Not so much an Englishman in Dubrovnik, more like an Englishman in Câmara de Lobos this week. And from the chunky statue of Winston Churchill in the centre of this small fishing village on the south of Madeira, I am not the first Englishman to have enjoyed the views here. Winston came here to paint, I came for less creative purposes, a mixture of business and pleasure.
If you ever thought that Dubrovnik is an island, alone and isolated, come to Madeira.
I didn’t really know what to expect, apart from it being the birthplace of Cristiano Ronaldo and that it was often called the Hawaii of Europe.
“Last year we received around 2 million tourists on the island,” said the Mayor of Câmara de Lobos, which is clearly a city that lives off the tourist dollar. Other people in the group thought “Wow, that’s a lot,” whilst I was thinking “Only 2 million.”
Now listen to this, they had 2 million tourists across the whole year, not in seven months as we do.
Yes, you soon realise that the weather on Madeira is delightful for most of the year. It has one of those climates that support the growth of everything green, and I mean everything under the sun. Bananas grow like weeds from every spare centimetre of earth. I literally walked into a petrol station and was asked if I wanted a bunch of bananas!
And they serve them with everything, from cocktails to fish, yes fish.
I like to try local, and fish served with passion fruit sauce and a whole banana was as local as you can get. It sounds weird (and wasn’t that popular with Mrs. Thomas) but it kind of grew on me and by the end I decided I would order it again. So no olive oil, more bananas! Will that dish catch on in Dubrovnik? I am guessing probably not.
Climate, this glorious weather, that is not humid and oppressive but fresh and warm, is the key to life on the island. It brings all year round tourism, all the fruit and veg that you’ll need and it would seem a relaxed way of life.
To indicate just how balanced the temperatures, we didn’t visit a house that had heating or air-conditioning. They live in the middle of the comfort zone, although literally being in the middle of nowhere.
We hiked, almost every day, as the island is famous for its hiking routes and if you thought that hiking wasn’t popular, think again. We had to get to the start of some routes before the sun rose just to get a parking space.
We swam, and yes even though it’s an ocean it was just as warm as our Adriatic, if not warmer.
It has golf courses, marinas, shopping, history and fun.
So what are the downsides? When I asked a few locals it was like speaking to someone from Gruž or Lapad. The exact same problems. Lack of affordable housing for local people, lack of investment in public services, Airbnb taking over the rental market and rising food prices.
All the normal stuff that you would expect from a popular tourist destination.
“I wonder what the parking is like?” asked a colleague from Dubrovnik. The answer seems to be that they don’t really have one, parking in the centre costs around one euro an hour and they have built so many underground garages that they have spaces everywhere.
So what about the roads being packed with taxis? “WTF, it is telling me that the nearest Uber taxi will arrive in an 'infinite amount of time,” I said to a Portuguese colleague as we waited outside a restaurant. “You will wait forever,” she smiled. “We banned Uber from the island, at least for the time being,” she added. There is no Uber, no Glovo, but weirdly Uber Eats. I kind of got the impression that they have their own way of doing things and they are happy with it.
Maybe you could call it an island mentality.
“Oh, you are from King’s Landing,” commented a German couple (Germans are the most numerous tourists) adding that they didn’t want to come to the south of Croatia because of the “cruise ship crush.” Tourist destinations get branded with impressions, some good, some not so good. These are impressions that we have to live with.
My first impression of Madeira was similar to my last. It is an exotic isle. It feels like Africa, South America and Europe were thrown into a blender. It is wild and wonderful. An island of colour in every sense.
We’ll be back, and next time we’ll stay longer. At least that’s what I promised my wife.
Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to.
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About the author
Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik