The Start of Markovic Adventures: Honeymoon to Portugal, Part Madeira

Josh and I woke up at 4:15 AM Monday morning to go to the airport for our trip to Madeira. To support my assertion in my first post about cabs being cheap, I'll share with you the cost of our taxi-ride to the airport – 11 Euro after the luggage surcharge. After a spending a leisurely 2 hours eating our boxed breakfast and killing time before our flight – Josh likes to leave us a lot of time, we boarded our flight to Madeira. I should note that at the point at which I am writing this, we have been personally called 3 times this trip – before our NY to Lisbon flight, before the Sea Born boat ride (I’ll get to that) and before our Madeira to Lisbon flight. Sense a trend? Oops?

Enjoying The View From Our Room

We arrived in Funchal, the major city in Madeira (also sometimes called “little Lisbon” according to my guidebooks) and checked into our hotel, The Madeira Regency Cliff. After trying to upsell us on a suite and us declining, they decided to upgrade us for free on the occasion of our honeymoon. We had a porch with a beautiful ocean view and slept with the doors open so we could fall asleep to the splashing waves.

Funchal was very touristy and a bit disappointing. Madeira is super hilly so there were many beautiful views of the sea, mountainous terrain, and infrastructure. We started by sitting at a tea shop for tea and cake at a beautiful square. We stopped at Bordal, a recommended embroidery shop to find ourselves a tablecloth for our new apartment. Turns out embroidery here, while quite fine, is also quite pricey so we didn’t buy anything.

Monte Palace Gardens

We took a cable car up to Monte and then explored the Monte Palace Botanical Gardens (which they reminded us on every other telephone post that it is one of the top 13 or 14 botanical gardens in the world, depending on which sign).

Strolling through the gardens was relaxing and serene. After waking up at the crack of dawn, the slow pace of the garden was the perfect start to Madeira. We decided to skip the Toboggan ride back down to Funchal since it seemed overpriced and very short but immediately regretted our decision once we were far enough down the hill to make it not worth walking back up. The way down was STEEP and 6 km long. After 2 km, we decided to cab down the rest of the way.

Monte Palace Gardens

Next stop – the Farmers market. Pretty touristy as well but we had the chance to taste Poncha, a traditional Madeiran drink, which we hated, and 6 different types of passion fruits that grow in Madeira, which we LOVED.

For dinner, we tried a Turkish restaurant called “Istanbul Restaurante” (they’re quite creative with names – the Indian restaurant next door was called Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant). We loved the food and service and ended up returning our second night as well!

Levada Trail

The next morning, we joined a tour to walk along a Levada, or water channel for irrigation, called Valley of Paradise. The tour guide was very funny and the walk was easy but lovely. The guide pointed out some of the flora and fauna and made friends with a local dog.

The afternoon plan was to rent a car but there were no automatic cars available on the island and neither of us can drive a shift so we rearranged our plans and took a boat tour instead. The Sea Born boat ride, which waited for us incidentally, was incredible! The weather was gorgeous and the water, clear blue. I got a new perspective of the island by sea as I sat back with Josh and sipped a refreshing local beer (Coral) while the wind whipped through my hair.  [Note: I’m not a big beer drinker but it’s good stuff.]

Josh with our little SmartCar

Ponto Moniz

Our 3^rd and final day of Madeira, we finally rented our car and drove around the whole island. Turns out we got a SmartCar which was a tight fit with our luggage but I pulled a Ronnie and repacked everything in our suitcases so that it all worked out. We started with a view point from a neighboring town called Cabo Girao. Unfortunately, the sky was pretty cloudy so we turned around partway up the mountain since visibility wasn’t great. We continued on to Sao Vincete and admired the quaint town before setting off to wander through volcanic caves formed by lava. The caves were very cool and we learned a lot from the exhibition on volcanoes afterwards.

We then drove westward to Porto Moniz for the local natural lava pools. I wrongly assumed they were warm in temperature but the name is deceiving because it just means the pools are sitting on old lava but they were freezing! We went swimming and befriended a pair of British brothers on holiday. They gave us a tip for a great lookout so after air-drying in the harsh wind (we didn’t have towels), we drove up for a look.

Traditional House in Santana

Our final stop before heading to the airport was Santana, a town that still has the original type of Madeiran houses – small, A-shaped houses, painted red, white and blue, with thatched roofs. They were cool to see but there are only a few left and its very touristy so it wasn’t our favorite stop.

View from the Drive

View Along the Drive

Overall, the driving experience was slightly terrifying – many of the roads are incredibly narrow and winding, at the edge of cliffs, and intended for 2-way traffic. Josh did an excellent job behind the wheel. The views were INCREDIBLE though. The island is so lush and green and surrounded by perfectly blue water. The air was so fresh. We were so dazzled by the scenery that we didn’t even mind that we never figured out how to work the radio.

We finally ended up at the airport and my phone ran out of data and voice minutes – it really held out quite nicely since the car GSP failed us and Google Maps came to the rescue. Anyway, we made the flight just as they were pulling away the staircase for the back entrance to the plane. Just in time.

This is the U-Turn we had to make when the GSP failed us...

The Start of Markovic Adventures: Honeymoon to Portugal, Part Lisbon 2

Lisbon

When planning our trip, we were advised by several reliable sources to do a Jewish tour of Lisbon with Paulo Scheffer. Josh and I were skeptical because we weren't interested in spending alot of money to tour a city we can see on our own. Well, the tour was INCREDIBLE. It was worth every penny and is truly a must-do for anyone remotely interested in Jewish history planning to visit Lisbon.

The tour was 3.5 hours and gave us a great understanding of Lisbon history, which is both fascinating and somewhat tragic - its golden age was the age of discovery in the 15th century and today many buildings in central Lisbon are abandoned and written off as victims of the next earthquake, expected approximately every 250 years... which happens to be any day now. One of the coolest things we learned is that the main shopping area in central Lisbon still uses the original sewer system from Roman times. It survived the earthquakes and still works!! The Jewish history is probably more fascinating and definitely more tragic. The Inquisition lasted longer and was more cruel and fanatic than other inquisitions, including Spain's. Paolo was a tremendous story teller and had us clinging on to every word he spoke. After the tour, Josh and I agreed that if someone took a picture of us during the tour, we would probably be caught wide-eyed with gaping mouths. Paolo himself comes from Jewish and crypto-Jewish decent and has an interesting story of his own life to tell.

Lisbon

After the tour, we went to a a restaurant in the Chiado neighborhood called Fabulas, which served the best sparkling Sangria I've ever had. It was passion fruit flavored! The food was okay but the atmosphere and company were delightful.

Afterwards, we took a train to Sintra, a truly majestic town 45 minutes outside of Lisbon. We explored the grand Pena Palace and were FLOORED. It was truly the most spectacular building I have ever seen. Each room was more grand than the next. The details on the furniture and wall and ceiling decorations were marvelous. And when we stepped outside, the view was breathtaking. The palace sits on top of a mountain surrounded by luscious greenery and other beautiful structures in the distance. We were advised to take the transfer tram up the hill for 2 euro and did so because we were short on time. The climb looked do-able but certainly challenging.

Entering Pena Palace

Pena Palace

Quinto de Regalia

We then hustled over to the Quinto de Regalia, a very impressive structure from the outside but the inside doesn't hold a candle next to Pena Palace. However, we loved wandering through the gorgeous grounds. The paths were so green and serene and the waterfalls and beautiful structures kept it unique and interesting. We especially enjoyed walking through the underground caves. We felt like we were running through secret passages.

We returned to Lisbon exhausted and starving and enjoyed another all-you-can-eat buffet at a vegetarian restaurant called Terra. We arrived back at the hotel to an incredibly thoughtful and kind gift from the Jewish community - a care package of Kosher food for the rest of our travels! They sent us crackers, challah rolls, meat, candy, Pringles, chips and Tradition soups. After learning how difficult meat and some of the other Kosher items are to come by in Lisbon, we felt especially touched by their gesture.

What a wonderful way to end our visit to Lisbon. Better get to bed - we have a 4:15 AM wake up call coming our way to head to Madeira!

The Start of Markovic Adventures: Honeymoon to Portugal, Part Lisbon

I started this blog a year and a half ago at the start of my European adventures called "study abroad." It's hard to imagine that only 18 months later, I am on my next European adventure with my new husband and most alarmingly - AS A MARKOVIC!

But as they say (or I say)... You can take a girl out of the Schlussel but you can't take the Schlussel out of a girl. Josh and my Schlussel adventures continue under the guise "Markovic." And here begins our honeymoon.

We arrived in Lisbon early Friday morning. It turns out that the reason it was almost impossible to get a hotel here (thank goodness for Hotwire) is partly because of a Rotary conference with 20,000 attendees. Our hotel, the Parque Real Hotel is a bit far from the center of things but walkable and completely clean and decent. They upgraded us to the top floor with a gorgeous view of Lisbon when we told them we're on our honeymoon so we have no complaints.

Pastais de Belem

Friday morning we dropped our luggage at the hotel and hit the ground running (classic Schlussel style - see the Extreme Travel blog posts from Greece and Turkey). We started in Belem and since we hadn't eaten since dinner shortly after takeoff (it was actually very edible plane food), we decided to begin with a famous pastry shop - Pastéis de Belém. We tried their signature pastry and it did not disappoint. It met the hype and then some. While topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar, the taste explosion upon first bite came mostly from the oozy custard filling. A local on-line behind us advised us not to think we'd eat one but that you need at least 3 each. So we ordered a box of 6 and a coffee and luckily found a seat in the crowded cafe.

A boy who loves his maps

After fueling up, we visited the Jeronimos Monastery and admired the grand architecture from the outside. We then went to the Marine museum, which besides giving us ideas for Purim costumes (first married Purim!), we found it a waste of time. Outside the museum, a man tried to sell Josh much-needed sunglasses but after negotiating and then changing his mind, Josh was chased down the street by the determined salesman who had called Josh in a thick accent "a man of da business."

We then walked along the water to the Belem Tower and climbed up the fortress. There was an interesting traffic system in the old building where an electric arrow would tell you if you could climb up or down the narrow staircase.

At the Belem Tower

A Man of Da Business

Next, we took the tram to the old part of the city and wandered through the narrow cobblestone streets, climbing up and up until we reached Sao Jorge Castle. There, we enjoyed stunning birds-eye views of the city and chatted with helicopter pilots who are lieutenants in the US Navy and finishing up a one-year deployment. On our way down, we stopped at the Se Cathedral and enjoyed its beautiful architecture.

We got back to the hotel with time for a quick power-nap before getting ready for Shabbat. We attended the Shaare Tikva Synagogue. [Note: if you go, email a copy of your passport to security in advance.] There, Josh was greeted by an American visitor from Englewood, NJ who told Josh he went to Frisch for high school. Upon learning this, Josh exclaimed: "My wife went to Frisch!" Such a married comment!! Anyway shout out to the Moed family visiting Lisbon to see an exhibition Eric spent the last few months working on - a pop up exhibition in the home of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese consul in France, who against orders issued over 1500 visas to refugees fleeing the Holocaust.

We ate meals at the home of a middle-aged ultra Orthodox couple whom we were put in touch with by good 'ole Chabad. They were an interesting couple who both were born and raised in Germany, converted to Judaism as adults, married, and moved to Lisbon for the wife's job at the EU as an IT person in drug regulation. They told us about the challenges of living in such a small community. Also at the meal was the husband's non-Jewish father, and an Israeli man studying in Lisbon.

Mojitos at Clube de Fado

Shabbat afternoon we explored the city, observing a number of street artists, and some free but mediocre museums. After Shabbat, we went to town for dinner at an all-you-can-eat-buffet Vegan restaurant at Jardim das Cerejas and then experienced traditional Fado music and very strong mojitos at Clube de Fado in Alfama, the oldest section of Lisbon.

While it lacks the deep history of Rome and bustle of Berlin, my major take-aways from Lisbon so far are that
1. The people are extremely nice
2. Cobblestone hurts your feet
3. Cabs are very cheap
4. The hilly city with red rooftops, surrounded by water makes for stunning views around just about every corner