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Our Madeiran spot by day:

and by night (courtesy of a Loved One):

We had the happiest and most relaxing of weeks; it is more than five years since I last had a proper holiday and many more since I had a holiday where I simply let go. (For the record, I relished every moment of my three weeks in India in 2008 and long to return but my Friend on the Road and I covered many hundreds of miles and I was, on that particular trip, a woman with a specific mission . . .)

Madeira was good to us: the sun was as generous as I hoped that it would be and, for a few days at least, our world was a warmer place. (Flying back into gales-force winds and cold, biting rain was most unwelcome.)

On our last evening we took a taxi to a hillside overlooking Funchal to eat at Z'Arcos, a restaurant that the Loved Ones had discovered on a previous visit. We ate outside on a wide verandah, surrounded by deep troughs of herbs - fat bushes of fragrant basil, rosemary, fennel and oregano. And we talked, among other things, of politics - national, European and international - as we often do and how we feel and see ourselves as Europeans and have done for as long as we can remember. (The UK faces the prospect of a referendum about our continued membership of the European Union; we agree that the community has many faults but faults can be put right. Better, surely, to make things better rather than to turn and walk away, without a clue of where we might be heading? We have no desire for the clock to be turned back. A Loved One remarks that, if the vote goes the wrong way - that is, to leave the EU - he will leave the country. We nod in agreement.)

Looking out across the pantiled roofs, with the Bay of Funchal just catching the last of the soft, evening light, we had a sense of being part of what we saw, not simply visitors. Something that none of us would wish to lose.

Comments

[colleen]

Sounds wonderful. And what of the mareira, m'dear?

[60 going on 16]

Ah yes, the Madeira, C. 'Twas many years since it had passed my lips and these days I rarely drink. But one evening after a rather fine dinner at a local restaurant, we were served ice-cold Madeira in tiny shot glasses. It was exceedingly good and a small quantity was plenty.

I bought a bottle home; a friend and I have already sampled the contents, in the same fashion, ice-cold after supper. I doubt that it will last long.

[materfamilias]

So glad you had a lovely, relaxing, revitalizing holiday -- you've had so much to contend with. May the warmth last, in your spirit if not in the surrounding weather back home!

[Wendy]

So pleased that you had a true holiday = probably overdue and definitely well deserved. It looks beautiful on your photos. wxx