A Glass of Madeira, my dear?

I don’t mind if I do!

I was booked in for a tour of Blandy’s, a long established wine lodge in Funchal. There were only 6 of us on the English speaking tour, but 2 were Danish and 3 were French. Our guide was fluent in both English and French, and of course the Danes managed fine without assistance.

We started in the former cooperage room, where the barrels had been constructed in the past:

We were told lots, but I’m struggling to remember half of it later in the day! I’ve had a long siesta after the tasting experience.

We’ve all heard that the Duke of Clarence drowned in a butt of Malmsey, according to Shakespeare - however, that Malmsey didn’t come from here. It was most likely from Greece.

Now for the tasting:

We started with the blue label and ended with the yellow. Most people preferred the first, which was dry, and the others got progressively sweeter. We really needed something to eat with the sweeter ones.

This was the “library” of their finest vintages:

Across the road were the Municipal Garden, where I sat down for a rest on a park bench. Just above was this strange tree:

A passing German called it the Leberwurst Tree, because the fruits resemble a liver sausage.

In the evening, I tried a new place for dinner: 3L’s restaurant:

 Their specialty is meat on skewers:

 I ordered medium, but it turned out quite rare, and that was obviously the way to eat it. Afterwards, asked if I could see the kitchen:

It was explained to me that the skewers were cooked lying flat on the grill, but then served at the table hanging up so that the garlic butter can drip down and flavour the meat even more. 

I stumbled downhill to the Allegro afterwards!

It was absolutely perfect! And the waiters were a very well - organised  efficient team.