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Features
12 content December 2011 January 2012
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Features Editorial Events Municipality of Culture - Machico Madeira Chronolgy Monte Palace Tropical Garden Goodbye 2011 Hello 2012 Typical Madeira Christmas Madeira News 2011 Christmas Gift Ideas The Island Vineyard
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Chestnuts Anyone? Sparrowhawk Tomas TranstrÜmer Liverwort Subscription Pastime Sudoku St. John’s Tuna Museums Archives and libraries / Thematic centres Whale Museum Showcase Review Information
December - January 2012
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Editorial
Madeira Island magazine
A Word of Thought
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The end of something usually brings the start of something else, and it’s often more exciting to look ahead than to look Tony Kennedy back. As the end of 2011 gets closer, we want to look back over the past year, and beyond, in a way that was just as fun as looking forward to 2012. Over the years, Madeira’s tourist destiny has demanded both quality service and products from this region which fortunately, for Madeira, and from an international point of view, has successfully met such demands with a good deal of professionalism and distinctiveness. However, it must continue to work harder, both externally and internally, if it is to attain greater achievements. It was with this in mind that, in 1979, a series of initiatives were taken. Among them was the mass implementation of tourist-aimed advertisement - a large-scale publicity stunt designed to lay emphasis on the Island’s Christmas and End-of-the-Year Celebrations. Tourist promotion usually begins on November 15 and ends on January 6 of the New Year. During this festive season, the population of the island is swollen with Madeirans returning home for their festivities from all parts of the globe, as well as a vast influx of tourists. Every hotel, apartment and pension bed is filled by tourists, and there are hundreds of special planes arriving, culminating on New Year’s Eve with eight or nine cruise ships filling the harbour. The build-up towards New Year’s Eve starts around the 23rd of December, when the fruit and vegetable The Madeira Island market is open all night, with plenty of singing and Magazine wishes dancing. Christmas is traditionally a family time for everyone a very happy the local population, but all the hotels put on special holiday in Madeira, Christmas dinners and parties. By now the whole including tourists of Funchal is a mass of colour from thousands of coloured light bulbs. Every tree, building, statue from all over the world and fountain is a blaze of light. The churches on the spending this Christmas hillside are floodlit, and on all the main roads in and and New Years Eve in out of Funchal appear strings of white light bulbs. Madeira and Porto Over towards São Gonçalo, appears the year in Santo. giant numbers, formed by white light bulbs on the hillside, ready to change to New Year at midnight on the 31st of December. After Christmas, the build-up towards New Year’s Eve continues. More and more planes and people arrive. Bands appear in the streets, and folklore groups dance and sing in the central reservations and gardens of Funchal. Welcome to Madeira Island and have a safe and happy holiday.
Subscription Enquiries (351) 291 232 904 General Mib Enquiries & Fax (351) 291 232 904 You Can Reach Mib Through Its Email mib@netmadeira.com Associate Managers Rafael Caldeira Vitor Nunes Editor Tony Kennedy Graphic Designer & Photographer Rafael Caldeira Cover Photo Hotel Calheta Beach Sales Amélia Freitas Typographer SIG Circulation 10 000 Licence # 123608 Edition 332
No part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of MIM (Madeira Island Magazine). As every effort is made to provide accurate information in this publication, we would appreciate it if readers would call out attention to any errors that may occur by communicating with: MIM Rua da Cooperativa Agrícola Bloco E – 1º B 9050 – 555 Funchal Tel./Fax (+351) 291 232 904 Email – mib@netmadeira.com Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness, and the opinions based thereon, are not guaranteed.
Madeira Island magazine
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Events 2nd-5th December – Calheta – Madeira Dig
The 8th edition of the Madeira Dig International Festival of Digital Arts will take place, at the “Casa das Mudas” Arts Centre, in Calheta, between the 2nd and the 5th of December. During this year’s edition several big names in the world of audiovisual and electronic music will be performing in this event, such as Stephen O’Malley, Peter Rehberg, Taylor Deupree, Markus Detmer, amongst others. MADEIRADIG was created in 2004 filling a gap in Madeira’s cultural scene concerning the areas of multimedia and digital arts. This festival was born with the purpose of bringing to the Region internationally renowned artists in music, cinema, video, art, IT and photography, as well as aiming to motivate the Madeira artists to create new artwork within these areas. For further information: www.madeiradig.com
December 2011 3rd - 4th December – Boaventura –
5th Exhibition of “Traditional Madeira Delicacies” This is an event organized by Casa do Povo of Boaventura, located at the parish of Fajã do Penedo, in the northern municipality of São Vicente, aiming to promote Madeira typical Christmas gastronomic delicacies, such as liqueurs, corn bread, cakes and others. Also, there will be lots of musical entertainment with the participation of several folk groups. More information at: www.casadopovoboaventura.com
gio Church, between October 31st and December 17th 2012, with a total of 45 concerts scheduled each Monday at 12:30 pm. The program for each concert will include a piece by a Madeiran composer, featuring students and teachers from the Arts Education Coordinator Group (GCEA). For further information: www.igrejadocolegio.com
Until 17th December – Funchal –
“Voz Celeste” Organ Concerts The Regional Secretariat for Education and Culture (SREC) will promote a new series of organ concerts under the theme “Voz Celeste”, a project that involves the partnership of Funchal bishop’s jurisdiction. These concerts will take place at Colé-
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October December November - January 2008 2008 2012 October -- November
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Events
December 2011 January 2012
8th December -6th January
5th January – Funchal Municipal Garden –
December commemorates the arrival of Christmas season commonly known as “A Festa”, a particular festive season which is lived intensely by Madeirans with a special feeling. In Madeira, Christmas and New Year celebrations offer a program filled with a variety of religious, ethnographic and artistic events that last until January 6th. Funchal’s downtown area is filled with music, colour and light. The beginning of the Christmas and New Year program brings both locals and visitors together, culminating with the spectacular New Year’s firework display at the amphitheatre of the Funchal bay, an event which has been officially recognized by the Guinness book of Records in 2006 as the largest firework display in the world.
“Encontros da Eira” Cultural Association, a musical group associated to Madeira traditional music, will organize and produce the traditional twelfth night songs, a concert to be held in the Auditorium of the Municipal Garden, in Funchal, at 9:30 pm. This event marks the end of the New Year festivities in an initiative that seeks to recreate traditional popular songs that the Madeirans used to sing on this day, door to door, in several local parishes around the island.
Christmas and NewYear Festivities
“Cantar os Reis” - Twelfth Night songs
Some of the highlights of this program are:
December 8th - General lighting of the Funchal amphitheatre December 9th – Beginning of street entertainment December 23rd - Night in the Farmers’ Market, starting at 8 pm December 28th – ‘Tour of the City of Funchal’, at 8 pm December 31st – New Years Eve firework display January 6th, 2012 – “Chants of Epiphany” by Encontros da Eira - Municipal Garden For further information regarding Christmas and New Year celebrations program consult Madeira Tourism Board Official Website: www.visitmadeira.pt 6
28th December – Funchal –
53rd Tour of the City of Funchal – Athletics The Tour of the City of Funchal is an event promoted by the Madeira Athletics Association and considered one of the oldest of its kind in Portugal and Europe. This competition has attracted several national and international athletes to Madeira, bringing lots of adrenaline to the downtown area of the island’s capital. For further information: www.atletismomadeira.pt
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Municipality of Culture
Machico DECEMBER December 1st-3rd Concert “Dias da Clássica” Machico Forum
December 10th End-of-year Festivities Comemmorative Show “Machico Município da Cultura” Machico Forum
December 2nd Painting Exhibition ‘Alexandra Carvalho’ Temporary exhibiting rooms of Solar do Ribeirinho – 18:30
December 11th MERCARTE Madeira - Art & Handcraft Fair Largo da Praça – 10:30 - 18:00
December 9th Christmas Show – ‘Conservatório – Escola das Artes’ Machico Forum
December 16th Xarabanda Band - Madeira Christmas Machico Forum
Madeira Island magazine
15th January – Santa Cruz –
Santo Amaro Festivities Saint Amaro is celebrated throughout the entire island of Madeira, in a particularly festive and ceremonial way, when Christmas delicacies are laid on every table. In this special occasion families gather to dismantle their Nativity scenes - “lapinhas” - and “sweep the larder clean” – a tradition that consists on visiting the family and friends who reunite to share the last delights of the holidays. The municipality of Santa Cruz commemorates this event in honour of its patron saint, in a celebration full of excitement that fixes the end of the Christmas holidays.
23rd January – Chão da Ribeira do Seixal – “Panelo”Feast
This is a well-known Madeiran tradition and one of the oldest of this northern village, lived with a special feeling by its people. This popular tradition starts in the morning, around 9:30 am, when families gather to socialize and to prepare lunch - the “panelo” (pot). This culinary dish is made of vegetables and blood sausage, very similar to “Cozido á Portuguesa” (“Portuguese stew”). This commemoration also features stalls, selling local food and drinks, along with lots of entertainment.
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history
Madeira Chronolgy
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1418
• Zarco and fellow mariners are blown off course and washed up on Porto Santo. 1419 • Zarco and Perestrelo return to colonize Porto Santo. 1420 • Zarco and Vaz land on Madeira. The first settlers start a fire which burns for 7 years. 1425 • Dom ]oão officially makes Madeira a full province of Portugal. 1566 • The French pirate Bertrand de Montluc raids Funchal with a thousand men. 1580 • Philip II of Spain lays claim to the Portuguese crown. 1640 • End of Spanish rule in Portugal. 1665 • King Charles issues his ordinance forbidding exports to English colonies, but excludes Madeira from the ban, giving the island an effective monopoly over wine exports to the New World. 1768 • Captain Cook visits the island. 1801-1802 • First British Occupation. 1803 • Great flood in Funchal
1807
• French troops march on
Lisbon.
1807-1814
• Second British Occupation. 1808 • General Beresford, commander of the occupying force leaves Madeira with half the garrison. 1814 • French finally defeated on mainland. 1815 • The ship carrying Napoleon to exile calls in at Funchal. 1821 • Dom João returns to Lisbon from exile in Brazil and accepts the restricted powers offered by a new Constitution. 1826 • Dom Miguel declares himself absolute monarch. 1828 • A new Miguelite governor arrives in Madeira together with 1000 troops. Some Liberals escape to Britain; others are arrested and imprisoned. 1834 • Dom Miguel defeated and exiled to Austria. 1838 • The British Factory wound up during a dip in the wine trade. 1851 • Oidium tuckeri, a mildew disease, strikes Madeiran vines. Wine production drops.
1856
• Cholera epidemic. Over 7000 people die in a few weeks. 1872 • Phylloxera vastatríx, a vine louse, all but destroys the wine industry. 1910 • Portugal proclaimed a republic. 1914 • All German property on Madeira confiscated. 1916 • Germany declares war on Portugal. Funchal shelled by German U-boats. 1917 • Funchal suffers a second light shelling. 1932 • António de Oliveira Salazar becomes Prime Minister and dictator. 1939-1945 • Portugal remains neutral in the Second World War. 1968 • Salazar leaves office after a stroke. 1974 • Salazar’s successor, Dr Marcello Caetano, overthrown after a bloodless coup, and the modern state of Portugal established. 1976 • A new constitution gives Madeira special status within Portugal as an Autonomous Political Region.
December - January 2012
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berardo museum
Monte Palace Tropical Garden
Situated in the amphitheatre of Funchal about 5 kilometres from the centre of town you will find one of the most beautiful gardens of Madeira Island, the Monte Palace Tropical Garden. This garden, belonging to the Berardo Foundation, invites you to an unforgettable journey through nature. In 1989 this property was donated, by its owner José M. R. Berardo, to a chariMonte table institution Palace Museum created by him, Timetable: the Jose 10:30 -16:30 Berardo Foundation. The daily within the Monte Foundation’s Palace Tropical aims are mainly Garden charitable but it also dedicates a great and special concern to the safe-keeping and preservation of works of art as well as to the defence and preservation of the environment, with the Monte Palace Tropical Garden constituting undoubtedly the privileged location for realising these objectives.
From the Pleasure Estate to the Monte Palace Tropical Garden
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At the west entrance there is a statue entitled “O Senhor Poeta“ (The Poet), dedicated to Fernando Pessoa, the illustrious Portuguese poet who was born in Lisbon on 13 June 1888 and died on 20 November 1935, in the same city. This work was completed in 1985, in white marble and russet black granite from Estremoz and is positioned on a limestone column. Alongside this can be seen a feminine torso called “Le Soupcon” (Suspicion), on a column of metamorphic rock, completed in 1989 and sculptured in yellow marble from Negrais and russet black granite from Estremoz. In the arched vaults a bronze statue called “Skipping Girl” may be found which, as its name suggests, shows a girl skipping with a rope. This piece was created in 1987 by the English sculptor James Butler, who was born in London, in 1931. In the same area there are other works in bronze, like the statue produced in 1981 by Gotthard and entitled “Elephant Skull and Poacher”, its theme being the hunting of elephant in Africa. Also in bronze, we can observe the statue “Victory Bronze” which represents the Sharpville Revolution, and was crafted in 1970 by the hungarian sculptor Zoltan Borbereki, who was born in Ronaszek, in 1907. This sculptor now lives in South Africa, and has been presented with several awards from that country and also Hungary and Austria.
www.berardocollection.com This peaceful location can be visited daily from 9:30a.m. to 6p.m. The best access to this Garden from the centre of Funchal is to take the cable car up to Monte and go through the entrance at Caminho das Babosas #4A. The other entrance is at Caminho do Monte #174. Courtesy: Monte Palace A Tropical Garden, ‘Nature in Harmony’, pp.143-146
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December - January 2012
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new year celebration
Goodbye 2011 Hello 2012 The end of the old year, or Fim do Ano, is the most glorious time of all in Funchal.
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Against the immense background of the Monte the diamond-studded network of lights is brighter than ever. You can amuse yourself by trying to pick out the calçadas, the festooned lights on the pier, the illuminated belfries and the towers of the Monte; the Virgin of Terreiro da Luta, the mists of Santo António and the dark courses of the streams. Above the peak of São João the brighter lights pick out the battlemented rectangle of the fort of Pico, the pylons of the Radio Station and the illuminated sign showing the year which is about to die.
10 Now a voice on the loudspeaker counts the minutes, then the seconds, and suddenly in a single burst of sound and light all the ships’ sirens, all the church bells and all the fireworks begin at once. Enormous showers of sparks blossom in the sky, the heavens are full of shooting stars, not in any one spot alone, but over the whole of Funchal, on the quays, terraces and hills and from every belvedere or miradouro. Colored lights splutter and take flight. Stars rain down into the mirror of the bay and the sound of the explosions echoes in the mountains. Here and there churches and palaces are illuminated by the clouds of pink smoke from the fireworks, pouring forth like dragons breathing fire. But even if the weather is bad, neither wind nor rain will stop the rockets from
being set off, and their diffuse light through the raindrops only seems to add to the fantasy of the display. On the highest pylon of all the last figure of the passing year is switched off, and then the date of the New Year immediately appears in lights. All around there are good wishes in every language: «Happy New Year! Bom Ano Novo! Bonne Année!» You will not be able to prevent a lump rising in your throat at this moment. It is the Passagem do Ano – the passing of the year – like the passing of an Angel, and quite different from the New Year celebrations in Europe with popping champagne corks. The illuminated date suspended between the sea and the mountain in this island night is a symbol of mystery, marking a death, a birth, and heavy with unknown destiny. You will never really have celebrated the New Year properly if you have not had this experience. Little by little the lights go out, the music and the voices die away. Perhaps your ship will be putting out to sea straight way, as soon as the anchor has been raised, and this is just as well for it will go out on the swell while you watch the mountain, darker even than the night, and the tiny isolated lights in the villages which are going to sleep.
After the Christmas commemorations the high spirits continue, in anticipation of the New Year Festivities, with the famous fireworks display, officially recognized by the Guinness World Records, in 2006, as the greatest display of fireworks in the world. This magnificent scenario, of rare beauty, is simply unique, with thousands of multi-coloured lamps decorating the amphitheatre of Funchal, transforming it into a grandiose stage. As the clock strikes twelve, on the 31st, the sky is lit up with colour, light and hope in a new year that is just beginning.
Don’t miss this enchanting once-in-a-year finale in Madeira!
Madeira Island magazine
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«Happy New Year! Bom Ano Novo! Bonne Année!» 11
December - January 2012
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christmas tradition
Typical Madeira Christmas In Madeira, the lapinha (nativity scene) is the queen of the Christmas celebrations which begins to build itself up a few days prior to the big event. It is constructed in escadaria (step-layered set-up of a metre or more), covered with a white towel and decorated with searinhas (green plants of rye, lentil, corn and wheat), brindeiros (small bread rolls), fruit of the season: apples, oranges, tangerines, and a small oil-burning lantern.
Madeira Island magazine
Courtesy off Casa do Povo da Ilha
In the early 19th century, a Madeiran banker, by the name of João José Rodrigues Leitão, decided to revive the then forgotten tradition. Wealthy families began to compete with one another by taking the firework display to its primitive platform. The higher areas of the city were where fireworks were released. But it wasn’t long before everyone, of all ages and classes began to join in the fun. When the pyrotechnic show had ended, the commemorations continued throughout the night in colourfully decorated living rooms which were to be used as dance floors until the crack of dawn.
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It is just before Christmas that Madeirans slay a pig - a swine whose meat will also serve to prepare other traditional iguarias (victuals) of the epoch. The Matança do Porco or ‘Slaughtering of the Pig’ begins at dawn when a group of four to five men, some of them using the typical ear barrette (rustic barrette of wool) saunter towards the chiqueiro (shed) and subsequently tie a rope around the pig’s neck while steering it outside where, after holding it firmly against the ground, the matador or slayer aims and abruptly stabs the pig with a razor-sharp 15-inch stainless-steel blade. The blood that springs from the neck is then quickly saved by the women who, with an alguidar or bowl in the hand, take advantage of such blood to make the tasty sarapatel (pig blood seasoned with onion, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and vinegar). The rest of the carcass is skinned and stripped down to the bone and the meat used in a variety of typical Madeiran dishes. On the following morning (Christmas day), diced pork meat is used to prepare the customary Carne, Vinho e Alhos (Pork meat with wine and garlic). Parts of the pig meat or bichanas or bichaninhas are often offered to the esteemed parish populace, local friends and the godparents of the family. The ‘Slaughtering of the Pig’, which is anxiously awaited by thousands of islanders throughout the year is, indeed, an unforgettable 5-star event which is synonymous with plenty of wine and food, dancing and despiques (sing-a-longs). It is during this time of the year that the most delicious local pastries and cakes are prepared. The Bolo-de-mel (Honey cake) is a classical example of what we are referring to. This rich cake, finely prepared from a variety of ingredients such as sacarina (sugarcane), raisins, nuts and several spices originating from India, seems to have originated from the 16th century, the exact period when the first oriental spices arrived to the archipelago. At the end of Christmas, the families that had gathered in the comfort of their homes to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus begin to get ready to dismiss the Old Year and welcome the new one. A fantastic show of exuberant beauty opens way, transforming the darkness of the night into a phenomenon of lights, enhanced by the grandiose landscape that rises around the city of Funchal. A long-time tradition, it has been said that, in the past, bonfires were lit to greet the New Year, possibly to give thanks for the year that had ended and as a mark of hope for the forthcoming year. Later, in the 18th century, the English community who resided here introduced ‘rocketthrowing’ to mark the beginning of the New Year. December - January 2012
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news bits
s w e n A R I E MAD 1 Madeira Offers News Airline Connections Madeira Islands offers new airline connections, originated from three main German airports such as Bremen, Friedrichshafen e Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden for the winter season 2011/2012, operated by Germania airlines. This new air flight connection will guarantee and reinforce the current air flight connections with the German market, the second main tourist market for Madeira in terms of tourist arrivals. This weekly flight will also connect to Lanzarote – Canary Islands. To commemorate this occasion Madeira Airport organized a welcoming cocktail to all the disembarking tourists greeting them with a glass of Madeira Wine and flowers. Apart from this initiative the christening of the aircraft also took place.
2 Art of Open Doors
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Funchal Old Quarter hosts a cultural Urban Art project designed by José María Montero Zyberchema, in partnership with several entities including João Carlos Abreu , Funchal City Hall, apart from other entities such as “Navega Bem” and “Acontece Madeira”. This project under the motto “Art of Open Doors” was undertaken in order to captivate the interest and revitalize one of the most emblematic areas of downtown Funchal, turning it into a cultural centre, based on an open air art gallery concept through the restoration of doors from abandoned houses and shops. Another of its purposes is to raise awareness amongst its locals and foreigners of issues regarding art and culture, through the use of a number of different art forms styles such as painting, sculpture, photography, video art and music. For more information: www.arteportasabertas.com
4 “Voz Celeste” Organ Concerts The Regional Secretariat for Education and Culture (SREC) will promote a new series of organ concerts under the theme “Voz Celeste”, a project that involves the partnership of Funchal bishop’s jurisdiction. These concerts will take place at Colégio Church, between October 31st and December 17th 2012, with a total of 45 concerts scheduled each Monday at 12:30 pm. The program for each concert will include a piece by a Madeiran composer, featuring students and teachers from the Arts Education Coordinator Group (GCEA). For further information: www.igrejadocolegio.com
4 Madeira on Top of Trekking Tourism The specialized magazine «BootsnAll» Indie Travel Guide has recently placed Madeira Island in 4th place in its list of Top 8 Best Places to go walking. Once seen as an expensive destination for the Saga generation Madeira is gaining a reputation as an affordable alternative to some of the holiday walking destinations that are more familiar to the British. Madeira is famous for it’s levadas, water channels created all over the island to bring water from the highlands to the fertile lower regions. The Levada walker has a choice of over 1400 kilometres of walks to tackle. Add in miles of paths and tracks and you have a walking destination that is hard to equal. All you need is your rucksack some decent boots and a good head for heights as this marvel of an island can take you from the 6000 ft plus peaks to the sea, all on foot if you want to walk it! Do not miss this unique opportunity to stroll through the magnificent footpaths of Madeira Island, exploring the Lauressilva Forest, UNESCO Natural Heritage since 1999! For further information: www.bootsnall.com
2 Jardim Sworn In As Madeira’s Regional President For 10th Term Alberto João Jardim, 68, was sworn in last month, November 9th, as President of the Regional Government of Madeira for a 10th term. The ceremony was held at 5pm local time at the Legislative Assembly (Parliament) of Madeira. Jardim, the populist leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in Madeira, won the regional legislative elections on October 9, with an absolute majority of 48, 56%, gaining 25 out of a total of 45 parliamentary seats. Jardim has ruled Madeira for the last 33 years, since 1978, as Madeira’s first and only elected regional leader, after the Region won autonomy from Portugal in 1976. He is the longest-serving democratically elected Portuguese leader. All of the 63 state leaders who served more than 50 years are or were monarchs. The longest-serving non-monarchial leader
Madeira Island magazine
has been Fidel Castro who was effectively, though not officially, leader of Cuba for 49 years. Madeira, which has a population of roughly 253,000, became an autonomous region of Portugal in 1976 with its own government and autonomous legislature. The Regional Government includes the Legislative Assembly composed of 47 deputies, elected by universal suffrage for a four-year term; the Regional Government and Presidency, with parliamentary legitimacy, composed of a President, a Vice-President and seven Regional Secretaries, responsible for dayto-day executive operations. The Autonomous Region of Madeira, composed of Madeira and Porto Santo islands, is represented in the Council of Ministers of the Central Government by a representative appointed by the President of Portugal.
christmas tips
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2011
Christmas Gift Ideas
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When gift giving began, presents were small and hand delivered. Most weren’t even wrapped. Getting a gift was sentiment enough. If money is an issue or you just want to create a holiday budget and stick to it, here are some ideas for affordable holiday gift ideas.
Put those Christmas stockings to good use. Stockings now are so ornate that they are hung for decoration and not for use. Use Christmas stockings to hold your gifts. Instead of buying lots of wrapping paper, the stocking can act as the wrapping. Along with the gift, the recipient will also get a stocking to hang for the holidays next year. For the magazine reader in your life, give them a one or two year subscription to their favorite magazine. By opting for a two-year subscription, you’ll usually save money. The magazines will be sent directly to the recipient, but you will receive a confirmation card that you can put in an envelope and present to them on Christmas morning. Some people don’t know what they want for Christmas. Kids seem to be the ones that have their gifts picked out down to the serial number. For finicky people or those who seem to have everything, purchase gift cards. Gift cards can be bought in any amount and most are rechargeable, meaning more money can be added to them at a later date. No need to throw the card away when they are done. Gift cards can be purchased for restaurants as well as retail stores. If you know someone who wants to try the new place for dinner in town, reduce their bill a little by giving them a gift card. Everyone wants to be pampered. A facial for her and a massage for him that they can use any time fits into even the busiest of schedules. These gifts are not as expensive as you might think either. You don’t have to pay for an entire package, but instead purchase a gift certificate for individual or buy one package for a couple to share. The best thing about these gift cards is that you don’t have to buy wrapping paper for them. They fit into envelopes, many of which are already decorated or come with their favorite character or scenery on them. Gift certificates are also great stocking stuffers too. Another affordable gift idea is to exchange names. If your family spends Thanksgiving together, exchanging names then gives each person ample time to purchase a gift. The piece of paper should contain the person’s name and three items they would like to receive or interests they have. The point isn’t to purchase all three, but to give the person who drew their name a choice. A name exchange saves money for everyone in the family. You may still buy for children, but as far as the adults go, you will only have to purchase a gift for the person whose name you pulled. Forget the commercialism this year and make things easy on yourself. Choosing affordable ways to bring Christmas cheer doesn’t lessen the joy of the season. In fact, it gives you a chance to get more personal and creative which can make it even more fun for everyone involved.
Use Christmas stockings to hold your gifts. Instead of buying lots of wrapping paper, the stocking can act as the wrapping. December - January 2012
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books
Madeira The Island Vineyard Of all the books ever written about Madeira, the most admired is Noël Cossart’s Madeira, The Island Vineyard.
Courtesy: www.rarewineco.com
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Madeira Island magazine
Noël Cossart’s original book
The original book was issued only in one small printing by Christie’s. With the greatly increased interest in vintage Madeira in recent years the cost of this hard to find volume in the antiquarian book market recently reached $500. The time had clearly come for a new edition of this authoritative volume on one of the world’s most fascinating wines.
Photos by www.rjonwine.com
Noël was the fourth, and final, generation of his family to manage Madeira’s most important wine producer, Cossart, Gordon. He entered the firm in 1925 and managed it from 1936 until 1953, when economic conditions forced him to sell the firm’s assets to the Madeira Wine Association. When Noël retired from the wine business in 1976, his old friend from Christie’s, Michael Broadbent, convinced him to draw on his long experience and deep family archives to write Madeira, The Island Vineyard, which was published by Christie’s in 1984. Noël’s book was very warmly received. Noël Cossart was the last of his family to head Cossart, Gordon & Co., which for more than 150 years was the largest and most important producer of Madeira. Born on the island of Madeira in 1907, he joined the company after his father’s death in 1925, and managed the firm from 1936 until, under economic pressure, he sold its assets to the Madeira Wine Association in 1953. For years after the sale, Noël continued to play an active role in marketing Cossart, Gordon wines and by the 1960s he began to contemplate writing a book on Madeira. That dream was realized in 1984 with the publication of his Madeira, The Island Vineyard by Christie’s Wine Publications. Noël’s book had what previous works lacked: an insider’s perspective, as he drew on his decades of personal experience as well as family business archives dating back to the 1700s. For more than a quarter of a century, Madeira, The Island Vineyard has stood as one of the essential works on Madeira and its wines. Noël Cossart died in England in 1987. Emanuel Berk, who was born in 1949 and was founder of The Rare Wine Co., began importing Madeira into the United States in 1989, just two years after Noël Cossart’s death. Inspired by the wine’s unique qualities and its historic place in American culture, he made The Rare Wine Co. America’s largest importer of fine Madeira and the largest stockholder of old and rare Madeiras outside the island itself. Mannie has long been a student of Madeira’s history, and he has written and spoken extensively about the wine and its place in America. Previous written works to his credit include A Century Past: A History of Madeira in America and Antebellum Nectar: Madeira and Champagne in pre-Civil War Charleston and the South. His advocacy of Madeira has helped restore this historic wine to prominence in the United States, reversing more than a century of declining popularity.
This second edition contains new material by Emanuel Berk, including a lengthy new introduction and several new, informative appendices. In the course of his travels and pursuit of rare Madeiras, Mannie has acquired a wealth of information about and experience with old Madeiras. He has also spent time with Noël Cossart’s family, gained access to Noël Cossart’s correspondence, and acquired the rights to publish a new edition of the book from Noël’s widow and Christie’s. There is a new Appendix III itemizing the sale of hundreds of vintage Madeiras and their auction prices from 1971 to 2000, listed by vintage year. This appendix alone makes the new book an invaluable resource for collectors of vintage Madeira. There’s also an appendix summarizing the most important Madeira auctions.
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economy
Chestnuts Anyone? Portugal could eventually become a European leader in chestnut production. A researcher from Vila Real University has concluded that, given the worth of the Portuguese chestnut on the export market, Portugal could become a European leader in chestnut production.
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Portuguese chestnuts currently earn producers up to €60 million every year. The majority of chestnuts produced in Portugal are currently exported. Chestnut “is the petrol” of the Transmontana region. José Gomes Laranjo, a professor at the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, believes this means the chestnut “is the petrol” of the Transmontana region. The specialist is part of the national chestnut production network RefCast, which is aiming to increase the production area of the fruit, encourage its consumption in Portugal and investment in transforming it into new products, something that is practically inexistent in Portugal. Chestnut trees currently cover some 35 hectares of land, producing an annual average of roughly 60 million tonnes of chestnuts. In monetary terms, that represents between €50 million and €60 million for the producer. Producers own on average between a hectare and a hectare and a half each of land. “The chestnut can be grown on relatively small plots of land and earns producers a profit of around 50 percent”, Mr. Laranjo explained. The “excellent quality” of Portuguese varieties of chestnut means it has a high international demand, the professor said, both in terms of industrialisation and as a fresh product. “We have a product that is of value and, if there were more chestnuts, we could also increase exports”, he concluded.
Courtesy: ww.theportugalnews.com
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December - January 2012
madeira fauna
Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus granti
Order:
Accipitriformes
Family:
Accipitridae
Species:
Accipiter nisus granti (Linnaeus, 1758)
Distribution:
The Sparrowhawk is found throughout the entire island of Madeira but is not easily seen on account of its discreet habits. This subspecies only occurs in Madeira and Canary archipelagos.
Habitat:
Lives in forested areas where it flies under cover of vegetation. This species is rarely seen in the open fields.
Breeding:
It builds its nest in trees, normally between 6 and 12 metres above the ground. The nests are built in March and the eggs are laid in April. The clutches have 3 or 4 eggs and the incubation period is 33 to 35 days. The young birds are ready to fly by the time they are 5 to 6 weeks old.
Madeiran name:
Fura-bardos or Gavião
Social:
Family groups
Length:
28 – 40 cm
Status:
Secure
Madeira Island magazine
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This raptor is smaller than the Buzzard and larger than the Kestrel (the other two raptors found in the Madeira archipelago). Its wings are rounded and relatively short. The male has reddish underparts while the female is larger, greyer and coarsely barred. The Sparrowhawk is extremely quick and silent, flying among trees with great skill and agility.
In culture
Courtesy of Wikipedia
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In Teutonic mythology, the sparrowhawk, known as krahui or krahug, is a sacred bird in Old Bohemian songs and lives in a grove of the gods. Holy sparrowhawks perch on the branches of an oak tree that grows from the grave of a murdered man, and “publish the foul deed.” In some areas of England, it was believed that the Common Cuckoo turned into a Eurasian Sparrowhawk in winter. The name Spearhafoc (later Sparhawk, Sparrowhawk) was in use as a personal name in England before the Norman conquest in 1066. The musket, or musquet, originally a kind of crossbow bolt, and later a small cannon, was named after the male Eurasian Sparrowhawk because of its size. The British Gloster Aircraft Company named one of their Mars series craft the Sparrowhawk. In William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mrs Ford greets Robin, Falstaff’s page, with the words “How now, my eyas musket”, eyas musket meaning a lively young man (an eyas is a hawk nestling). The British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes wrote a poem entitled Sparrow Hawk which refers to this species. Hermann Hesse mentioned this bird in his book Demian and the bird is also referred to in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Richard Francis Burton.
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Gavião NovoRestaurant Savour Chef Ricardo’s daily delicacy
Specialities Fresh daily fish Limpets Fillet beef with sauce
Rua Santa Maria, 131 (Old part of town) Open daily: 12:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.
Tel: 291 229 238 964 448 787
www. gaviaonovo.com December - January 2012
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famous visitors
Tomas Tranströmer Quick Bio Information Born: 15 April 1931, Stockholm, Sweden Spouse: Monika Bladh Nationality: Swedish Occupation: Poet Notable achievements: Nobel Prize in Literature 2011 Notable works: Windows and Stones (1966) The Great Enigma (2004)
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Tomas Gösta Tranströmer is a Swedish writer, poet and translator, whose poetry has been translated into over 60 languages. Tranströmer is acclaimed as one of the most important Scandinavian writers since the Second World War. Critics have praised Tranströmer’s poems for their accessibility, even in translation; his poems capture the long Swedish winters, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. Tranströmer’s work is also characterized by a sense of mystery and wonder underlying the routine of everyday life, a quality which often gives his poems a religious dimension. Indeed, he has been described as a Christian poet. He was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature. Tranströmer was born in Stockholm in 1931 and raised by his mother, a schoolteacher, following her divorce from his father. He received his secondary education at the Södra Latin School in Stockholm, where he began writing poetry. In addition to selected journal publications, his first collection of poems, 17 dikter (Seventeen Poems) was published in 1954. He continued his education at Stockholm University, graduating as a psychologist in 1956
Madeira Island magazine
Tomas Tranströmer visited Madeira on several occasions during the 1990s and his stay at the Savoy Hotel became his foreign home, so much that he dedicated one of his many poems to Funchal. He has recently been honored by the Royal Swedish Academy which has awarded him the eminent Nobel Prize for Literature 2011.
with additional studies history, religion, and literature. Between 1960 and 1966, Tranströmer split his time between working as a psychologist at the Roxtuna center for juvenile offenders and writing poetry. During the 1950s, Tranströmer became close friends with poet Robert Bly. The two corresponded frequently, and Bly would translate Tranströmer’s poems into English. Bonniers, Tranströmer’s publisher, released Air Mail, a work consisting of Tranströmer and Bly’s mail, in 2001. The Syrian poet Adunis helped spread Tranströmer’s fame in the Arab world, accompanying him on readings. Tranströmer went to Bhopal immediately after the gas tragedy in 1984, and alongside Indian poets took part in a poetry reading session outside. Tranströmer suffered a stroke in 1990 that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak; however, he would continue to write and publish poetry through the early 2000s. His last original work, The Great Enigma, was published in 2004. In addition to his writing, Tranströmer is also a piano player, something he has been able to continue after his stroke,
albeit with one hand. Tranströmer is considered to be one of the “most influential Scandinavian poets of recent decades”. Tranströmer has published 15 collected works over his career, which has been translated into over 60 languages. An English translation by Robin Fulton of his entire body of work, New Collected Poems, was published in the UK in 1987 and expanded in 1997. Following the publication of Den stora gåtan (The Great Enigma), Fulton’s edition was further expanded into The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems, published in the US in 2006 and as an updated edition of New Collected Poems in the UK in 2011. He published a short autobiography, Minnena ser mig (The Memories see me), in 1993. His work, though, lies within and further develops the Modernist and Expressionist or Surrealist language of 20th century poetry; his clear, seemingly simple pictures from everyday life and nature in particular reveals a mystic insight to the universal aspects of the human mind. Tranströmer has received many awards including the Petrarca-Preis in Germany, the Golden Wreath of the
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Selected awards and honours
Struga Poetry Evenings and the Swedish Award from International Poetry Forum. In 2007, Tranströmer received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry. Tranströmer’s latest and greatest prize has been the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2011. He is the 108th winner of the award and the first Swede to win since 1974. The Nobel Committee stated that Tranströmer’s work received the prize “because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.” 1966: Bellmanpriset (Bellmanpriset) (Sweden) 1981: Petrarca-Preis (Germany) 1990: Neustadt International Prize for Literature (US) 1991: Nordic Prize of the Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademiens nordiska pris) (Sweden) 1992: Horst Bienek Prize for Poetry (Horst-Bienek-Preis für Lyrik) (Germany) 1996: Augustpriset, for Sorgegondolen (Sweden) 2003: Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath (Macedonia) 2007: The Griffin Trust, Lifetime Recognition Award (Griffin Poetry Prize) (Canada) 2011: Title of Professor (Swedish: Professors namn), granted by the Cabinet of Sweden (Sweden) 2011: Nobel Prize for Literature (Sweden) 21
At Funchal (Island of Madeira) On the beach there’s a seafood place, simple, a shack thrown up by survivors of the shipwreck. Many turn back at the door, but not the sea winds. A shadow stands inside his smoky hut frying two fish according to an old recipe from Atlantis, tiny garlic explosions, oil running over sliced tomatoes, every morsel says that the ocean wishes us well, a humming from the deep places. She and I look into each other. It’s like climbing the wild-flowered mountain slopes without feeling the least bit tired. We’ve sided with the animals, they welcome us, we don’t age. But we have experienced so much together over the years, including those times when we weren’t so good (as when we stood in line to give blood to the healthy giant - he said he wanted a transfusion), incidents which we’ve totally forgotten - though they haven’t forgotten us! They’ve turned to stones, dark and light, stones in a scattered mosaic. And now it happens: the pieces move towards each other, the mosaic appears and is whole. It waits for us. It glows down from the hotel-room wall, some figure violent and tender, perhaps a face, we can’t take it all in as we pull off our clothes. After dusk we go out. The dark powerful paw of the cape lies thrown out into the sea. We walk in swirls of human beings, we are cuffed around kindly, among soft tyrannies, everyone chatters excitedly in the foreign tongue. “No man is an island.” We gain strength from “them,” but also from ourselves. From what is inside that the other person can’t see. That which can only meet itself. The innermost paradox, the underground garage flowers, the vent towards the good dark. A drink that bubbles in empty glasses. An amplifier that magnifies silence. A path that grows over after every step. A book that can only be read in the dark. Tomas Tranströmer
December - January 2012
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madeira flora
Liverwort division of
bryophyte plants
The life of a liverwort starts from the germination of a haploid spore to produce a protonema, which is either a mass of thread-like filaments or else a flattened thallus.
Liverowort is any of more than 8,000 species of small, nonvascular, spore-producing land plants constituting part of the division Bryophyta. They include the thallose liverworts that show branching, ribbonlike gametophytes and the leafy liverworts (mainly in the order Jungermanniales). The six orders of liverworts are segregated primarily on gametophyte structures, with sporophyte features also supporting the classification. One additional order formerly classified as liverworts (Takakiales) is now placed among the mosses. Liverworts are distributed worldwide, though most commonly in the tropics. Thallose liverworts grow commonly on moist soil or damp rocks, while leafy liverworts are found in similar habitats as well as on tree trunks in damp woods. The thallus of thallose liverworts resembles a lobed liverhence the common name liverwort (“liver plant�). Filamentous structures called rhizoids anchor most liverworts to their substrata, except for the few genera that are aquatic. Sexual (gametophyte) and asexual (sporophyte) generations characterize a liverwort life cycle. The gametophyte generation develops from a germinating spore. Sperm from the male reproductive organ (antheridium) travel through an aqueous environment, and one sperm fertilizes an egg that is still retained in the female reproductive organ (archegonium). The sporophyte develops from this embryo and forms a sporangium at its apex. Spores are released when the sporangium ruptures, marking the start of a new gametophytic generation. Asexual reproduction occurs by means of gemmae, which are produced by the gametophytic generation or by separation of branches of that plant body, resulting in new plants. Liverworts are not economically important to humans but do provide food for animals, facilitate the decay of logs, and aid in the disintegration of rocks by their ability to retain moisture. The most ancient liverwort fossils known provide the earliest evidence of plants colonizing the land. These fossils, which appear as cryptospores (sporelike structures), were discovered in rocks dating 473 million years.
Madeira Island magazine
Genetic Diversity of the Macaronesian Leafy Liverwort Porella canariensis Inferred From RAPD Markers Plant colonization of the North Atlantic raises the intriguing question of the relationships between extant island species with their continental counterparts (European, African, and American), which may provide clues to past geographic distribution and colonization history. It has been suggested that during past glaciations, many plant species with typical Mediterranean distributions survived in the Atlantic islands that belong to what is today known as Macronesia. We used random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers to study 12 populations of the liverwort Porella canariensis partly covering its present-day distribution (Azores, Madeira, Canary and Cape Verde Islands, and Iberian Peninsula). Unweighted pair-group (UPGMA) and principal component (PCO) analyses showed a similar geographical pattern that suggested a close relationship between Iberian populations and those from the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands. Populations from Madeira had more genetic variation than those from the Azores, a result from either a richer diversity of habitats in Madeira, which prompted more population diversification, successive colonization waves from different origins, or an older colonization of Madeira. The data show that continuous patches of liverworts are often comprised of more than one individual. Finally, RAPDs can be used to investigate intraspecific diversity within a comparatively large geographic area and, with utmost care, can be used to infer a historic context to explain the patterns observed. H. Freitas and A. Brehm From the Center of Biological and Geological Sciences, Campus of Penteada, Funchal
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December - January 2012
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Pastime Sudoku Every Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically. Enter numbers into the blank spaces so that each row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9.
Sudoku A
Solution
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Sudoku B
Solution
Madeira Island magazine
25
recipe
St. John’s Tuna PREPARATION
INGREDIENTS
1
1 portion of 700 grs tuna
Olive oil and vinagre
4 cloves of garlic
4 sweet potatoes
Oregano
4 medium-sized onions
Salt
4 potatoes
600 grs red beans
4 corn-cobs
1. Three or four days prior St. John’s Day, prepare tuna Make a few cuts, season with salt, sliced garlic and oregano Let it rest for a 6 hours Soak tuna in water. 2. At midnight (Eve of St. John’s Day) cook the tuna, beans and onion for 1 hour Separately, cook the sweet-potatoe, potatoes and corn-on-the-cob. 3. When ready remove from cooker. 4. Tuna is served with cooked vegetables and seasoned with olive oil and vinagre. Serve with São Vicente wine. NOTE: This dish can be served with cucumber salad with tomatoes and onions seasoned with olive oil and vinagre.
INFORMATION Tuna is an incredibly nutrient-dense food. It’s rich in high quality protein and an excellent source of important nutrients such as the minerals selenium, magnesium, and potassium; not to mention the B vitamin complex, and of course, the marvelous omega-3 essential fatty acids. Here are seven important health benefits of tuna: Cardiovascular Health Eye Health Cancer Prevention Cognitive Benefits
Mood Lifter Improved Insulin Response Promotes Detoxification
December - January 2012
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Museums Christopher Columbus House, Porto Santo Museum Travessa da Sacristia, 2/4 - Porto Santo Phone: 291 983 405 Tuesday to Saturday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. Sundays: 10a.m. to 1p.m. www.museucolombo-portosanto.com Contemporary Art Museum Rua do Portão de São Tiago - Funchal Phone: 291 213340 Monday to Saturday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. www.culturede.com Electricity Museum - Casa da Luz Rua da Casa da Luz, 2 - Funchal Phone: 291 211480 Tuesday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 6p.m. www.eem.pt
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Henrique and Francisco Franco Museum Rua João de Deus, 13 - Funchal Phone: 291 230633 Monday to Friday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 6p.m. www.cm-funchal.pt House-Museum Frederico de Freitas Calçada de Santa Clara, 7 - Funchal Phone: 291 220570 Tuesday to Saturday: 10a.m. to 5.30p.m. www.culturede.com IVBAM Museum Centre Rua Visconde Anadia, 44 - Funchal Phone: 291 211600 Monday to Friday: 9.30a.m. to 6p.m. www.bordadomadeira.pt Quinta das Cruzes Museum Calçada do Pico 1 - Funchal Phone: 291 740670 Tuesday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. www.museuquintadascruzes.com
Madeira Ethnographic Museum Rua de São Francisco 24 - Ribeira Brava Phone: 291 952598 Tuesday to Friday: 9.30a.m. to 5p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 1.30p.m. to 5.30p.m. www.culturede.com
Museum of Sacred Art Rua do Bispo 21 - Funchal Phone: 291 228900 Tuesday to Saturday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2.30p.m. to 6p.m. Sundays: 10a.m. to 1p.m. www.museuartesacrafunchal.org
Madeira Story Centre Rua D. Carlos I, 27/29 - Funchal Phone: 291 000700 Monday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 6p.m. www.storycentre.com
Natural History Museum Madeira Botanical Garden Quinta do Meio / Bom Sucesso - Funchal Phone: 291 211200 Monday to Sunday: 9a.m. to 6p.m. www.sra.pt
Mary Jane Wilson Museum Rua do Carmo, 61 - Funchal Phone: 291225492 Temporarly closed www.cm-funchal.pt Madeira Military Museum São Lourenço Palace Avenida Zarco - Funchal Phone: 291 204902 Monday to Saturday: 10a.m. to 12p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. Monte Palace Museum Monte Palace Tropical Gardens Caminho das Babosas, 4 - Funchal Phone: 291784765 Monday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 4.30p.m. www.montepalace.com Municipal Museum of Funchal São Pedro Palace Rua da Mouraria, 31- Funchal Phone: 291229761 Tuesday to Friday: 10a.m. to 6p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from 12p.m. to 6p.m. www.cm-funchal.pt Museological Nucleus - Rota da Cal Sítio dos Lameiros - São Vicente Phone: 291 842018 Tuesday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 5p.m. www.madeirarotadacal.com
Santa Clara Convent Calçada de Santa Clara, 15 - Funchal Phone: 291 742602 Monday to Saturday from 10a.m. to 12p.m. and from 3p.m. to 5p.m. Sundays: 10a.m. to 12p.m. www.culturede.com São Lourenço Palace Avenida Zarco - Funchal Phone: 291 202530 Wednesday at 10a.m.; Friday at 3p.m.; Saturday at 11a.m.; (Different days and hours require advance booking) www.representantedarepublicamadeira.pt Solar do Ribeirinho Museological Nucleus of Machico Rua do Ribeirinho - Machico Phone: 291964118 Monday to Friday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. Saturdays: 10a.m. to 1p.m. www.cm-machico.pt Sugar Museum Praça Colombo, 5 - Funchal Phone: 291 236910 Temporarly closed www.cm-funchal.pt
culture history
Madeira Island magazine
The Old Blandy Wine Lodge Avenida Arriaga, 28 - Funchal Phone: 291 740110 Monday to Friday: 9.30a.m. to 6.30p.m. Saturdays: 10a.m. to 1p.m. www.madeirawinecompany.com Toy Museum Rua da Levada dos Barreiros, 48 - Funchal Phone: 91 9922722 Tuesday to Saturday: 10a.m. to 8p.m. Sundays: 10a.m. to 2p.m. www.culturede.com Vicentes Photography Museum Rua da Carreira 43 - 1º - Funchal Phone: 291 225050 Monday to Friday: 10a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5p.m. www.photographiamuseuvicentes. com.pt Vineyard and Wine Museum of Arco de São Jorge Sítio da Lagoa - Arco de São Jorge Phone: 291 578105 Tuesday to Sunday: 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. (Monday torus require advance booking) Whale Museum Rua da Pedra D’Eira - Caniçal Phone: 291 961861 (New facilities opening soon) www.museudabaleia.org Universe of Memories - João Carlos Abreu Calçada do Pico, 2/4 - Funchal Phone: 291 225 122 Tuesday to Saturday: 10a.m. to 5p.m. www.universodememorias.com
Discover Madeira Treasures
Archives and libraries
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“The doors of wisdom are never shut” - Benjamin Franklin
Calouste Gulbenkian Municipal Library Municipal Theatre Baltazar Dias Avenida Arriaga - Funchal Phone: 291 227251 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 7p.m.
Foreign Culture’s Library Quinta Magnólia Rua Dr. Pita - Funchal Phone: 291 226414 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 5.30p.m. www.culturede.com
Câmara de Lobos Municipal Library Avenida da Autonomia, 5 - Câmara de Lobos Phone: 291910130 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 10a.m. - 6p.m. Wednesdays: 1p.m. – 6p.m. Documentation Centre Porta 33 Porta 33 Associação Quebra Costas Contemporary Art Centre Rua do Quebra Costas, 33 - Funchal Phone: 291 743038 Tuesday to Saturday: 4p.m. to 8p.m. (Other schedules require advance booking) www.porta33.com European Affairs Library CERNE - “Casa da Europa na Madeira” Rua Latino Coelho, 57, 3º - Funchal Phone: 291 235545 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 12p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m.
Thematic centres
Fernando Augusto Theatre-theca Theatre and Performative Art’s Library Teatro Experimental do Funchal
Investigation and Documentation Centre Madeira’s Department of Artistic Education Travessa do Nogueira, 11 - Funchal Phone: 291 225146 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. Documentation Centre specialised in music, education and arts http://dre.madeira-edu.pt/gcea
Rua do Hospital Velho, 42 - Funchal Phone: 291 226747 / 91 3035458 Monday to Friday: 4p.m. to 7p.m. (It requires advance booking) www.tef.pt
Library/Documentation Centre - Contemporary Art Museum Rua do Portão de São Tiago - Funchal Phone: 291 213340 Monday to Saturday: 10a.m. to12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. www.culturede.com
Funchal’s Municipal Library Avenida Calouste Gulbenkian, 9 - Funchal Phone: 291 720137 Monday to Friday from 10a.m. to 7p.m. http://bmfunchal.blogs.sapo.pT John Dos Passos Library Cultural Centre John Dos Passos Rua Príncipe D. Luís, 3 - Ponta do Sol Phone: 291 974034 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5p.m. www.culturede.com Information and Documentation Centre Regional Directorate of Youth Rua 31 de Janeiro, 79 - Funchal Phone: 291203830 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 7p.m. Saturdays: 9a.m. to 12.30p.m. www.ijm.pt
Madeira’s Regional Archives Caminho dos Álamos, 35 - Funchal Phone: 291 708 400 Reading Room Monday to Friday: 9.30a.m. to 7.45p.m. Saturdays: 9.30a.m. to 3p.m. Certificate Issuance: Monday to Friday: 10a.m. to 4p.m. www.arquivo-madeira.org
Madeira Magic Centre Rua da Ponta da Cruz, 25- Funchal Phone: 291 700700 Thursday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 6p.m. www.madeiramagic.com
Porto Moniz Living Science Centre Rotunda do Ilhéu Mole - Porto Moniz Phone: 291 850300 Monday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 6p.m. www.ccvportomoniz.com
Madeira Theme Park Estrada Regional 101 Fonte da Pedra - Santana Phone: 291 570410 Thursday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 7p.m. Dec. 13rdtoJan. 9th- Openeveryday- 10a.m. to7p.m. www.parquetematicodamadeira.pt
Reception and Interpretation Centre of Funchal’s Ecological Park Estrada Regional 103 Ribeira das Cales, 259 - Monte Phone: 291 784700 Monday to Sunday: 9a.m. to 5.30p.m. www.cm/funchal.pt Temporarly closed
Madeira’s Parliament Library Avenida do Mar e das Comunidades Madeirenses - Funchal Phone: 291 210500 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 12p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5.30p.m. www.alram.pt Regional Public Library Caminho dos Álamos, 35 - Funchal Phone: 291708410 Main Reading Room/ Children’s Reading Room: Monday: 2p.m. to 8p.m. Tuesday to Friday: 9.30a.m. to 8p.m. Saturdays: 9.30a.m. to 3p.m. Special reading room for the visually impaired /Reference Room/Study Room Monday to Friday: 9.30a.m. to 12.30p.m. and from 2p.m. to 5p.m. (It requires advance booking) www.bprmadeira.org Study Centre of Atlantic History Library Rua das Mercês, n.º 8 Monday to Friday: 9a.m. to 7.45p.m. Phone: 291 214 970 www.ceha-madeira.net
São Vicente Caves and Volcanism Centre Sítio do Pé do Passo - São Vicente Phone: 291 842404 Monday to Sunday: 10a.m. to 7p.m. www.grutasecentrodovulcanismo.com
December - January 2012
27
Caniçal
museums
The Whale Museum is situated in the small fishing village of Caniçal, on the East Coast of Madeira island.
Discover Madeira Museums
Whale Museum The Whale Museum is situated in the small fishing village of Caniçal, on the East Coast of Madeira island. The museum looks back at the whaling activities that formed a central part of many fishermen’s lives for many decades. Whaling has been prohibited in Madeiran waters since 1982. Instead, those sailors who once harpooned whales for a living are now working hard to help preserve these gentle giants of the ocean. In an effort to promote this ecological issue many fishermen surrendered their hunting instruments to the museum. Some have even created crafts and pieces of artwork from parts of old whale bones or teeth.
o
INFORMATION
On display there are many photographs, depicting many of the processes involved in the trapping of whales by Madeiran fishermen along the coast. The visual exhibit ranges in pictures of the preparation of boats, whale spotting on the high sea, hunting methods, and images of festivities after a successful hunt. There are other pictures showing the processing and transport of processed whale material, including oil extraction and meat preparation. A major attraction of the museum is the model of a life-size whale on display. Alongside the replica of the whale is a small fishing boat, similar to those used when fishermen went whale hunting. Visitors are able to compare the sizes and dimensions of the boat and whale to each other - and in so doing can appreciate how difficult and dangerous this now banned activity was for the local residents of Caniçal. Besides the impressive models on display, there are small collectibles and items for sale at a small stand in the museum: models of fishing boats, various whale bone handicrafts, and so on.
Courtesy of usmachico.blogspot.com
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Madeira Island magazine
Telephone: (351) 291 961 858 / 291 961 859 Fax: (351) 291 961 861 Address: Rua da Pedra d’Eira Caniçal E-mail: geral@museudabaleia.org Web: www.museudabaleia.org Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 10.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m. and 1 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. Closes on Mondays and national, regional and municipal holidays. Admission tickets: Adult - €12 Children (free < 6 yrs) - €6 12-18 yrs / students - €10 Senior Citizen (>65 yrs) - €11 Residents (youngsters/adults) - €9 Resident (child) - €4.50 Family (2 adults & 1 child (< 11 yrs)) - €26 Group (8 + (excluding excursions)) - €10
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Physeter macrocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales, and there is a strong sexual dimorphism between males and females: adult females reach approx. Eleven metres in length and a body mass of 15,000 kg, whereas males are much larger with 16 – 18 m body length and 45,000 – 57,000 kg. The most striking feature of this species is its massive head, which makes up 25 – 30 % of total length. It contains the spermaceti organ and the underlying “junk”, both set above the upper jaw and in front of the parabolic-shaped facial region of the skull. These structures are composed of spongy, oil-filled tissue enclosed in a muscular case and bounded at both ends by air sacs. This spermaceti organ is responsible for the striking echo-locating capabilities of sperm whales.
Reproduction
Description
Sperm whale
Females become sexually mature at 7-13 years of age. The peak breeding season is generally in the spring: in the northern hemisphere between March/April and June, and in the southern hemisphere between October and December. Gestation lasts between14 - 16 months and females lactate for at least two years. The inter-birth interval is 4-6 years for prime-aged females. Female sperm whales rarely become pregnant after the age of 40. Puberty in males usually begins between the ages of 10 and 20, and most individuals do not become fully mature until their late twenties. Longevity can reach at least 50 years.
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Scientific classification
Distribution
Kingdom: Phylum: Class: Order: Suborder: Family: Genus: Species:
Animalia Chordata Mammalia Cetacea Odontoceti Physeteridae Physeter, Linnaeus, 1758 P. macrocephalu
The sperm whale is among the most cosmopolitan species. It prefers ice-free waters over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) deep. Although both sexes range through temperate and tropical oceans and seas, only adult males populate higher latitudes. It is relatively abundant from the poles to the equator and is found in all the oceans. It inhabits the Mediterranean Sea, but not the Black Sea, while its presence in the Red Sea is uncertain. The shallow entrances to both the Black Sea and the Red Sea may account for their absence. The Black Sea’s lower layers are also anoxic and contain high concentrations of sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide. Populations are denser close to continental shelves and canyons. Sperm whales are usually found in deep off-shore waters, but may be seen closer to shore in areas where the continental shelf is small and drops quickly to depths of 310–920 metres (1,020–3,020 ft). Coastal areas with significant sperm whale populations include the Azores, Madeira and the Caribbean island of Dominica. December - January 2012
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Showcase Review music
Talk That Talk
Rihanna
Talk That Talk is the sixth studio album by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna and was released on November 18, 2011, through Def Jam Recordings. The lead single from the album, “We Found Love” featuring Calvin Harris, premiered on Capital FM radio on September 22, 2011, and was released on iTunes U.S. the same day. The album is rooted in R&B, dance-pop, and pop, but also incorporates a variety of genres such as hip hop, electro, trance, house, and dubstep. Lyrically, the album speaks of love, sexuality, and empowerment. The album received generally positive reviews from critics, many of which complimented its departure from the dark themes presented on her fourth and fifth studio albums, Rated R (2009) and Loud (2010), respectively.
book
movie
Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Complete Series This unassuming case is packed with 8 discs of The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus, featuring every madcap episode from the programme’s tenure. While to the uninitiated they may look like ordinary .65 oz. digital video discs, due to the unique physics of comedy (it’s like quantum but with fewer dead cats), each disc actually weighs a full metaphoric ton! Please remember to lift with your knees. The Flying Circus is where Monty Python started
game
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson In Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs’ professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with Jobs’ family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation.
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Information
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Madeira Island magazine
Star Wars: The Old Republic
PC DVD
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) for the PC gaming platform, set in the Star Wars universe. The first game of its kind, in it players choose from either the Galactic Republic or Sith faction, create a character, and along with a multitude of fans playing from all over the world, explore the fictional historic period of the Old Republic, as the Jedi confront the resurgent Sith Empire. Players can assume one of many races through their character, visit multiple planets, pilot spacecraft, utilize advanced dialog options in-game, take advantage of AI companions for gathering and crafting tasks and more. Play Star Wars: The Old Republic and be the hero of your own Star Wars saga in a story-driven MMO game. Explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy.
From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Consulates
(Cast) Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones
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December - January 2012