Activities in Madeira

by Christopher Somerville

“Saude!” proposed Carlos, raising his glass in Victor’s Bar at Ribeiro Frio. “Good health! And good walking.” He tossed back the cloudy yellow punch and chased it down with a gulp of black coffee. I sipped at my glass, a little more cautiously. When you are setting out on a Madeiran levada walk, the last thing you need is a head spinning with local firewater.

by Nancy Lyon

Black bullwhips. That’s what they look like, these long black fishy strips glistening in the morning sun, dangling over marble slabs at the market in Funchal. When you buy one, the fishmonger rolls it into a hoop and stuffs its tail in its mouth like a Celtic knot work beasty from the Book of Kells. If I hadn’t tasted one on a skewer with peppers and onions before seeing what it looked like, I wouldn’t go near it with a pitchfork.