#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit the small island of Madeira. It’s an autonomous region of Portugal located in the North Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 kilometers southwest of Portugal. It’s a difficult island to find on a map. It’s at 32.7° north latitude and 16.9° west longitude. It’s actually the top of a volcano that extends some 20,000 feet above the ocean floor along an underwater mountain range. The highest point of the island is just over 6,100 feet above sea level. The island itself is about 35 miles wide (west to east) and about 14 miles in length (north to south).
Back on November 03RD 2007 I visited Funchal – the capital and largest city of Madeira on its south coast. Over 110,000 people lived there in 2011, and that’s almost half of the population of the island. Funchal is a major cruise ship port – particularly for ships traveling between Europe and North America. That’s how I visited the island. I was on Day 7 of a 14-day Transatlantic cruise from Rome Italy to Miami Florida. That was our final port-of-call before crossing the Atlantic.
I took a shore excursion with hundreds of others from the cruise ship. It was basically a tour of the southern part of the island to include the port city as well as the mountains to the north. I forget which mountain peak we went to the top of, but it was cold up there at over a mile high.
That was a fun day on land. After that our cruise ship sailed down to about the 25° north latitude line, and then once we got there we straddled that parallel all the way westward to Miami Florida – arriving 8 days after our Madeira stop.
Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
Following a fun 7-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip to and from Florida’s Treasure Coast – I plan to continue these travel-themed Thursday blog posts indefinitely.
This week #TravelThursday leaves Florida and the United States to check-out the intriguing island nation of Iceland. We’re technically not leaving North America to visit Iceland, as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which separates North America and Europe in this region runs right through the center of Iceland. Geologically speaking the north and west part of the island is part of the North American plate, and the south and east part of the island is part of the European plate. You can actually walk right along the narrow valley / rift that is in the middle of the ridge and look-up at both North America and Europe on either side.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest continuous mountain range on earth – extending from the Arctic Ocean in the north to nearly Antarctica in the south. Most of it is submerged under water, but there are a few islands in the middle of the ocean that are part of the ridge – to include the biggest one – Iceland. There’s an excellent article on the Amusing Planet web site that explains the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Iceland.
I’ve never been to Iceland; although, I once had the chance to do so when I lived in the United Kingdom for 2 years from 1985 to 1987. Back then Keflavik NAS (at the SW corner of the island) was a joint-use Icelandic / American military base, and the base that I was stationed at in England – which itself was a forward operating location for stateside KC-135 aircraft – sent some of those aircraft to Keflavik for a few months at a time to support the mission there.
One of my favorite Twitter accounts is @dorisig (Iceland Photos). The name of the guy who runs it is Halldor. He’s got over 5,100 followers. He lives in Iceland (Reykjavik), and he’s a tourist guide. Once or twice per day (usually during the work week only) he drives somewhere with his dashcam on, and he posts a 30 to 40 second video of his drive along with the time and temperature. He includes noteworthy comments with his tweets – some of them quite amusing. I love his tweets and videos. I look forward to my daily drive around town with Halldor. Some of his videos have been shown on TV worldwide – including here in the U.S. This is probably the best thing Iceland has going for it online right now. He’s promoting the beauty that is Iceland every day. My interest in visiting Iceland during a future summertime has increased immensely !
#TravelThursday continues next Thursday. Where shall I visit virtually next ?
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
It’s Part 6 of my multi-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, and Okeechobee Counties (in that order). It was my first extended visit ever along Florida’s Treasure Coast. While there I was always within about 5 miles of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent Indian River.
Last Thursday we left off at one of the city beaches owned and operated by Vero Beach. The city enjoys about 4 miles of beachfront property along the immediate Atlantic Ocean coastline. Indian River County extends about 22 miles along the coastline.
On my final full day of vacation I mostly stayed within the city limits of Vero Beach, but I took a few side-trips. I visited the southern extent of another Florida State Park – Sebastian Inlet – right along State Road A1A. I visited the McLarty Treasure Museum, and it was the northern-most point of my vacation at 27.83° north latitude. The museum was very educational and informative. I watched about a 45-minute video in their theatre that tells the story of the 1715 Treasure Fleet – treasure that was headed to Spain, but didn’t make it very far off the coast of the present-day museum due to a hurricane.
From there I traveled southward back through Vero Beach to the McKee Botanical Garden. It’s been open as an 18-acre Indian River County attraction for the past 20 years, but for 40 years from the early-1930s to the mid-1970s it was a much larger (80-acre) roadside attraction right alongside U.S. 1. Known as McKee Jungle Gardens back then – it was very popular during the 1950s and 1960s (pre-I-95) – boasting 100,000+ visitors annually. My favorite part of the botanical garden was actually the part where the main entrance / footprint of the original park was maintained and honored. Admission to the botanical garden is $15 for adults, and slightly less for seniors, teens, children, and military.
My next destination was the 14TH Avenue district of downtown Vero Beach for a number of stops along a walking tour. First-up was the Indian River Citrus Museum at the Heritage Center. It’s a very small museum, but it’s packed with fascinating citrus memorabilia. I walked over to the Indian River County Historical Society which houses a museum in the old railway station building. They were closed (“indefinitely”), but I got some good photos of the exterior. I would have loved to talk with someone inside the building (as I’ve done in other small towns nearby), but maybe I can do that on a future visit to the area. I enjoyed a nice late-Lunch / early Dinner (#LuDinner) at Italian Kitchen (across the street from the citrus museum). I had their “Combo Special”. It was a lot of good food !
I probably would’ve spent a little bit more time walking the streets of downtown Vero Beach (working-off my big meal), but it was really hot on that day (Friday June 04TH), the area wasn’t as pedestrian-friendly as I envisioned it to be, and I didn’t feel as safe as I wanted to be. I kind of stuck out walking around solo as perhaps the only tourist in the area. Even a cop drove by slower than normal looking over towards me to see if I was up to no good. I got back in my car, and I headed back to my hotel room. I did go out a few hours later in the afternoon to Sweet Kiss Ice Cream for some banana gelato.
Day 3 of my road-trip is now complete. I drove 40.1 miles on this day. That brings the total thus far to 291.6 miles.
Next Thursday I’ll conclude this road-trip recap with Part 7 and my birthday drive home from Vero Beach to Homestead. I’ll also reveal the destinations of my next Florida road-trip that I’ll take in a few months.
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
It’s Part 5 of my multi-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, and Okeechobee Counties (in that order). It was my first extended visit ever along Florida’s Treasure Coast. While there I was always within about 5 miles of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent Indian River.
Last Thursday we left off at the St. Lucie County Regional History Center. (It’s their county museum.) I was actually planning to visit the small aquarium next door (about 500 feet away), but it looked like they were packed, so I proceeded over to the historical museum to start there, and then make my way back. That turned out to be a treasure that greatly exceeded my expectations. No time for the aquarium. Maybe on my next visit.
I ate #LuDinner (late-Lunch / early-Dinner – think 3 PM) at a highly-recommended (by friends) place called 12A Buoy – just across the bridge (inland) from the museum. As their web site states – it’s a “rustic dive” with “exceptional eats”. I concur. I enjoyed their Crispy Dolphin Reuben. #Yum
Let’s head for the beach. It’s on to the other side of the inlet to Fort Pierce Inlet State Park. It’s the only place on this entire road-trip that I’ve actually visited before. I was last there on April 24TH 2010. It was the northern-most extent of a weekend road-trip when I mostly explored Jupiter and West Palm Beach; although, I attended a Sunday morning church service in Stuart. You can actually read all about that road-trip right here on my blog. Just use the calendar down near the bottom of this blog to go back in history by 11 years and read all about it. (OK – I’ll make it easier for you with these 2 links – April 27TH 2010 / APRIL 29TH 2010.)
My 2ND visit to this beach owned and operated by Florida State Parks was fun. I like this beach a lot. It’s clean and well-maintained. There weren’t that many people on the beach on that Thursday afternoon. I imagine that it could be quite busy on many weekends and holidays.
After about an hour I decided to head out of Fort Pierce along Florida’s State Road A1A, and return back to “home base” for this road-trip – Vero Beach. But since the previous night’s visit to the beach in Vero Beach was a bust – I’d head up to the other popular beach – Humiston Beach Park. It’s a city-owned beach with a short boardwalk overlooking it. The lifeguard stand is part of the boardwalk. There are also a bunch of souvenir stores, restaurants, bars, and hotels within walking distance of the park. I enjoyed a nice cup of ice cream at Kilwins. The later you go there – the busier they get.
Day 2 of my road-trip is now complete. I drove 48.4 miles on this day. That brings the total thus far to 251.5 miles.
Next Thursday I’ll continue this road-trip recap with Part 6 and my final full day on Florida’s Treasure Coast. I spent most of it within the city limits of Vero Beach; although, I did take a side trip even further north along U.S. 1 and A1A to the southern edge of Sebastian Inlet State Park. I’ll share Day 3 with you next Thursday, and that won’t end this story. There will be a Part 7 as well the following Thursday after next.
All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries
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