Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Madeira trip report : SHOPPING

Yep, the shopping was nice even though the Euro has made everything more expensive. Mango, for example, is still a good bit cheaper than in Sweden.

Here's where to go.

Madeira Shopping
, Sta Quitéria, Funchal. The big mall I told you about. It's really nice and hosts all the major shops.

C.C Forum Madeira, Estrada Monumental, Funchal. On the very same street as our hotel. This is a new (from the looks of it) outdoors mall that has about the same shops as Madeira Shopping.

The capital, Funchal, is well worth a visit. Very beautiful and picturesque, narrow streets and beautiful buildings. If you want to find the shopping here, go to Rua do Aljube and Rua dos Ferreiros. However, it is pretty much the same stores here as in the malls, I didn't find much individuality here.

If you want to check out some local life, visit the
market. It is situated in the east of Funchal, right near where the lifts take you to Monte.

This is a Madeiran specialty, the Espada, often served with banana!
The market has a large fish department, and a somewhat less smelly part where they sell flowers, fruits, baskets, birds, books and a whole bunch of stuff. Be sure to watch the fruit prices, because I am pretty sure they fiddle with the scales sometimes. At least when youre a gullible tourist..

Oh, I learned something new about the brands here. They're very much intertwined. Mango
is the only one that seems to stand on it's own, but Zara, Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius and Oysho (dont miss Oysho! they've got awesome underwear and some nice clothes too!!) are part of a huge group called the Inditex Group. That I did not know. It seems like they're all able to keep their individual profile intact though, so all is good.

1 comment:

Quicha said...

A big hello from Madeira! Nice to know you enjoyed your time here, unfortunately you would maybe change your mind about a few things if you had to live here, but that's what holidays are for, to enjoy the good things. I'm not Portguese, but I've lived here for 13 years and I work for an offshore Swedish company, most my Swedish collegues are great! Hope you return to enjoy more of Madeira, canal walking and sight seeing, it's a beautiful island!