Our Travels with a Christmas Tree .....

As Christmas approaches, it's time to put the blog on hold and spend some quiet time wrapping presents and getting ready for the Christmas festivities.

I've been everywhere man ...♬

The image below features our well travelled tiny Christmas tree and we thought it relevant to use it on our travel blog for this post. 

This Christmas we've yet to decide!  Hard to imagine, but when there's just the two of you and your children's turn to go to the in-laws we can leave it a last minute decision.

Quite a special little tree.🎄

Past Christmases this little tree has travelled with us near and far.  Actually it has been as far as the Caribbean!  

May your Christmas be merry and bright wherever you are this holiday season.

We'd like to thank you for taking the time to visit and read our blog and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  

We look forward to seeing you back here in 2018.
We have lots more to share on our stays in Malta, Madeira, Antigua, Sardinia, not to mention local garden visits
just to name a few.

💝* Merry Christmas from Jan and Malcolm *💝

Be safe, be kind, be happy and make every moment count.

😎Wherever you go becomes part of you somehow.

Share your travels with us.  Be out guest blogger next year.

It's easy to get in touch.

Prepare to be Amazed at Monte Palace Tropical Gardens

If you've been with us on our travels in Madeira, you will have seen our

  cable car ride.   

The cable car has taken us to the top of the island and to the

spectacular tropical gardens visited by thousands of tourists every year.

70,000 square meters!

But first the view when you reach the top.

Now prepare to be amazed as we wander through the Monte Palace stunning tropical gardens green and lush with waterfalls around every corner.

There is a large collection around the gardens of tile panels acquired by Jose Berardo, a business man and art collector, who now owns the house in the centre of the gardens.

This one was a particular favourite of mine.

Oriental gardens with walkways through and across lakes where the koi, of course, play an important part.  And Malcolm felt quite at home here!

Just a practical word.  I wore Fitflops for my trip to Funchal and tropical gardens.  Not ideal!  Malcolm was far more sensible.

Sadly it is time to leave this beautiful place and walk back up to our return journey on the cable car. 

Ah I think first we may need a little light refreshment.  And those little tables we can see above look like just the place to sit and digest the lovely gardens we've just seen, maybe with a glass of something.

This is a truly unforgettable experience.

By the way you can see some of the beautiful flowers of Madeira here.

But we haven't finished in Madeira yet .... stay with us for walks that took our breath away and mine for more reasons than one!

Smile - You're in Calheta

One of the oldest parishes in Madeira, is Calheta.  The name Calheta, actually means ‘small beach’.

Continuing on our travels.  

If you haven't seen our previous post, read it here.  

You won't want to miss the beautiful

Saccharum Hotel Resort & Spa.

Once we managed to tear ourselves away from the wonderful surroundings of this fabulous hotel we went out and about.

A word of warning.  It is best to go walking early morning before the sun reaches its hottest!

This pretty parish has an old sugar cane factory, which was founded in 1901 and is still producing sugar cane honey and sugar cane spirit now (known as aguardente).  The sugar cane syrup was a favourite of mine on my morning breakfast of fruit and yoghurt.

More about the sugar cane factory in another blog.  Malcolm took many photos there.  It certainly warrants its own blog to be sure.

Calheta is also famous for a wide variety of fish found in the coastal waters.  Indeed, in the marina, we spotted these fishermen.

Absolutely fascinating watching these hard working fishermen in the marina preparing for their fishing trip.

The Marina is really pretty. There are lots of trips on offer, from fishing to whale and dolphin watching.

We didn't do any of those mainly because we were only there for 7 days and as it was our first trip we wanted to see a bit more of the island.

Maybe next time! :)

The many waterfalls are so pretty.

 We couldn't believe the size of this variegated rubber plant!  

A little worried about the one growing in our conservatory now!

And Malcolm thought I was a little dotty when I stopped to take a photo of the fruit and veg in the supermarket.  Wow!  I think our supermarkets should take a page out of this book!  Just amazingly fresh and beautifully stacked.

Thank you for visiting our travel blog, we hope you will visit again soon.

The island of Madeira, I think, will take quite a few blogs.  There is so much to see and do on this beautiful island.

Hope to see you again very soon.

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