Madeira, the Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco, has been hyped by many as being the high point of this voyage's itinerary. It ended up being a total wash out.... quite literally! We struck out in the pouring rain for a daylong tour of the island. These island showers are always fleeting, right??? By lunchtime, it was raining even harder. Lunch was in a cozy inn with a roaring fire in the fireplace. They kept s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g out the lunch stop by bringing us wine.... more wine.... some madeira.... some brandy. The rain was still pelting the windows when we were all of a sudden hustled out to the tour bus. You might recall that in February, Madeira experienced flooding that caused significant damage and loss of life. This seemed to be a deja vu moment for the islanders as schools and businesses closed early. As a safety precaution, Cunard was requesting that all passengers return to the ship. We had gotten to a rather high elevation and the ride back down to the coast was a bit harrowing! The roads were turning into raging mud-filled rivers surrounded by waterfalls....
Yes....that's our road!
It made all those hairpin turns in the Canaries seem pretty benign.... at least they were dry and we didn't have to worry about the road washing out from under us! All were present and accounted for at the end of the day.... although we were pretty disappointed to miss our afternoon toboggan ride which covers a two mile descent down a mountain in a wicker basket! The drivers run alongside pushing and steering using their rubber-soled boots as brakes. This used to be the established mode of transport! (No wonder they drink so much madeira wine!!)The evening's entertainment in the Royal Court Theatre was Lulu of "To Sir With Love" and "Shout" fame. KiKi Dee ("You're Still the One") also performed. (Don't tell anyone....but I've become a KiKi Dee fan....LOVE her....will be looking for her CDs....shhhhh....) It was great fun! Queen Elizabeth was rocking and Baby Boomers were dancing in the aisles!!
The ship Azura which left before we did. You can see that the weather is still hanging around!
POSTSCRIPT:
The Captain related this story to us the next day. Apparently during the deluge of rain, some members of the QE crew noticed that a dog had been washed into the sea. They notified authorities in the town who sent out a pilot boat to see if they could find the pup. Happily, the dog was rescued and is none the worse for her afternoon swim. Furthermore, she is being adopted by one of the men on the rescue boat and will be named.... what else??.... Queen Elizabeth!!
3 comments:
Love a good dog story. By the way, your little Mystic has been spotted in the hood wearing Halloween garb. Very cute.
Yes!! I thought of you when I wrote that!! Poor Mystic....she hates that Halloween outfit. She'll need intensive psychotherapy when we get back!
Um excuse me she LOVES her halloween outfit! She had a lovely walk on the causeway and rolled around in her costume out at chandler hovey yesterday! Dad, Matt sent a picture of her on the causeway wall in her costume to your email -- did you see it?
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