Madeira Airport

The beautiful airport which serves the island of Madeira is rightly  notorious.  Until the runway was extended to a safe length, landing was a decidedly hazardous and even dangerous undertaking.  Even with the improvements which were made about ten years ago, there are many clips on YouTube that I certainly don't tell my visiting friends about.

We joke that, approaching from one direction, you pass so close to the windows of the houses on the left that you can see what they are having for breakfast. From my photo, you can see the buildings just above the expanse of rock. Pretty close indeed.

The main difficulty is the wind. When it is blowing strongly from the wrong direction (for landing), the airlines have to divert the flights either to the neighbouring, flat, island of Porto Santo, or further afield, to Tenerife and other Canary Isles. All pilots have to have extra qualifications to be allowed to land here. They are safety conscious and very careful - thank goodness.

A delightful surprise this morning, when I arrived to check in. The airport has been in disarray and confusion for a long time, and now the shiny new interior of the terminal is up and running. Splendid shops, much better food outlets, no long queues at Duty Free. Well worth the hassle.

I noticed in the queue for security scanning, that there were a group of gorgeous, fit-looking young men all in identical sporting gear. I got close enough to read that they were from the local professional football club, Nacional.  No private jets.  No fuss.  These young men were taking their turn. A very pleasant surprise.  (And I was very tempted to ask a couple of them if they fancied coming over to the UK to help out my struggling Nottingham Forest - but I was too shy.)

Home again. Furbie is sitting on my head and the birds are impatiently back and stuffing themselves.

Thank you for joining me on my adventure. It's been a wonderful week.