Lello & Majestic

There All! Sorry for not blogging recently, but after Madeira adventure we had to come back to reality, catolica and other boring stuffs.

We had last test session behind us, so now we are waiting for the exam session and finally it will be over of our Catolica mission here. The first term we have, is at the begging of June, so there is not so many time to relax as we would like to have. However, using as much free time as we can, we ,recently went to see a beautiful sunset  in the beach and today we have seen some Porto. We went to lello bookstore, which remains us Harry Potter’s bookshops from the II part of saga. After that we took a coffee in Majestic café which I recommend a lot – beautiful place inside and waitress being very polite J

Enjoy your weekend, A

 

Madeira (cont.)

 Hey :)

Like Agnieszka mentioned, we were on Madeira during our  free days here. In Porto, from 7-11 (more less) , we have a Queima das fitas which is a traditional festivity of the students of some Portuguese universities. My friend told me that J.K.Rowling had a husband from Portugal and she took some of customs from Porto to create HP world. I didn’t know about it, but now I can see this similarity. We have a beautiful bookstore, called Lello.

Isn’t like from HP?

What is more, students which are members of student’s commisions usually wear a black suits and a cloak (black, like from HP).

We can compare this celebration to “Ursynalia SGGW”. There are a lot of concerts with local bands, party every day in Parque da Cidade and selling tickets online ;)

I would like to make a small summary of Madeira for these, who maybe will visit this beautiful island with mild climate, temperatures above 20 degrees at day and night which make you feel very comfortable – it’s always warm, without strong wind like in Porto, even hot when the sun is shining.

1. 
          We booked our tickets on http://transavia.com. It’s a French airline. Our flight was directly from Paris throw Porto to Funchal. We were travelling with hand luggage, for additional piece and kg you should pay. You can only have 10kg in one piece of suit/backpack/bag and it has to have appropriately size. We had to put all cosmetics in small bottles, trying to put everything inside one piece so we were looking like aliens ;p All in all they didn’t weight our suits and didn’t put it into the special measure. We were lucky!
   
   
2.  Funchal is a capital of Madeira. It’s a big city, but in these days there were only people 30+, mostly 50+. Everything was closed before midnight so we felt very young, like in sanatorium. It has some positive sides-we could see a lot of things in the mornings, when the weather was good enough. 
3.   http://www.madeira-web.com/ I’ve been using this site to get some informations before I came there. You can visit a tourist information at the airport, ask about everything, get a free map and guide in all languages (even in polish!)
4. 
          The most popular activity on Madeira is walking inside the island. You need to prepare for that, meaning: take a raincoat and comfortable shoes. It’ll be worth of it!
   
   
   
   
5.  In Funchal we were travelling by bus SAM from the airport (3,3 euro), you can take a Aerobus (5 euro), rent a car or take a yellow taxi. We were also using a public transport to get from the centre to Praia Formosa (line 1) and to Jardim Botanico (line 31 r 31A, entrance costs 5 euro per person). You can visit this garden with a cable railway but it costs 15 euro in both sides (views are amazing).
6. Madeira is amazing. To say that you need to go outside Funchal, meaning rent a car or take (like we) an organized tourist tours. It’s strongly recommended for first visit to take a West tour with local driver and guide. Renting a car is a little bit risky with these up and downs on the island and sometimes you’re on the road with no protection 500 metres  above ground and it’s one car road with many turns.
7.  Porto Santo is a small island with beautiful beaches near to Madeira. You can take a ship (60 euro) or a plane to get there. The women in the office didn’t recommend it cause it’s not interesting and attractive. It’s famous from these beach available only with clear sky and spa centers.
8. Of course you can visit Funchal by Yellow bus :)
9. It's good to ask local people about the best places to see, when to go out from the bus etc.
10. We were eating in local bars and restaurants but also in Pingo Doce ;p
11. We visited Mercado dos Lavradores . On the first floor you can taste all fruits from local dealers. They’re talking in many languages, mostly in French.
    
    
    
12. Madeira is famous from flowers, now there’s a Flower Festival. Trust me, flowers are everywhere and in the air you can feel this beautiful aroma!

Xoxo,

Dżast :)

Finally madeira trip!

We just came back from our little holidays which took place in Madeira Island. We went there for 5 full days, which for us were enough to visit, rest and even sun batch. We came to Madeira by plane - obvious, it was quite cheep, because price in both side was about 60 e. Airport is located more less 30 minutes from Funchal capital of the Island, where you can go from airport by bus. It cost about 3,3 e. In Funchal we booked a room in well situaited hostel ZARCO. The room wasn't really 5 stars kind, even worst and awful smell but in second day some guy came to our room and painted the walls - happily, We had to go to reception and report it because it was impossible to sleep there any more. Then we got a room much better standard with one disadvantage - third bed on the attic - of cours i took it! :) it was fun! 

During our stay we visit Jardim Botanico, all Funchals area + we went to Praia Formosa to sun batch and swim. To all this places you can go by bus from Funchal. During our stay we had a plan to rent a car but unfortnatelly we couldnt because it is necessary to have 23 years old and 3 years at least of driving licence. It is impossible without it. In this situation we bought a trip in local office "Madeiramjtours.com' The trip was about visiting northwest parts of the island. We were all satisfied with it because we have visited almost a whole Island. It took 8 hours so it's not so long and we were driving, seeing the places then make a quick stops to walk, look around and take photos. All in all I would not recomend to rent a car because roads in Madeira are very difficult. Those are very, narrow as well as uphill so it is much safer to travel with local driver. Some helpful link above as well as some photos 

http://www.residencialzarco.com/ -> HOSTEL

www.Madeiramjtours.com -> TRIP