In the Autumn months of October and November staying in Madeira is a pleasant Experience, as long as you do not want to spend most of your time lying on a Beach to get a sun tan. It is more like a Scandinavian Summer; a little Sun, a little Rain;..
.???…»madeira is…sun»..?..
…partly cloudy and pleasant Temperatures between 18 – 22 Centigrades. This is the Atlantic Ocean’s blooming Island, even in late November.
If you like having Fish for Dinner, this Island is the right place to go. But be aware that Waiters at Restaurants with seemingly reasonable prices at their Menues, without warning, give you bread as a starter and this makes the prices go higher. As an Excample, a fish Menu (price 10 Euros) with Water to drink (water is more expensive than beer or wine!) quickly ends up to more than 20 Euros on the Bill.
Shopping in the Capital Funchal is OK. You will not be dragged into shops by aggressive Salesmen like in Turkey or in Arab Towns. Taxis are cheap to use for short trips, not more expensive than jumping on a Bus if you are two persons or more together.
Our Hotel; Quinta do Sol, was lying a short walk from the Town Centre. We were offered a small, dark room («garden view?») but saw only a little part of a tree from the small Window. I complained to a nice Lady in the Reception, and she let me have an upgrade to a better room in the front with nice Ocean view for only 30 Euros more. Good service!
Food: We were offered 3 Dinner buffets for 50 Euros. Not a big Deal, when the food tasted like some cheap Cafeteria dinners.
Our room-maids were friendly and greeted us with Good Morning- smiles if we met them. But the rest of the personell, waiters and people in the Reception were not so service-minded as we could expect. Very few of them greeted us with a Smile and remarks as «Good Morning, did you have a nice trip Yesterday? or We hope you have had a nice Stay with us! Welcome back!
So; will we come back to this Hotel later? Hmm… We are not invited, anyway!
Cultural Events: We booked a Consert in the English Church with Funchals Mandoline Orchestra. They were great, and really worth listening to!
Sightseeing: First time we visited Madeira, we had a Full-day sightseeing trip in a comfortable bus to the east of the Island with a very good professional guide. This time we called another Tour operater to take us to the western parts of Madeira. We got a small minibus, VW Caravelle with 8 seats, and a driver (guide?) that hardly could be heard or understood by anyone else than the front-seat passengers.
So will I come back another year? Yes, why not?
NORWEGIAN eller RYANAIR?
FLY:
Norwegian-flyet på nedoverturen var trangt, men på hjemoverturen fikk vi det nyeste i «flåten», et B737-800W, som var et komfortabelt fly. Det var noe trangere på Ryanairs fly.
MATEN:
Bedre hos Ryan! Der fikk vi i hvert fall noen få retter å velge mellom, selv på en kort tur til Frankfurt-Hahn. Hos Kjos var det bare å høre; dessverre, den retten har vi ikke nå, men du kan få… og så var det kun en varmrett å «velge» i, til tross for en over fem timer lang flytur! Dårlig! ;-(
BETJENINGEN:
Hos Ryan babler alle irsk, hos Kjos er det i alle fall en noenlunde forståelig og hyggelig skandinavisk tone som brukes overfor passasjerene.
KONKLUSJON:
Jeg foretrekker nok likevel Ryanair, dersom de har destinasjon RYGGE! Gardermoen er i største laget for meg, særlig når det er hanegal- avgangstider og mye styr for å finne parkeringsplasser.
TIPS:
Ved tidlig Gardermoen-avgang kan du prøve overnatting, for du får billigere, eventuelt gratis parkering på hotellene!
