Yes, it is done: The "eternal Madeira series" has been finished, as promised, with a last, very short part. It really was about time. From now on we can finally go on with something new, although it is not too new. But still it is something different.
The plot
This part starts with a last view from the window of our domicile. Afterwards, we switch directly to the airport, where I extensively film the runway, aircrafts and what else belongs to an airport. Also a last announcement from me is shown. In the face of the celebrations of the previous day, I am in a quite good shape there. And that's it! There is not more to be seen of this, in any respect exceptional Madeira series. There will be no aftermath this time, because I currently do not know what I should tell. And I really want to go on with something new now.
The soundtrack
... this time comes again from the recently released album "Madeira" by Cimelium. If you like the music, here, as always the links to iTunes, GooglePlay and Spotify. In the video you can hear:
00:00 Cais do Sardinha
04:54 Camara de Lobos
What's next?
In short: The series about my bike tour in 2015 to the North Sea. In addition, I have a little surprise, so you can see not only old, but also up-to-date material. Otherwise someone actually assumes, I would be dead, and someone would only use my old material for a little Youtube Cash ;) If you want to watch the whole Madeira 2014 series again completely: Here is the link to the Playlist!
I have kept this blog post quite short on purpose, because this short video doesn't deserve a full-length, extensive blog post ;). And now, have fun with the video:
The plot
In the penultimate video of this series we hike on well-known paths. We hike from where we left off in the last part: In Terreiro da Luta. From there we hike through the, this time blossoming, Parque Ecologico do Funchal to Poiso. After strengthening ourselves with Cortado and Poncha, we return by bus to Funchal, where after a rich meal, we conclude the day with party time. Some of you will like this party part and others will ask: "Is this really necessary?". Should I, one day, realize that a predominant part of my little audience does not like such party excesses, I will take this into account and will not include such stuff in my videos anymore. The customer is king ;)
Why did it take so long again?
I am sorry, of course, that you had to wait such a long time for a new video. Once again personal and private problems were responsible for this. You can believe me, if I say, that this is getting on my nerves too. So if you are annoyed by it, you are not alone. However, also I have to spend some time for creating music. Currently, the new alionsonny album "Phoenix" is in the works, and I have worked a lot of my working time during the past 2 months on it.
The soundtrack
Here is something special this time: This video is the first in which the final versions of songs of the recently released "Madeira" album by Cimelium can be heard. In previous videos you could hear some pre-release-versions already. But these are not comparable with the album versions. Here I would like to announce a small, but important, change: For various reasons I will not present unfinished, so-called pre-release, versions in videos in the future. From now on only finished versions will be included in the videos. So it may take some time until you will hear new music in the videos. However, my portfolio is now so extensive that it is unlikely, if at all, that boredom will arise. Here is the soundtrack of the current video in detail:
The album is, as always, available in all well-stocked online shops for music. Just for example I link here to the album on GooglePlay (CLICK!) and iTunes (CLICK!). Also, the album is available on all well-known streaming platforms, e.g. Spotify (CLICK!). What's next?
I hope that this time the next video will be uploaded not just a little faster. However, I will wait for a certain time until the current video has received a sufficient number of views. This is still going too slow ;). Next, we conclude the current 2014 Madeira series with a last and short part . Then I can finally start the series about the 2015 bike ride to the North Sea. I'm really looking forward to it. It may also happen that I will alternately upload parts of the the 2015 series about our trip to Madeira in 2015 already . But let's see ...
And now I wish you much fun with the current video. And thank you again for your patience. I even got some new subscribers, despite the lack of new video uploads,. Thank you also for this, because new subscribers offer, of course, a certain stimulation to continue, no matter how the personal condition is. And here, finally, is the video:
Oh, how am I supposed to start this post? There is a LITTLE something to explain. My friends on Facebook already know for the most part what happened. But there are not just a few who are not on Facebook and I owe them, I think so, a brief explanation. As many people have noticed, no new video has been uploaded for over 1 1/2 years. Many people feared that I would be sick, or that I would no longer dwell among the living. Well, I live and my health is currently also quite good.
What happened?
Life has happened. I do not want to publicly spread the details here for a variety of reasons and also to protect the privacy of a particular person. What happened to me is certainly not something that anyone, somewhere in the world would be proud to tell. It is also not that something like that just happens to me, but it happens to people around the world at any time. Only, the way HOW it happened to me was so hard for me to take, that it killed my complete creative energy. You could say, it killed my life power. From autumn 2015 to the end of 2016, I was in a state of unbelievable emptiness and futility. Nothing was important or interesting for me. My soul was dead. Reads bad? It was bad!
How are things now?
Much better. It was quite difficult, but I would say that I am at least 50% restored. And it goes on. At present, I think that the best I can do is simply continue to work on my dreams - harder than I have ever done - to achieve my goals. There is a lot of stuff that stacked up on my todo list. Much has been badly damaged eg. ceased to exist during the short period of my "absence". So there is a lot to do. And I notice with every step back to normality, I am getting better.
New video?
Well, you have not subscribed to the channel? Otherwise you must have already received a notification 2 days ago in the evening. The video was uploaded already 2 days ago. However, Youtube again changed something nice at the process of publishing videos and until yesterday evening, I was busy to grasp the whole thing and to put it to use. With the video below, we are continuing the ETERNAL "Madeira 2014" series. This time we are hiking again through the outskirts of Funchal, from Curral dos Romeiros to Terreiro da Luta. There is, of course, a lot of nature to see, a breathtaking panorama view of Funchal and a sacral monumental work, the "Nossa Senhora do Paz". Here is the video:
Soundtrack:
The soundtrack this time is again from a alionsonny classic album. It is the album "Reggae?" from 2009. If you like it, you can buy it on all online music sites like iTunes (CLICK!) or GooglePlay (CLICK!). Of cause it is also available on all streaming services, such as Spotify (CLICK!). Here's the track list:
00:00 - Life goes ON! 05:19 - Springtime 2009 11:06 - Aquatic Dub 16:45 - Summertime 2008 What's next?
We actually still have a full part of this eternal series. Then comes the traditional aftermath in the form of another part. Then this series is FINALLY finished. After that? Oh, don't ask. There is still so much to show. What did I say about "a lot to do"? ;) So: First after finishing the Madeira 2014 series comes the, long promised, bike trip to the North Sea. Then we were already back to Madeira in 2015 and then we recently visited Cyprus for 2 weeks. We have so much video material that it is enough for at least one year, even if I would solely produce videos ... but I can't do this.
Ok, I apologize again for the long time of nothingness. Was not my choice. I will do my best to keep you provided with new videos in the future.
Well, what's left to say about the latest "Spring in Madeira" video, that was not already said? The plot is fairly simple: A one-hour bus ride from the Ponta de São Lourenço to Funchal. This time the route is a little different than on the ride in 2012, and we even drive right through the airport... NO, not through the building. That would be bad ;) The weather is also alot better this, time and so the Sun blinded plentyful sometimes. The somewhat breathtaking driving of the bus driver made me a few times almost falling off the seat. It is not very easy to sit stable, if you can't hold on to something with both hands, because you hold a camera. One time, a rude person placed himself between the window and the camera and had a long conversation with the bus driver. Therefore I had to cut a part of the ride. There are people, who have the empathy of a concrete post ;). Everything is accompanied by works of the alionsonny project from 2004 to 2014. Detailed links to free and purchasable albums can be found in the video description, or just visit alionsonny.com. Yes, and that's actually all about this video. In the next part we go hiking again in Ribeiro Frio to the Balcoes. This time without a rain apocalypse.
Oh yes, one more thing. If you do not already know it: New videos will be uploaded from now on only, if the previous video has gotten at least 50 views. This is a little experiment and also i do not want videos to "get left behind", just because I upload too fast. So don't be surprised, if there's nothing new for some time.
Yes, there was a long pause since day 6 and I'm kinda sorry, and the reasons are not important ;) Welcome back, myself! I have even waited with this blog entry until the two parts of the day 7 were done, so I can show you something real here in the blog, and not just one part. That would be inappropriate after the long wait.
Plot
On the 7th day of the Lord and the Lady (Malina) rested. Somehow we needed a quiet day again and we had anyway long ago (already in 2011) planned to visit the fort "Fortaleza de São João Baptista do Pico" and the artist quarter in the Zona Velha (Old Town) more in detail. It proved to be clever to split the video material into two parts because it had a total of almost hour of playtime, which has proven to be unwanted by the audience. Most viewers seem to like their videos around half an hour in length, or even better 20 minutes. In addition, the thematic separation yielded itself. The first part shows the ascent to and the visiting of the fortress, the second shows the visit to the artist quarter. Both topics each took about 50% of the video material, so it was all just reasonable. Now in detail about the two parts:
The Fortress (Die Festung)
We initially had no idea if a visit to the fortress was possible at all. The ascent to the selfsame was more complicated than expected. We hiked around the fortress mountain on the west side ... where unfortunately is no entrance to the fortress. So we hiked on the northwestern slope up to find, shortly before the fortress, a nice cafe (highly recommended) where we refreshed ourselves with an exquisite Poncha. Then we walked around the fortress wall, first in the wrong direction (west) and found that there was no direct access from the sea side. So we walked all around the fortress and at the southeast corner, well hidden in the upper old town, there was the entrance. We visited the fortress really detailed. I do not want to reveal more here ;).
ART! (KUNST!)
After our adventure in the fortress we went quickly south east, downhill, on our way to the lower old town, called Zona Velha. There is the art district that is famous for, that there the front doors of the houses art painted by artists. These doors we filmed extensively and truly Malina's photography supported my video work in an excellent way. I was frankly quite surprised about the ammount of material during editing. We visited an art gallery, and here we also filmed and photographed alot. Then "we collected a few forgotten doors" and then decided to end that day in the bar "Tapas do Anibal" with a high quality Poncha at an unbeatable low price. After that we visited, since we were allready drinking, a bar near the church of "Santa Maria", the "Barreirinha Bar Café". Also, this is recommended, despite its slightly high prices, because for the quality of the drinks the prices are more than fair. Ok, and so this day also came to an end.
Day 8
Yes, of course I'll let you know what will happen on day 8: It is also a "two-parts day". Part one shows a wonderful and, one can safely say spectacular, hike with first class weather, on the eastern tip of the island. Viewers of the 2012 series "Return 2 Madeira" may remember: Back then the weather was not so good and I hiked in sandals ... The second part will please the friends of the bus ride videos, of which there are more than I thought. My second most popular video is a bus ride video. And between this and Day 8 Part 2 there is a commonality: It's the same route. only this time we ride back in the evening to Funchal while the video from 2012 shows a midday drive from Funchal to the "Ponta de São Lourenço". Ok, now that was but enough text. It goes on!
The video was actually uploaded two days ago, but personal issues caused the delay of this blog. On the fifth day of the trip we needed, due to the chaotic ends of the previous two days, really a day off and spent it in Funchal. Here we were anything but idle and therefore in this video there's a lot to see. We started at the Parque de Santa Catarina, where the spring time in Madeira was clearly visible, because of the overwhelming variety of beautiful flowers.
But there was not much shade and the sun burnt down with full force. So a shadier place was really a better choice. This we found at the Jardim Municipal. There also everything was in full bloom. We saw a sausage tree and so we learned where the sausages come from ;).
Unripe green saussauges on an saussage tree ;)
In front of the Ritz, just across the Avenida Arriaga from the Jardim Municipal, played a very good band whose sounds I of course do not withhold from you in the video.
Great sounds in front of the Ritz
After a pleasant cooling stay we decided to explore the old town of Funchal further. After a short time we arrived the Madeira winery Blandy, where we stayed only briefly, because the tasting costs money and the prices for this were so high that we decided to skip the wine tasting ;).
Overwhelming variety of fruits, vegetables and everything at the Mercado dos Lavradores
After extensive fruit purchasing and procurement of a cooled sixpack of Coral Tonica we discovered a multimedia information board, with which we had some fun. But then we got toknow that the market hall was closing soon. The day was still young and we had now recovered well. Therefore we were not in the mood to just end the day yet and made our way towards Lido. Here we visited a cocktail bar that we remembered from 2011 for excellent cocktails at a low price.
No longer recommended
But the prices were raised quite a lot and the Poncha, which we were served, consisted of 1/3 ice cubes. Ice cubes in a Poncha are in my opinion at all wrong. So we did no further experiments and went on our way into the direction of Camara de Lobos. On the way there we had a very cute encounter.
CUTE ALERT !!!
Our plan now was to hike to the Doca do Cavacas, through the tunnel and to the Praia Formosa, because we remembered from 2011, that you get an excellent Poncha at the beach bar there. We unfortunately found out that the tunnel was closed for renovations. So I completed my only and late "speech" to the audience, and we went, as it was quite late and dark, on the way back to Funchal. On the way we then saw a very welcoming restaurant that had a large sign with the words "Poncha Bar"
FINALLY: A real Poncha!
Strengthened by an excellent Poncha, we now made our way back to the apartment house and ended the day. So, and now you want for sure to watch the video). Here it is! Have fun!
And on we go with the second part of the current series about our trip to Madeira. We start slow and easy in this part, but we already start with the hiking. The route will however be familiar to those, who have followed the series from 2012. We hike from the Parque Ecologico do Funchal up the plateau north of Funchal and then to Poiso. Afterwards, we still hiked further, but unfortunately no video material of this exists. Why the repetition? In fact I hiked that route one time alone and once again together with Beatrice in 2012. The repetition has two reasons:
1 We were pretty exhausted still from the early arrival the day before and wanted to start things slowly. Therefore, a not too strenuous route was chosen, which I knew well already.
2 Malina of cause had viewed the videos of 2012 and of course wanted to see the views of Funchal and especially the plateau herself.
In addition, one and the same place on Madeira looks completely different in different seasons and in fact it was a totally different feeling to walk this route in spring. Initially, it even looked as if we would hike this route this time in bright sunshine. But only until the wind pushed some cloud banks against the mountainside. It did not come to a weather apocalypso like 2012, when I had to leave the plateau quite hastily, but it was quite foggy. This part of the series is also, with a little over 22 minutes, quite short. After the long winter break, I had first to get myself rolling again. Also, I had already told you beforehand that I film less when I have company than when I'm traveling alone. However, I believe that this video will be quite entertaining. Have fun!
Yes, here we go: Here is the new Madeira video series. This is the introductory part with the traditional opening speech. After that, you will see about 15 minutes of video and photo material from the first small walk through Funchal in bright sunshine.
Actually this video should have been available on the 3rd birthday of the AlionLive video channel on Youtube. This has almost happened, but was contradicted by various difficulties. Actually I also wanted to speak the introduction this time not in front of my badly lighted greenscreen, but somewhere outside. But this was contradicted by the bad weather during the first 2 may weeks also. But, never mind: The start has now been made.
The soundtrack this time is completely from the current alionsonny album "Continuity". NOTE: In this video for the first time you hear only finished release versions, so this is what you get if you buy this album.
The soundtrack in detail:
00:00 - A Sunny Day
04:47 - The Storm
09:32 - Pirates of Madeira
14:27 - Green Hills
19:03 - Ganja in the jar
24:03 - Flight of the Butterfly
If you now want to buy this album, Here's where you can do so:
Here is the penultimate part of this video series and once again some pretty turbulent action awaits you. This is mainly caused by the turbulent weather conditions already mentioned in the title. Also the fact that I was in a certain "party mood" contributed to this not just a little. The video was uploaded to the AlionLive Youtube channel already yesterday. First responses give a reason to the assumption that this is probably one of the future top videos on the channel. In general, I would like to thank at this point for the comparatively rapid growth in both views, but also subscribers. This way everything is even more fun.
Let's go to Curral the Freiras
Still weakened by the long hike of the previous day and the beginning of the dengue infection, it was initially quite difficult for me to make a decision for a planning of the day. Another reason was that for this day actually a general strike for Portugal was announced. I took that seriously and was expecting that on this day hardly anything would go. But when I saw that this general strike was not carried out in any way, I boarded in actually quite nice morning weather a bus towards Curral the Freiras. Once there, the weather changed very quickly from cold, gray and foggy into a full blown storm with pouring rain. Still I hiked in high spirits about 4 hours through the rain until the water (no exaggeration) rolled fist-sized pieces of rock down the street. Since I well remembered the pictures of the landslides in Curral das Freiras from 2010, I did my best to get quickly out of the danger zone. A bus that was waiting at the end of the road as if it was waiting just for me, brought me back to Funchal.
Escape back to Funchal and following the traces of the past
From the window of the bus I saw a place that seemed very familiar to me, namely, the Church of Santo Antonio. Since the remains of the morning's beautiful weather were still there, I decided to leave the bus and walk a bit in the footsteps of the hikes of 2011. Santo Antonio was in fact one of the places that played a big role also on Day 3 of the 2011 trip on video. So I got me a six pack of tasty "Coral Tonica" black beer and after a quite extensive speech, which was complicated by the coming storm, I decided to continue to follow the footsteps of 2011. Despite the previously mentioned storm and heavy rain showers, which were in no way inferior to those in Curral the Freiras, my path led me next to Sao Martinho. Sao Martinho in turn played a certain role in the video on Day 2 of the 2011 trip, because it was the place where I spoke for the first time in Madeira in front of the camera.
Fear & Loathing in Sao Martinho
The now apocalyptic weather and 4 of the 6 bottles "Coral Tonica" inspired me to a rather funky speech in front of the church of Sao Martinho and that's not all: I did my best to play the melody of "Unrasiert und fern der Heimat" in an admirable dilettantish way on the flute (tin whistle). Subsequently, I talked about "dirty stuff" in front of the church door and went in slowly getting better weather on my way back to the hotel. Once there my "party plans" for the evening were (probably fortunately) nullified, because I learned that my shuttle bus to the airport would go very early the next morning. So I said goodbye in a quite short message and let the day end with two Poncha at the hotel bar.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack this time consists, appropriately as I think, of the latest creations for the still coming in 2014 album "Willma im Wunderland" by my music project "Willma Poppen" . The soundtrack in detail:
