Porto Santo and Fam

Porto Santo is a beautiful little island, 40kms off Madeira...something like 11 kms long and around 6 kms(I think) in breadth. It's a 3 hour relaxing ferry trip to get there.








I remember, when our children were really small, my son, only 18months old, we walked for 9 hours to Font Ariea (a friggin tap for crying out loud), which was on the other end of the island...and we literally saw it all. Things have changed a lot since then. They have built a shopping center, spectacular golf course and have begun planting cypress trees all over the island. As a consequence, yes, the island is looking way greener, but the 'Island of Sun' has now a changing climate, where there is a far greater rainfall....because of the
trees. Hmmmmm ....








Colleen and Nor, having a laugh at something....but how is this for a beach!!?? Not really much sun on the day, but its just as well. The beach is a 9km stretch of white HOT sand. It can get incredibly hot here in Porto Santo.










Looking at this picture, my heart is so heavy...Lord, how I miss my sister!!! But what a wonderful memory. It was a superb day, lots of laughs.











Noreen has the other picture...we did two..this one...a 'chilled' one, and another, an English-pinkie-up' shot. I still have to download all Nors pics, so will be updating all my posts with these as I get them.

I love this friend of mine. There was not a single day where we weren't laughing and playing the fool. Her happy and free spirit is catchy!




This is a pic of the end of the island, taken from the highest point of Porto Santo. One can see the starkness. Till around 15 years ago, there was little water or greenery. One can still see the abandoned farm terraces where lack of water made it very difficult to produce a good crop...but it was done. Subsistence farming was the only way that these people eked out an existence (and of course, using the only water source...'the tap') since the Days of Christopher Columbus. Madeira is a little Island, but its people, culture, tradition has more heart than the biggest and most economically 'successful' countries. It gets an almighty thumbs up for me.



Here, Nor and Col are havng a chat to Carlos...Lug's brother...overlookng the beaches of Porto Santo.