the Sporting team and offered that Gina and I could go to a game with him. We had quite the adventure getting there. Traffic was worse than expected and we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic about 2 km from the stadium. Once we made it near the stadium Pedro realized the Parking Garage he was planning to park in was not open any more - police were there not letting anyone enter. We were forced to follow the road back out toward the highway and away from the stadium. Pedro ended up parking the car up on the median at the side of the highway (a common thing to do in Portugal for soccer games, but Pedro never had before). It was only about 10-15 minutes to the start of the game so we jogged back towards the stadium along the main road. Of course our entrance was on the far side of the stadium from the way were were approaching! Here's one picture of the stadium I snapped on the jog there - that's why it's a little blurry!

Once we made it to the stadium there was a huge crowd of fans waiting to get it. We were shoulder to shoulder all pressed in trying to get access to the entrance. Twice different units of policemen all dressed up in their gear (complete with shields/helmets) pushed up the steps and tried to help direct the crazy mob. In the crowd fans would burst into the Sporting song - by the end of the night Gina and I could hum along! All the devoted Sporting fans wore their team scarf around their neck with the Sporting colors - green and white. Spain's team was red so Gina and I made sure not to wear anything red to the game! We finally made it into the stadium and found our seats.

 We just missed the first few minutes as we made our way to our seats right about on the center line. The game was high energy the whole way through. The fans threw a flare onto the field at one point. You can see it in the picture above. A few minutes into the game Madrid scored the first goal. By the end of the first half the score was 1-1 and in the second half Madrid scored again followed by Sporting. The final score was 2-2. This was the second game of the match. The first had been played in Spain about 2 weeks ago with a score of 0-0. The away team gets the advantage for any goals scored not at home which is why Madrid won the match even though the score was tied. Leaving the stadium was much easier and less hectic. It was a fun experience and probably the largest stadium I've been in. I'm glad I had the chance to see a soccer game and the adrenaline rush was worth it (even though it took me a while to fall asleep that night)!