Articles by Beatrice Labonne

 


 

                      TUNNELING THROUGH MADEIRA ISLAND 
 


Contrary to popular belief, the Madeira Islands were not discovered by the Portuguese, let alone the British; the Romans sailors already knew them as the Purple Islands.  The fact is the islands keep being rediscovered! 


The Madeira Islands are big volcanic rocks which emerge from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco.  Madeira is the name of the biggest and most famous island.  Hawaii, another famous island bunch, and the Madeira Islands share the same birth certificate: Both were produced by a volcanic hotspot in the middle of the ocean.  Nowadays both have become tourism hotspots. 


At the beginning of the 16th century, in the course of their African marauding, Portuguese sailors accidentally landed on the Madeira shores.  They liked the many opportunities offered by the temperate weather and settled down.  One of their most profitable endeavours was sugar cane and winemaking. For the following four centuries nothing much happened in the Madeiras. It was island routine: couple of earthquakes, diseases, ship wrecks and pirates’ inland forays. The island’s humdrum life was occasionally broken by rowdy visitors attracted by the easy availability of the sweet tawny-colored Madeira wine.  French pirates enjoyed ransacking the island.  It was a de rigueur stop over for the English merchant navy on route to distant shores.   


Madeira specialized early in celebrity honeymoons. Christopher Columbus who had married a local gal spent blissful months in the smaller island of Porto Santo.  Their love nest has become a tourist landmark.   


Although King Charles II of England did not marry the Portuguese princess Catherine of Bragance in Madeira, the island was part of her dowry.  Catherine’s dowry still is the largest dowry ever registered in world history! The results of this marriage are many and lasting. For example, English ships began carrying Madeira wine to the American colonies.  The Queens suburb of New York City was named after Catherine.  She is without doubt the foreign princess who most influenced English customs. She had good table manners and introduced forks to the royal table. She drank tea and started the five o’ clock tea ritual! 


Napoleon was an unwilling tourist on his way to his St Helena exile. He was not allowed to disembark the English ship but was graciously offered a bottle of Madeira wine.  This gift was very apropos, I will explain latter. 


Madeira’s slumber would have lasted longer had not the British rediscovered the islands at the end of the 19^th century.  The British came to drink the wine in situ.  This changed the islands’ fortune forever. In winter, the rich and famous came by shiploads to escape the British fog, and to enjoy the pale sun and sweet wine.  An ageing Winston Churchill found peace and inspiration when painting the lush hills near Reid Palace.  Other Europeans came too, but with less cheerful purposes. Sissi, (Elizabeth) the Austro-Hungarian empress traveled to Madeira concealing her angst under her large brimmed hats. Her nephew the saintly Karl, the last emperor, died here in exile 


Long gone are these gentle days.  Madeira has re-branded itself as a destination for fast-lane tourism, literally.  Its new tourists are on a budget and in a hurry. The island is being dug for speed and efficiency.  Awash in European Union subsidies, engineers have dug kilometers of tunnels through the lava rocks. Madeira is a bonanza for fast drivers and a punishment for laid-back nature lovers. The old scenic roads have been replaced by underground expressways. Madeira has more tunnels per square kilometer than Switzerland the tunnel yardstick country. 


In early January, I spent three days motoring in Madeira, half of it inside tunnels. Apart from the picturesque capital Funchal, the southern part of the island is totally devoid of charm, heavily urbanized and overbuilt. Conversely, the rugged northern coast and central mountains are described as stunning natural beauty.  I hardly saw it! The northern motorway has replaced the scenic coastal road which has been closed for traffic for safety reasons. Now you exit one tunnel to enter another one. There is no lay-by on the side of the road for scenic stops.  Forget the stunning landscapes; Madeira has become a man-made wonder. This may be the reason why so many German tourists come here. The debonair and garden-loving British tourists have seen their numbers dwindled replaced by thrifty and sporty Germans.  


Daring engineering feats hit you upon landing at Santa Cruz airport near Funchal. The runway is in fact a bridge which straddles two costal cliffs.  Daytime landing is not for the faint of heart. I never landed on an aircraft carrier, but touchdown in Santa Cruz seemed to me just as nerve-racking.   


Actually, tunnels are not a new development in the island.  As early as the 18^th century, engineers were hard at work digging tunnels, channels and trenches for irrigation purposes.  They created the levada system which is some 800 kilometres long and still flows water to the dry land.  Tourism has given the levadas a new purpose: they have become a network of walking trails.  Mild-climate Madeira has reinvented itself as a paradise for the 21st century hiker.  


Madeira has once again been rediscovered, this time by the sporty computer buffs. Madeira was born by means of a volcanic hotspot: it has now graduated into a Wi-Fi hotspot.  Wearing their multi-pockets fleece, their BlackBerry safely zipped inside the front pocket, the computer geeks can hit the levada trails confident of nearly uninterrupted Internet access!  


To write this article, I did some digging, well Internet research that is.  I know a few things about digging, I was a practicing geologist. I found some little dirty secrets about the island. There are certainly a couple of skeletons in Funchal closets, but my interest concerned Madeira winemaking. Deception has routinely been an active ingredient in winemaking; the French won’t contradict me on this one! Well, deception took place in Madeira winemaking too.  The French again had their finger in it, Napoleon’s finger in this case. For a couple of years, the Imperial French fleet blocked access to the island. The wine could not be exported to the New World, and turned into vinegar. To ensure proper wine conservation, brandy was subsequently added. This practice continues to the present days.    


Madeira wines owe a lot to John Blandy, an Englishman who came from Dorset in the mid-18^th century when the French blocus was lifted. He put all his energy into upgrading the quality of the wine. In spite of his efforts, the French dismiss the wine as good only for sailors and cooking! 


I doubt that Madeira wine was served on Victoria and Napoleon III’s table, when the British queen and Napoleon’s nephew signed the Entente Cordiale.  Anyway, I may look into it. 


Some useful links:

www.madeiratourism.org

www.madeira-web.com 


 

Beatrice Labonne, 2 February, 2007.