Page 360 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Portugal

EXPERIENCE Madeira

Steep road twisting
and turning on the way
up to the Paúl da Serra

11 village remains. Visitors first journey much easier and allow
local people to transport their
glimpse Curral das Freiras
Paúl da Serra from a viewpoint known as produce to the capital.
the Eira do Serrado, perched Television arrived in 1986.
! A7 @ To Canhas, then taxi
some 800 m (2,625 ft) above The sweet chestnuts that
The Paúl da Serra (literally the village. grow in profusion around the
meaning “high moorland”) The valley is surrounded on village are turned into sweet
is a large, boggy plateau, all sides by jagged mountain chestnut bread, best eaten
extending 17 km (11 miles) in peaks. Until 1959, the only still warm from the oven, and
length and 6 km (4 miles) in access to the village was by a licor de castanha, a chestnut-
width. The plain contrasts steep zigzagging path, but flavoured liqueur. Both can
dramatically with the jagged road tunnels now make the be sampled in local bars.
mountains that charac terize
the rest of Madeira.
Electricity for the north MADEIRA WINE
of the island is generated In the 16th century, ships stopping at Funchal would
here by wind turbines. Only take on barrels of local wine. This unforti fied Madeira
gorse and grass grow on often spoiled during the voyage, so shippers started
the thin soil, and the sponge- adding spirit to preserve it. The wine
like volcanic substrata act then seemed to improve after a long,
as a natural reser voir for hot voyage, and quality Madeira began
rainfall. Water filters through to be sent on round trips as an
the rock to emerge as springs alternative to maturing it in Funchal’s
which then feed the island’s lodges. This expensive method was
levada system (p362). replaced with the estufa system, still
very much in use today. Large
volumes of wine are heated
12 to between 30 and 50°C (86
and 122°F) for a period of three
Curral das Freiras months to a year. The effect is
to hurry up the ageing process:
! B7 @ n Avenida Arriga the best wines are “cooked” more
16, Funchal; 291 211 902
gently and slowly. The finest
Curral das Freiras means Madeirans are heated by the sun,
“Nuns’ Refuge” and the name maturing slowly in the attics of
refers to the nuns of the Santa the wine lodges. Most Madeira is
Clara convent who fled to this made from the Tinta Negra Mole
idyllic spot when pirates grape, often blended with either
attacked Funchal in 1566. The Sercia, Bual, Verdelho or Malmsey.
nuns have left now, but the
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