Carnival Festivities – Madeira Island

from February 15th to the 22nd

The Carnival spirit returns to cheer up Funchal’s downtown between the 15th and the 22nd of February.
For a week, the season’s rhythms, called upon the sounds of marches and philharmonic bands, will turn Funchal into a stage by Excellency, for an annual festivity that links perfection, joy, party, satire and amusement, involving and arousing locals and visitors’ attention.

The great Carnival Parade, which brings together close to a thousand participants in a unique colour that lightens up the main streets of Funchal, will be on the road on the 18th, a Saturday Night.

The holiday programme ends on Shrove Tuesday, on the 21st, with the “Slapstick Parade”, on which hundreds of participants dishallow with their very own dynamic, humour and satire all together. All this carnival merriment finds its way into the Mar Square (Praça do Mar), where, on the pinnacle of the occasion and in a bashing climate, prizes are given to the most creative costumes.

Karneval auf Madeira
15. – 22. Februar

Vom  15. bis 22. Februar ist Funchal in den Händen der Narren.
Mit viel Musik und bunten Kostümen wird der Karnevalsgeist auf die Straßen und Plätze der Stadt gebracht. Das jährliche Karnevalsfest macht Funchal zu einer Bühne in Perfektion, wo Einheimische und Touristen eine Woche lang die Atmosphäre des bunten Treibens verfolgen können.

Bei bekannten  Melodien tanzen und singen verschiedene Gruppen und Orchester auf den  Straßen. Satire, Spaß und Freude stehen im Mittelpunkt. Am Samstagabend  18.02.2012, wird der große Karnevalsumzug, mit über 1000 Teilnehmern, vielen bunten, einzigartigen Festwagen, den Hauptstraßen Funchals, einen ganz besonderen Glanz verleihen.

Festas de Carnaval
15 a 22 de Fevereiro

O espírito de Carnaval volta em força para animar a cidade do Funchal, entre os dias 15 e 22 de Fevereiro.
Durante uma semana, os ritmos próprios da época, evocados ao som das marchas e das bandas filarmónicas, farão, do Funchal, o palco por excelência de uma festa que, anualmente, associa, na perfeição, a alegria, a animação, a sátira e a folia, envolvendo e despertando as atenções de residentes e visitantes.

O grande Cortejo Alegórico, que reúne cerca de mil foliões num colorido único que abrilhanta as principais artérias do Funchal, sai à rua na noite de sábado, dia 18, desfilando desde a Praça da Autonomia, na Avenida do Mar e das Comunidades Madeirenses até ao final da Avenida Francisco Sá Carneiro, concentrando-se na Praça do Mar.

O Programa de Festas culmina na terça-feira de Carnaval, dia 21, com o “Cortejo Trapalhão”, no qual centenas de foliões desfilam com uma dinâmica muito própria, humor e sátira à mistura. Toda esta folia carnavalesca encontra o seu auge na Praça do Mar, local onde, em ambiente de festa, se entregam os prémios aos mais criativos.

Palheiro Spa

Indulge the Senses at Palheiro Spa

Palheiro Spa at Madeira Island Hotel Casa Velha do Palheiro is where the journey of relaxation and self-discovery begins.

Set amidst the tranquil Palheiro Estate and just a short walk from the hotel entrance, Casa Velha’s boutique spa facility adds vitality and wellbeing to the guest experience.

Blending seamlessly into the environment and surrounded by lush, fertile woodland, Palheiro Spa is at one with Nature.

Brushing the dry stone façade are banks of leafy fern and agapanthus that burst into a blaze of lilac during the summer months. Polished grey cantaria – basalt stonework framing the doors and windows – further accentuate the spa’s organic appearance. Above, Canary Island pine, candelabra and other exotic trees cluster in abundance.

A chic, minimalist interior captures the essence of luxury and heightens the spa’s Zen-like quality.

Four treatment rooms – Palmeira, Agapanthus, Camelia, Cypress – provide candlelit privacy and a chance for guests to indulge in a comprehensive range of authentic massage and beauty therapies for him and her. Afterwards, a relaxation room allows for rest and contemplation.

Palheiro Spa aims for results-based treatments based on the expert knowledge and the considerable experience of its team of professionally qualified staff. Pevonia Botanica and Caci professional spa and salon products are used throughout.

Wellness options extend to Finnish sauna and Turkish steam bath, refreshing rain and waterfall shower experiences, and a fabulous heated indoor swimming pool with exhilarating massage jets. On hot, sunny days the larger outdoor pool is a real temptation.

The spa also has a Fitness Room where guests can continue their usual exercise routine using state-of-the-art equipment while on holiday.

Teas, infusions and a healthy assortment of snacks can be ordered before or after treatments at the adjoining Conservatory Bar.

And remember, the Palheiro Spa at Madeira Island Hotel Casa Velha do Palheiro is open year-round to guests and non-residents.

Palheiro Spa is open daily from 10h00-19h00. The Fitness Room is open daily from 08h00-20h00.

Rua da Estalagem 23
9060-415 São Gonçalo – Madeira

PH: +351 291 790 352
spa@palheiroestate.com

Madeira Hotel – Quinta Casa Velha do Palheiro – Luxury Spa & Golf Resort

Quinta Casa Velha do Palheiro

Located in the hills above the Madeiran capital Funchal, next to the stunning Palheiro Golf course, lies the luxury country house hotel Casa Velha do Palheiro.

This wonderful property is situated next to the famous Palheiro Gardens, originally created over 200 years ago by the 1st Count of Carvalhal. There is also direct access to the Golf Course, with privileged tee offs from the halfway house, a short stroll from the gate. If peace, tranquility and re-laxation are requisites of your vacation – then seek no further.

Within the extensive grounds there is a heated swimming pool with sauna and steam bath: Tennisor croquet, billiards or walking. For gentler relaxation they offer a morning room with library, and a very smart, comfortable lounge bar.

The Palheiro Gardens – famous not only for the variety of plants that grow there, but for the beauty of their hillside setting, form a rich collection of plants from so many different parts of the world, gathered together over a period of 180 years or so. These private gardens are open to the public weekdays and attract over 40.000 visitors per year.

Visit Quinta Casa Velha do Palheiro

Casa Velha do Palheiro – menus for 24th and 25th of December.
10% discount for online bookings…

Palheiro Spa includes four treatment rooms, a Finnish sauna, Turkish steam bath and indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The Spa complex also includes a fitness room equipped with a power plate, treadmill, bicycle, rowing machine and weights. A personal trainer can be arranged on request.

The comprehensive massage menu from around the globe includes massages specifically designed for golfers as well as botanical face and body treatments and ‘immediate results’ non-invasive facial treatments.

Pevonia Botanica products are natural formulations that use organic extracts. All products are packaged in an eco-friendly way (recyclable/biodegradable), are non-comedogenic and have not been tested on animals.
The Palheiro Spa is managed by a very experienced team, which includes trained physiotherapists, masseuses, beauty therapists and esthetical therapists.

Palheiro Spa is open daily from 10h00-19h00. The Fitness Room is open daily from 08h00-20h00.

Rua da Estalagem 23
9060-415 São Gonçalo – Madeira

PH: +351 291 790 352
spa@palheiroestate.com

Gardens of Madeira Island – Gardens of Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro

Palheiro Gardens lie adjacent to Madeira Island Hotel Casa Velha do Palheiro in the grounds of the Palheiro Estate.

By the gatehouse, take the main drive, lined with plane trees and huge camellias. On the left is a mass of mimosa acacia that flower in early spring.

The ground here is also carpeted with agapanthus, arum lilies and belladonna lilies that bloom according to season.

To the left of the car park are several Corymbia ficifolia – red flowering gum trees – and from China, a Paulownia tomentosa (empress tree). There is an impressive metrosideros on your right, and various magnolias.

Around the house (which is not open to the public, nor is it part of the gardens) are several Araucarias (pine), palms, Magnolia grandiflora and a fine old “tulip tree” – Liriodendron tulipifera – from North America whose autumn hue is a clear bright yellow. Neighbouring this is a huge Sequoia sempervirens – a California redwood.

Continue down a narrow path that snakes in between a line of box hedges and a generous plantation of Cryptomeria japonica, turn right over the ornamental bridge and you arrive in the main gardens.

Pause for a while and note the Sunken Garden to the left, which hosts a number of brightly coloured flora, especially tangerine-hued Gazanias and multi-coloured Lampranthus. Thriving too are freesias, banks of rose-tinted Ixias, pink nerines and scarlet tritonias.

Tucked into the surrounding rockeries you will find perennials like agaves, succulents such as aloes, and many other bulbous, ornamental plants.

Look out for the grass tree – a uniquely Australian plant that develops a thick, fire-resistant trunk and is reputed to live for hundreds of years.

At the bottom of the garden below the magnolias are a number of different banksias, Australian wildflowers that belong to the plant family Proteaceae that are characterised by their barrel-like heads and flower spikes – a rich source of pollen.

Here too can be found fine examples of the rare and endangered Camellia granthamiana – Grantham’s camellia, from Hong Kong.

Close by is the rose garden, a delightful collection of traditional and English Rose varieties of all shades, tints and perfume.

In the centre lawn to the right of the main esplanade is an atlas cedar of gigantic proportions, its silver-blue needles defining it as belonging to Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca’ (blue Atlas cedar).

An example of the very rare Saurauia nepalensis, a native of Burma, distinguished by its red and pink flowers and berry fruit crop, is close by.

Backtracking slightly from the well-manicured lawns, visitors will notice the tiny chapel of St John. Built by the 1st Count of Carvalhal, the original owner of the Palheiro Estate, the building is in typical Baroque style and features Venetian-style windows. A plasterwork ceiling depicting Christ being baptised by John the Baptist heightens the simple interior design. To the north of the building is a cluster of proteas, among them beautiful crimson waratah (Telopea speciosissima), the official emblem of New South Wales, in Australia.

To visit the Jardim da Senhora, or ‘Lady’s Garden’, return along the wide esplanade past more camellias until arriving at the herbaceous border. Note the delphiniums and daylilies. Look out also for the daturas with their trumpet-shaped flowers of white, orange, amber and yellow. Equally eye-catching are the sprekellia (sometimes known as “Aztec lilies”).

The Lady’s Garden is set out in a more formal pattern with neat box-edged hedges, though rapid growth in this sub-tropical climate means it’s almost impossible to preserve too much of a prescribed design.

Look out for the Cantua buxifolia, the national flower of Peru, and lagerstroemias, clianthus and banksias, among other flora. Towering over the habitat is a splendid Araucaria angustifolia – a candelabra tree from Brazil. Also worth pointing out is Hymenosporum flavum, native to the rainforests of Australia.

This is a good opportunity to partake in a little light refreshment at the Tea House and perhaps recount your steps before exploring the rest of the gardens.

Actually, from your table you’ll most likely see Casa Velha, the “Old House” built in 1804 by the 1st Count of Carvalhal and now a luxury five-star country house hotel, Casa Velha do Palheiro.

Casa Velha’s private grounds, accessible only to hotel guests, features a formal terraced lawn that includes a pond bordered by ornate iron railings. Within the vicinity are several fine conifers, eucalyptus and magnolia. A huge, sprawling metrosideros, a Christmas Day Tree from New Zealand, leans over the terrace.

An area of the gardens often overlooked by visitors is Ribeiro do Inferno, the unusually named “Hell’s Valley”.

The valley is located beyond the main garden; a sign-posted path takes you past a terraced plantation of wonderful camellias to an area of wild, native woodland and knotted bamboo. The undergrowth here is predominantly made up of sturdy acanthus and tree fern – dicksonia and cyathea.

During damp, misty weather, paths here can become slippery and in some places unstable. On days like these, less sure-footed visitors are advised to explore the valley during another occasion.

Having completed the tour, you can leave by following Camellia Avenue past more proteas, species like leucadendron and leucaspermum, and Protea cynaroides – the king protea noted for its large flowering head.

Much of the flora at Palheiro Gardens is rare, and some species are endangered. The visiting public is therefore playing a key role in the conservation and sustainability of the gardens so that future generations may continue to enjoy this celebrated botanical wonderland.

Madeira Hotel – Quinta Casa Velha do Palheiro – Luxury Golf Resort

As a second home destination, Madeira is gaining international attention – one major UK based property agency recently identified it as “one of the top 5 places in the world to buy overseas property for investment or as a lifestyle choice”.

Now is the time to buy!

For those considering an investment in a luxury home, consider the advantages:
Sub-tropical climate – warm & pleasant year round
Natural beauty – dramatic scenery, lush & colourful:known as the “Garden of the Atlantic”
Ease of access – within 3 hours flight time from most European cities, direct flights from over 40 destinations in Europe
Protected environment – 70% of the island is protected parkland & forest
Activities – wide range of sports & leisure activities
Tourist infrastructure – long known as a qulaity tourist destination, with lots to see & do
Quality of life – a friendly, safe & clean place to visit and to live in

The Palheiro Estate – the best address in Madeira:
Location – key location with easy access from the airport and to Funchal
Natural beauty – heavily-wooded hilltop location with mature forested areas, gardens and dramatic views
History – a blend of history and affluence still evident more than 200 years after its inception
Amenities – luxury accomodation, fine eating, sporting and leisure activities that together form an appealing international resort destination
Palheiro Village – an award winning development of 79 freehold apartments and villas, with central amenities and full property management services available, including property rental.

Now is the time to buy!

For further information, please contact Anne Marchington as follows:
Tel: + 351 291 794 015
E-mail: real.estate@palheiroestate.com

Further information at: http://www.palheirorealestate.com

Christmas and New Year Celebrations – Madeira Festivities
From the 8th of December to the 6th of January of 2012

The arrival of the decorative lights in the streets of the city centre of Funchal, during the month of December, marks the beginning of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
These commemorations consist of a rich and extensive programme of cultural, religious, ethnographic and artistic manifestations that takes place throughout the entire month of December and ends with the celebration of Twelfth Night.

At this time of the year, Funchal transforms itself into a crib of real life proportions, the streets become decorated with multi-coloured flowers and lights of all sizes, forming shapes and figures allusive to the season. In the streets and squares, everyone partakes in the sound of the contagious music of the concerts, the performances of the philharmonic bands and of the folklore groups, in addition to the Christmas exhibitions, authentic living portraits of Madeirean traditions.

In Madeira, the preparations for “A Festa” (the Festivity) are lived with special enthusiasm, which is the nickname that the Madeireans have given to identify Christmas as their party par excellence. They commence at the beginning of December with the setting up of the “lapinha” (crib) and with the confection of various delicacies and pastries, namely the famous honey cake, corn bread, homemade liqueurs and the preparation of pork in wine and garlic, which is one of the most famous culinary dishes of Madeira.
Another living tradition of this season is the celebration of the 9 Childbirth Masses, which take place at dawn to announce the Birth of the Boy Jesus, accompanied by hymns sung by locals, normally in churchyards, filled with Christmas decorations and where traditional drink and food typical of the season is offered to those present. On 23rd December the traditional Market Night Party celebration is held, where the Madeireans do their last-minute Christmas shopping and where one can savour the various traditional snacks and drinks of the season.
After the Christmas commemorations the high spirits continue, in anticipation of the New Year Festivities, with the famous fireworks display, officially recognized by the  Guinness World Records, in 2006, as the greatest display of fireworks in the world. This magnificent scenario, of rare beauty, is simply unique, with thousands of multi-coloured lamps decorating the amphitheatre of Funchal, transforming it into a grandiose stage. As the clock strikes twelve, on the 31st, the sky is lit up with colour, light and hope in a new year that is just beginning.
Don’t miss it and come lo live up this event in Madeira!

An elegant 3 bedroom villa in a quiet cul de sac in Palheiro Village.

Master bedroom with ensuite shower room.

2 twin bedrooms sharing a bathroom with bath and shower.

Open plan living space downstairs with generous windows and access to the terrace where there is seating for al fresco dining.

The living room is equipped with TV and DVD.

The kitchen is full equipped with coffee maker, kettle, toaster, microwave, and blender.  There is also a dining area.

For more information please visit: http://www.palheirorentals.com

The beautiful hillside location of Palheiro Estate makes it ideal for discerning property owners: quiet and peaceful with ocean views, yet within easy reach of Funchal city centre and the international airport. All property owners enjoy special concessions at the various facilities around Palheiro Estate, including the Casa Velha do Palheiro hotel, the Palheiro Spa, the 18-hole Cabell Robinson golf course and use of the M.Y. Balancal motor yacht.

8th December to 6th January 2012 – Christmas Lights, Decorations and Exhibitions

31st December – New Year’s Eve Firework Display

Beginning on the 8th of December, the preparations for Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations will commence.

The main streets of downtown Funchal will be decorated with colourful lights, composing the most varied designs evocative of the Christmas season on the island. Take the opportunity to come shopping for Christmas or simply stroll in the small and typical streets which invite to a union and harmony spirit, with us and with others.

Book your Special packages for Christmas and New Year with  us  JOIN  on this special time of year!