Madeira News Blog

(29th August). Today’s main news story : ‘Robberies In Madalena – The police admit that there is a new wave of break-ins on the Avenida da Madalena. Garages and cars are the targets’. The area itself is quite calm, but the break-ins just don’t stop. Even the noise of the car alarms don’t deter the criminals. The article gives quite a few stories from residents in the zone of Funchal, who have had their cars broken into, both on the street and in garages, but they are all much the same. According to a spokesman for the PSP (police), Commissioner Roberto Fernandes, "the PSP has been monitoring this phenomenon closely and has found a fluctuation in the crime of car robbery in the area of Madalena. He said the population needed to take more care, making sure they were not followed into garages for example, and also mentioned condominiums where access is not secured.

‘Gripe A : Six Thousand Masks Face masks For The 1st Cycle And Pre-School’. Madeira government preparing plan to ensure there is no disruption to school meals. Paper towels and hot air hand driers installed. All measures in response to the risk of the spread of H1N1 swine flu. The masks will only be used in the event of a suspected case, while the situation is being dealt with and the kids are in isolation. In fact, right now, all eyes are focused on a contingency plan to avoid disruptions in the supply of meals in schools. The Director of Planning and Educational Resources points out that this issue is very sensitive and, if not taken care of, can cause problems for families. "Imagine that two of the three kitchen staff of a school fall ill during the night. The school must have alternatives to continue to provide meals to students, in order not to compel families to find solutions on their behalf". Now there’s a scary thought … 6,000 infants, … even scarier is 6,000 hungry infants with masks.

The sports story of the day is an expansion on what was given yesterday : ‘The Distinguished And Dangerous In The Group Of Nacional – Club President Rui Alves expects to get through the group stage with victories in the Choupana’ (home games). Group L fixtures for our local football team in the Liga Europa are : Weder Bremen 17/9 (h) & 3/12 (a), Austria Vienna 1/10 (a) & 16/12 (h), and Athletic Bilbao 22/10 (a) & 5/11 (h).

‘Licensing Hours Annoy Businessmen In The Docks – The council of Porto Santo provides for the bars of the city and leaves Penedo do Sono deserted’. The article is accompanied by a photo outside the location in question, with not a person in sight. The bosses in the dock area say they are worried. Those that invested in bars in Penedo do Sono are upset with the câmara who have spoiled their Summer by "giving out licenses to any bar on the island that might want to stay open until 4 or 5 am in the morning", said Ruben Drumond, night club owner and spokesman for the discontented. He said he made a considerable investment in his venture on the strength of a ‘scenario of withdrawal from the city and residential zones, that did not come to pass’. A measure adopted, he adds, because it is a local election year.  "It appeared to us a sense of injustice and disrespect on the part of Mr. President, Roberto Silva, who conceived and laid down certain rules that now have no value in themselves, thereby showing a great contempt for those who believed in his ideas" he regrets. "The city council had set a strategy to remove the noise from the city centre and focus on the nightlife in Penedo do Sono" he recalls, explaining that this was intended to "feed the evolution of the island as a destination of quality", with a separation between those people seeking rest and those seeking nightlife. Ruben, who owned a bar in the town in 2005, was approached directly by the câmara president in November that year, and told that the opening hours were to be cut back, and anyone wishing to ‘make a noise’ late on would have to do it in Penedo do Sono, which was to be built for this purpose. A politician who doesn’t keep his word … whatever next! A businessman who bases a substantial investment on the word of a politician … whatever next!

‘Adverse Weather Conditions Cancel Entertainment In São Vicente – The international group Hermes House Band should have been playing, but the performance was cancelled’. The entertainment programme, including the open air disco, for the night in the annual festival in São Vicente was cancelled due to strong winds and rain. Tonight the top comedy act ‘Super Gordo’ also depends on weather conditions. And there’s me just down the road struggling to find a breath of cool air last night, and certainly not a sniff of rain.

UPDATE

‘Excavation makes rats to flee to the homes’. An excavation which is being undertaken in the area of Ribeiro Seco, which is encompassed in the work of connecting the Port of Funchal to Pilar, is causing the rats to flee, which were there in large numbers, to the houses in the vicinity, including the Caminho da Fé. The complaint was made by a resident of the area, directing criticism at the company who is doing the work, in particular for not having targeted the rats for extermination before the start of the ground-works. Something he stresses that has been suggested by residents at an earlier stage of the work.

Restriction on some lands preventing hunting have been lifted, in time for the new hunting season. As a result, in Paul da Serra there will be 400 more hectares available to hunters than there were last year.

‘Biofuel production to start in Porto Santo before the end of the year’. The production of biofuel from biomass, made through the intensive cultivation of micro algae will start to be implemented by the end of the year in Porto Santo, said a spokesman from EEM (Empresa Electricidade da Madeira). The new ‘substation’ at Calheta is costing €1.3 million, and is in response to growing demand on the island, and to make Porto Santo "truly green in terms of electricity". Porto Santo, was the home of the first wind farm in Portugal, established in 1998.

Several ‘bush’ fires were reported yesterday, including in Santa Cruz and Câmara de Lobos, and also two suspicious fires started in Campanário.

Funchal’s taxi drivers are to put together a petition against the decision to make the 4 ‘eco buses’ free of charge to users, on the basis this it creates unfair competition. Actually it says ‘taxi drivers of the region’, so maybe they are expecting others outside of Funchal to come on board. The decision was taken at a meeting last week, to which very few taxi drivers actually attended. The petition will be signed by the drivers, families and friends. The chances of getting public support will be pretty thin, like turkeys voting for Christmas, and what with the fierce inter rivalry between the 11 regions of Madeira on taxi matters, I doubt whether there will be much support from outside of Funchal either.

The ground staff on strike at major airports have returned to work, after promises from the airline TAP that jobs will be retained. Unions and management signed a protocol after a meeting lasting 4 hours, that ended the industrial action of the ‘handling’ company Groundforce.

The last of the front page offerings for today is from politics. The main photo today shows a close up photo of the face of Humberto Vasconcelos, the president (or soon to be ex) of São Vicente Câmara : ‘Humberto Felt That They Wouldn’t Allow Him To ‘Give More’ – Humberto Vasconcelos expressed his state of spirit on The Dia do Concelho (day of the region) of São Vicente about not being able allowed to continue the work in the North. In an interview to the Diário, he explains himself better. Who doesn’t feel …’. A restrained interview with HV who seems to be popular locally, but he got on the wrong side of President Jardim, who stopped him standing for another term. "That I have to respect" he said. "From my point of view there is no conflict, it was a strategy determined by the (PSD-M) party", he said. At his farewell speech in the ‘dia do concelho’ this week in São Vicente he received a standing ovation from the crowd, something the government representative in attendance didn’t get. The opposition parties will use this controversy to pressure the PSD-M in the forthcoming elections, and as the seat is less safe than the social democrats would like, they might find winning here a bit of a struggle. Another Uncle Bertie classic ‘own goal’ perhaps?

OVERVIEW

The Madeirans love to go out and eat, and whilst it is very affordable for many western Europeans, it is comparatively expensive for many people on Madeira on minimum wage of around €500 per month.

Madeira has snack bars and restaurants in vast numbers from one end to the other. Most of the snack bars prepare steak sandwiches and burgers, but there are a great many restaurants specialising in local recipes, and others serving more familiar dishes, including Italian, Indian and Chinese food, with some excellent seafood establishments.

Vegetarians are catered for on Madeira, but mostly in Funchal, where there are several restaurants serving a variety of dishes.

All restaurants and snack bars serve a large variety of soft and alcoholic drinks, and tea and coffee also. The wines are both Madeiran and imported, the main beers on offer will almost certainly come from Coral,
a local producer that has a huge dominance over the Madeira market, and produces light and dark beers, as well as non-alcoholic brews. Many of the soft drinks will be familiar too, with Coca Cola being a major brand. Most of the other juices and fizzy drinks come from Brisa, who also manufacture on the island, with a huge range of the usual and more exotic flavours. 

Most of the locals and visitors like to eat outdoors when out for the night. The people of Madeira tend to eat quite late at night, often with friends and families, including children.

Service charges are not normally included in the bill, and tipping is optional.

FOOD SHOPPING

Madeira is well blessed with 3 large supermarket chains, with one or more represented in most larger towns. Modelo and Pingo Doce are Portuguese national brands, whilst Hiper Sã is a local supermarket, just trying to reach out and establish itself in mainland Portugal. There are plenty of other smaller privately owned supermarkets and food shops to choose from, but the larger ones have a significant pricing advantage, and small businesses struggle in the competition.

However, on Madeira, there is a third source for fresh vegetables, fruit, meat and fish, and that is direct from the farmers and fishermen, of which there are many, If you live outside of the city, and you get to know your neighbours, for sure there will be packages and boxes turning up with bananas and oranges, as these are plentiful and often surplus to requirements. Once you know your way around a bit, if you live in the country you will probably find that a lot of your heavy and fresh shopping comes home this way, with a bit from the neighbours, something from the man in the fish van, some wine from a local winery, and so on.

Having established your bulk food sources, you go out and buy everything else in your local shops or supermarkets, and quite likely end up with some goods imported to Madeira.

The quality of food is good, the fruit and vegetables are wide in variety, and usually good in flavour.  Prices fluctuate widely, due to seasonal availability and importation costs.  The meat (limited in choice) and fish (big choice) prices usually stay more steady.

Here are some rough price guides
for basic food & drink from 2008:
Potatoes €0.60 – €1 / kg
Oranges €0.50 – €1 / kg
Tomatoes €1 – €2.50 / kg
Bread €0.70 – €2 medium loaf
Lean beef €4 – €6 / kg
Chicken €1.70 – €2.50 / kg
Small fish €1 – €3 / kg
Large fish €4 – €8 / kg
Milk €0.40 – €0.70 / litre
30cl local beer €0.20 – €0.45
Wine starts at €0.70 / litre, up to several Euros for a reasonable bottle

The average Madeira family shopping bill for 2007 was €399 per month

EATING & DRINKING OUT

Portuguese & International Cuisine

If you are up for a burger, steak sandwich, chips or whatever, then you will need to walk no more than a few meters in any town to satisfy your appetite, as there are numerous snack bars and cafés on Madeira, catering for the most popular local tastes in snacks. There are also plenty of restaurants, but as you will no doubt wish to try some local dishes, this is where we will start.

Several dishes stand out as being particularly Portuguese or Madeiran, and are very popular with the locals. The first is Espetada, which is a kebab type meal of grilled or barbecued beef, in very large chunks, well flavoured with garlic. You will often see the huge skewers hanging upright on the tables. You may see it served with chips, vegetables, or salad, or fried corn is also popular. This dish and other grilled and  barbecued meat will certainly be found in any restaurant marked or named as a churrascaria, and if you go to a street festivals you will almost certainly see it on sale, and perhaps even cook it yourself.

Fish is also very popular, and one deep sea fish caught locally is called espada (scabbard fish), and although you won’t recognise it on your plate, if you look in a Madeira supermarket it will be the very long black fish with large eyes and wicked razor sharp teeth. The other very popular fish dish is ‘bacalhau’ or cod fish. This is familiar but imported cod, usually dried and salted when brought, but this is unnoticeable when rehydrated and prepared.

There are specialist fish restaurants, mostly in Funchal, but as much of the more exquisite fish is imported, they can appear expensive, and you may pay for the fish by uncooked weight. Look out for ‘Marisqueira’ outside a restaurant.

One stew of worthy note, named feijoada, is made of boiled beans, and can be made with a variety of meats and flavourings, in a sauce. It’s very filling and very popular with Madeirans.

International cuisine restaurants are common place in Funchal, but are much harder to find on the rest of the island, with the exception of Italian style restaurants serving pizza and pasta dishes. In Funchal there are several Chinese and Indian restaurants, as well as the Italian ones, and French, and a few more obscure themes dotted around the city. Also, but barely under the theme of ‘International Cuisine’, you will find MacDonalds & Kentucky Fried Chicken, and familiar looking fast food Pizza outlets in Funchal.

Money Saving Tip – Meals are well renowned in Portugal & Madeira for being rather large, so if you have children with you often you can ask for a half portion "Meia dose de … se faz favor". It will probably cost more than half the price of a full portion, but that’s to be expected.

The Madeiran ‘Café Culture’

Cafés and Bars form a huge part of the social life enjoyed by many Madeirans and Portuguese people. As well as a simple and often practical way of feeding and hydrating yourself, the bigger role is the social environment it provides, with friends and family, business acquaintances and anybody else who might turn up! This life is generally a daytime affair, with little if any alcohol being consumed, but plenty of very strong black coffee in very small cups.

Most of this socialising takes place daily outside the numerous cafes and bars that are spread out across the island, weather permitting of course, and mostly during the day. At night-time, especially later on, it is more normal to see younger people, often with children but still sitting outdoors. Again, drinking mostly coffee and juices.

Not so much these days (unless you ask), the staff will give you a dish of something to eat with your drink, known as ‘dentinhos’, something like the tapas bars of Spain do. Sometimes you will be given a small plate of yellow beans (tromoços), or salted peanuts or monkey nuts, others may give you something hot like tripe, or chicken hearts, or ‘patinhas’ (pigs feet).

Bars, Pubs, & Drinking Establishments

The opening times of most the bars, pubs and cafés is pretty universal, and usually pretty early, but the closing times vary from town to town and from establishment to establishment, with the bars further away from residential areas usually having later closing times (later licences are allowed if the establishment is not going to be disturbing people).

All bars / pubs / cafes sell alcoholic drinks, but they would normally represent the smaller part of the days trade where coffee, juices and snacks give the owners their main income, though that may vary with establishment that serve a lot of tourists.

Many of the bars have TVs, but most people don’t watch them unless there is a big football match on.

Smoking

On 1st January 2008, Portugal introduced measures to stop smoking in public places. Madeira was equally affected, but the president of Madeira, a cigar smoker, had the law changed for Madeira. Now there are bars and restaurants that allow smoking, and by law they have smoke extraction equipment installed.

In public places such as the airport and on buses, smoking is not permitted. Bars, cafes and restaurants can choose to be a smoking or non smoking establishment. There are stiff fines for businesses, and fines for smokers themselves who do not comply with the law. A red sticker is used is used to indicate ‘no smoking’ establishments and areas. The majority of places have opted for the ‘no smoking’ option.

However, for those who still wish to smoke, it shouldn’t be a problem, as with a climate like that on Madeira, who wouldn’t rather sit outside anyway? Cigarettes are priced in the range of €1.50 to €2.80 per
packet, the higher price being for imported cigarettes. Most bars and cafes have vending machines that are operated by a remote control to stop underage use, so you may have to ask for the machine to be switched on.

The prices in bars, pubs & cafes vary enormously around Madeira, and going from one extreme of a café in a busy tourist area in Funchal, to a small bar in a small Madeiran village, exactly the same drink could cost you half as much, maybe less. At the lower end of the scale, a small beer should cost between 80 cents and €1, a large white coffee 70 to 90 cents, a bottled juice or cola probably €1 or just under, a large shot of spirits between €1 and €2, depending on the measure and spirit chosen.

The food is limited in choice, burger and steak sandwiches being more popular with the locals on Madeira, but you can buy your lunch for between €3 and €5 as long as you don’t stray from the regular menu or the dish of the day which should have it’s own price marked up.

The prices discussed above are the prices you should pay and those normally advertised or listed somewhere in view, but legally, owners of bars, pubs & cafes are permitted to charge a service charge if they take your order and serve you outside, and normally this would be as little as 10 cents a drink, but some owners or their waiting staff take this to new levels by adding 50% or 100% or more onto a drinks bill, and this is a big problem with foreigners whether they realise it or not. Normally with food there is never a problem, and most bars, pubs and cafés do employ honest staff.

Another favourite trick is to take your €5 note, and ‘forget’ to give you the change, unless you ask for it of course, so you should keep an eye open for these small but annoying and costly tricks. Another warning, some bars / pubs / cafes & restaurants have tills that can produce different priced bills / receipts for the same item!

The staff and the customers in the Madeira bars & pubs are generally helpful, friendly and understanding, and you will see this manifest itself in different forms, from the busy city centre bars & cafés to the remote snack bar in the middle of nowhere. You ought to experience this for yourself.

Tips To Avoid Being ‘Had’

1. Use the bars / pubs you know and trust.
2. Order your drink at the bar, and make a mental note if you see the price list  (which should be displayed). Likewise, if you order anything from the menu. By law, these establishments are permitted to charge more for outside service. The chances are the locals will not be charged this, or if they are it will be 10 or 20 cents per drink. However, some pubs / bars / cafes will mark up huge amounts in order to charge foreigners more.
3. Where convenient, pay your bill inside the bar / pub / cafe, and check your change.
4. If you don’t see a bill and are unhappy with the amount charged , ask the bar man or pub manager for a ‘recibo’, and check that what is printed is correct.
5. If you want to ask for the manager, ask ….. "quero falar com o gerente"
6. As a last resort, ask for the ‘Livro de Reclamacões’ (complaints book), and that should resolve matters. This should always be as a last resort, as there can be serious repercussions for the business involved.

DISCLAIMER – THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE PROFESSIONAL ADVICE, AND IS PROVIDED FOR BRIEF GUIDANCE ONLY, ON A BEST ENDEAVORS BASIS.

NO RESPONSIBILITY CAN BE ACCEPTED FOR THE ACCURACY OF INFORMATION SHOWN HERE, AND YOU SHOULD SEEK INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION OR PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE. THIS PAGE WAS LAST UPDATED IN 2008.

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