Madeira News Blog

(18th September). ‘English Tourist Celebrates 100 Years On Madeira’. I know there are many Brits visiting this website, so this is for you. Mary Luisa Latham celebrates 100 years today, and chose Madeira to celebrate her birthday. She comes from Norfolk in the UK, and has been coming here every year since 2000 for her six week annual holidays, always with her daughter aged just 80, and always in her favourite hotel, the Madeira Regency Palace. She is also a keen Casino customer here, and in Las Vegas, where she goes twice a year. To mark the occasion, the hotel has organised a ceremony for tonight (Friday) to honour her, where guests will be treated to a cocktail, music, and a birthday cake, to be shared amongst the guests. The telegram from the Queen of England, traditionally sent for 100th birthdays, will also be read out. 

‘Madeira Gourmet’ Of ACIF Brings Chefs Of World Renown – The first edition takes place between 3 and 7 November and aims to promote creativity and innovation’. Several world famous chefs have already confirmed attendance for the ‘Festival Madeira Gourmet’, an event organised by the chamber of trade and commerce of Funchal. The dishes to be created will reflect the place from where the chef comes from, and will be prepared in certain luxury hotels on Madeira., and served to visiting tourists, offering them a unique experience of high quality and refinement. A number of the chefs attending have been named, but Delia and Jamie are not amongst them, and I don’t recognise any of the others. I do a wicked cheese and mushroom omelette, but I can never get them out of the pan in one piece, so not much point in me entering.

’71 litres of beer per year’. Each Portuguese person consumed on average 71 litres of beer, spending €310, in 2008, a year in which the brewing industry generated €1,020 million for the economy, maintaining 72,900 jobs. In a report by consultants Ernst & Young, entitled “The Contribution of Beer to the European Economy”, issued yesterday, it says that Portugal is the sixth largest exporter of beer in Europe. The study, based on 2008 data, also shows that the value received by the Portuguese state from the beers is €973 million, a contribution divided into €448 million in IVA (VAT) tax, €91 million in consumption tax (?) and €426 million in indirect taxes and Social Security. That doesn’t seem to leave much profit for the brewers, but who cares. 71 litres of beer each a year doesn’t seem much. I used to know people who would get through that in a couple of weeks, but I suspect that they may be dead by now.