Madeira: Portugal's Secret Island Paradise

In this engaging conversation, Paula Barnes interviews Sophian Hoe, a Singaporean expat living in Madeira, Portugal. They discuss Sophian's journey to becoming an expat, his experiences in Madeira, and the unique aspects of the island, including its natural beauty, culinary delights, and community feel. Sophian shares insights on travel tips, the best times to visit, and recommendations for dining and local experiences. The conversation highlights the charm of Madeira and the importance of connecting with the local culture.

Key Takeaways

• Sophian Hoe is a Singaporean expat living in Madeira, Portugal
• He moved to Madeira after living in Australia, Dubai, and San Francisco
• Sophian opened the only Singaporean restaurant in Portugal, Makan Madeira
• Madeira is known for its stunning nature and hiking opportunities
• Traveling to Madeira is best done by flying from Lisbon
• The ideal time to visit Madeira is during the winter months
• Madeira has unique local dishes and ingredients not found in mainland Portugal
• Renting a car is recommended for exploring the island
• Five nights is the minimum recommended stay for visitors

Helpful Links and Resources

1. Levada Walks (Levada do Alecrim specifically)
2. Monte Palace Botanical Gardens + Cable Car - Funchal Monte Palace tour
3. Porto Moniz Natural Pools - Madeira Island Tour
4. Laurissilva Forest UNESCO Site - Hiking Tour
5. CR7 Museum (Cristiano Ronaldo Museum) - Private Tour 

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Transcript

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Paula Barnes (00:23)
someone who has been on my podcast before for Truly Expat podcast and is the first person on my second season. So I'm super excited.

A little bit about how we know each other. So Safiyan and I met last year, actually no this year. my gosh, was it this year? I think it was this year in Singapore, right? In person. So let's get started.

Sophian Hoe (00:44)
Yes, yes we did.

Paula Barnes (00:48)
Welcome, I'm so excited to have you on today because I want to explain to everyone how, what Madeira is like and how beautiful it is, right?

Sophian Hoe (01:00)
Yeah, hi Paula, welcome and thanks for having me. I really appreciate this and especially being the first one in the new season. Thanks for that. I feel like I'm the pineapple badge.

Paula Barnes (01:01)
Huh?

⁓ I'm excited, yeah I'm so excited to have you on. So and you're the

first person I reached out to so for this new series so let's get started how you became an expat and obviously from your accent you're Singaporean so how did you get there?

Sophian Hoe (01:25)
Well, always, oh, this is interesting. Well, it's a long story, basically. I've lived in Australia. I lived in Dubai. lived a bit, spent a bit of time in San Francisco. And that's how I first moved to Australia back in 2000 when I was studying in Australia and I was doing music. And then I was very much involved in the arts and

And while I was living in Australia, I really liked the idea of living overseas because I get to experience different things. I get to experience a different culture and also understand how locals think about their own perspectives. yeah, and then when I came back, people would kind of make fun of me because I had quite a ⁓ bit of an Aussie accent because I live in the countryside where there were not many Asians around.

So I kind of picked it up by, you know, just to blend in and then, but of course the accident is gone already. so fast forward, I'm now living on the island of Madeira in Portugal, which is about an hour and a half flight from Lisbon.

Paula Barnes (02:38)
And that was going to be my question, how do you get there? So the flight would be the best way?

Sophian Hoe (02:43)
Yeah, I fly over the first wave. Yeah. Are you talking about how do I end up moving to Madeira or?

Paula Barnes (02:49)
How

does anyone get there? Actually, let's go back. Let's go back. How did you get there? Yeah, let's have, how did you get there?

Sophian Hoe (02:51)
Okay, sure. Okay,

okay. Well, as we were talking earlier about Morocco, I was having a holiday in Morocco back in 2017 and I thought, know, well, since I was flying with the National Airlines at Portugal, I thought, oh, I can just spend a week over there in Lisbon and then that's where I was based in Lisbon. I traveled to Porto and other places around Portugal and I really liked it.

Paula Barnes (03:00)
Yeah.

Sophian Hoe (03:21)
And I thought, oh, wouldn't this be nice to live over in Portugal? And that time I was actually living in Sydney. And then fast forward the following year, I went to Portugal again, just to have a look. And that's where I decided that, okay, maybe I like to give it a go, try it out for two years. If I don't enjoy it, I'll go back to Australia. And so I moved to Lisbon in 2020 during the pandemic, and I stayed there for what, three years.

Paula Barnes (03:47)
Ugh.

Sophian Hoe (03:49)
⁓ And then about two years ago, I moved to Madera Island. So Madera Island is the south of Portugal. It's an autonomous region. So ⁓ it's not really a state in that sense because they are able to make their own political decisions for the people. they almost had independence at one point, but then it was retracted. So things work quite differently over there.

Paula Barnes (04:08)
Huh.

Sophian Hoe (04:18)
And so interestingly on Madeira Island, it's about they're trying to be the Singapore of the Atlantic. So they're trying to build financial centers and scientific research centers. they really look up to Singapore as an inspiration. they want to be like Singapore, somewhat be like Singapore. that's how, yeah, that's where I come in and bring the Singaporean into the Atlantic Ocean.

Paula Barnes (04:27)
⁓

And

can you explain to those listening how you bring that in?

Sophian Hoe (04:52)
Okay, well, what I do is I, you know, in Portugal, I'm a chef, you know, in Portugal, and I started off in Lisbon doing my supper clubs, private dining, and then when I moved to Madeira, I extended the business and opened up a Singapore restaurant. So we are the only Singapore restaurant in the whole of Portugal, which is Makan Madeira.

Paula Barnes (05:16)
actually I didn't know that okay that's exciting so people will have to go when they do visit they have to come and and try the Singaporean food in Madeira.

Sophian Hoe (05:18)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yes, especially

we get lots of tourists and many of these tourists and expats living in Madera, they have lived in Singapore or they travel to Singapore. So they kind of miss the food and then they come and enjoy, know, enjoying the nostalgia, the feeling of ⁓ the sambal and the Chinese food and Indian food. And this is a nice feeling when it brings back their memories of Singapore.

Paula Barnes (05:54)
That's nice, that's very nice.

What do you think Madeira is famous for then?

Sophian Hoe (06:00)
⁓ Madeira island is not for those city lovers like those who like London or Paris. This is not the place for you. So Madeira is very much about nature and this is if you are into nature walks, hikes, ⁓ you know, and then see quite a different part of Portugal. This is really a nice place to go to. We don't get many Asian tourists over there, but

⁓ I see quite a lot of independent tourists coming over, especially from Singapore. We do get a few. Here's me thinking like no Singaporean would come to Madeira. And then I get Singaporeans eating at the restaurant and then they're sharing with me about what they do in Madeira, the walks and the hikes they go to. And then we also connect and I recommend them places to go in Madeira.

Paula Barnes (06:32)
Okay.

And so we mentioned, you touched on it before about how to get there. So how is the best way to get to Madeira if someone is in Portugal?

Sophian Hoe (07:01)
Yeah, best ways to fly. ⁓ I would recommend flying from Lisbon rather than from Porto because from Porto city there's only two flights a day whereas Lisbon you get like you get the budget airlines easy jet you get you get also like Ryanair and then TAP portugal airlines so there's a couple of flights a day so there used to be a ferry that takes from the south of Portugal which is the Algarve region all the way to Madeira island but that takes 24 hours

Paula Barnes (07:03)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Sophian Hoe (07:30)
And they, but they stopped that service, you know, a few years ago, I think during the pandemic years. But it's so like, you know, talking about that, like not only you can fly from mainland Portugal, from Lisbon, but you can also connect with Jet 2 Airlines from the UK, from Ireland, from Frankfurt, from Helsinki, there's direct flights. So it's very connected.

Paula Barnes (07:30)
⁓

Okay.

okay.

so it must be big airport then, relatively big.

Sophian Hoe (07:54)
⁓

Yeah, a relatively big airport but it's not that big in terms of Chinese airport, a true world size, you know. it's exactly here.

Paula Barnes (07:59)
Yeah, yeah, that's a completely different ball game there.

What do you think is the best time of year to travel to Madeira?

Sophian Hoe (08:12)
Personally for me, ⁓ anytime is the best time to be honest, but I would prefer to go during the winter months. Let's say from November period where it's still warmish and not too cold and up to ⁓ April or May. So those are quite a good times because you don't get many tourists except for New Year's and Christmas season. ⁓ But the rest of that period itself...

Paula Barnes (08:29)
Okay.

Okay.

Sophian Hoe (08:39)
is manageable. I think the thing about Madeira is it's starting to feel a bit of a struggle with over tourism because you get a lot of tourists coming to do the Nevada walks. But so those times are actually the best times in a sense that you won't be stuck in traffic jams and you can easily navigate around the island.

Paula Barnes (08:48)
Yeah, yeah.

That's the problem in Europe at the moment, right? It's that over-tourism. I like to go off-season just because of that, right? So you get to see a different side of that country or that city that you wouldn't see when there's thousand people in the middle of summer and it's boiling hot.

Sophian Hoe (09:07)
Yes.

Yes, I agree.

Yes, exactly. You don't want to go to see the sunrise and then suddenly you see like thousands of tourists around. Everybody's parked and everybody's trying to find a car park space. So it's always better to go during the quieter months.

Paula Barnes (09:35)
And what's the temperature kind of like around that time?

Sophian Hoe (09:39)
The temperature on the time is probably around, let's say the warm ⁓ like mid 20s to yeah up to 28 at the very most ⁓ So it's nice t-shirt and shorts and then so like in the and then night it can go down to 13 to 17 degrees here So yeah, it's pretty pleasant. But also don't forget that in the Dara Island is this several microclimates so you get

Paula Barnes (09:51)
Mm.

pleasant.

Sophian Hoe (10:07)
The north is colder than itself. The north ⁓ rains more than itself or the island. So and then you go to the beach, maybe it's between three degrees, but you go up in mountains, just 15 minutes drive. It's really like five degrees, 10 degrees. So always take a jacket with you.

Paula Barnes (10:09)
⁓

And the food in that region, is it very similar to the rest of Portugal or is it a different?

Sophian Hoe (10:28)
No, it's actually quite different. I mean, they do have their typical Portuguese dishes that you see all around Portugal. But also in Madeira, they have some unique ingredients that you don't find anywhere else in Portugal, like scabbard fish and then the limpets or we call it lapache over there. those are and then some they have like a special goat stew and then a bread soup, a clear bread soup with rosemary and poached eggs and...

It's called asodum maderens and then of course the typical garlic bread that you eat over there is called bolode caco which is made of sweet potato. So the dishes vary quite a bit and it's different from mainland. So don't always assume that Portuguese food are all the same.

Paula Barnes (11:07)
⁓ nice.

So yeah, exactly.

I guess that's like Singapore. You wouldn't imagine that one little tiny island has so many different cuisines coming from different regions. So Madeira, because it's an island, did you say it was a little bit bigger than Singapore or a little bit smaller? A little bit bigger? Yeah. Okay.

Sophian Hoe (11:26)
Yes, exactly.

Yeah, it's a little bit bigger than Singapore. It's about 60 kilometres wide.

So it's from going from one island to one part of the east to the west side of island could take about an hour or an hour and a half, depending on which route you take here. So let's take a little time.

Paula Barnes (11:46)
Okay.

and

public transport versus hiring a car.

Sophian Hoe (11:54)
⁓

I would suggest hiring a car, especially if you have a driver's license, only because I find that infrastructure still needs some work. If you are based in Funchal and you're only traveling around Funchal, that's okay. You can take the public transport, the buses are good. There's no metro over there because some of the volcanic rock is really hard. ⁓ You can also take Uber or Grab, it's the equivalent.

Paula Barnes (11:57)
Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Sophian Hoe (12:22)
But

if you want to travel, especially as an independent traveler, travel to watch the sunrise or go to the west of the island to Port

Paula Barnes (12:36)
Okay and I guess you need an international license to drive there I guess like the rest of it are you

Sophian Hoe (12:40)
⁓

Yeah, think getting international licenses is course is encouraged here, but I've seen people who are also I myself experienced where I've used my Singapore license and Australian license to rent cars. So no problem at all, especially if you're there like for less than three months.

Paula Barnes (12:57)
Okay

⁓ okay. That's good to know actually because I got stuck in Italy because I didn't have an international licence and they wouldn't... but I mean, if you don't need one... Okay.

Sophian Hoe (13:06)
⁓ I think Mandera is pretty flexible so

I don't really see that problem but always you know like always do check with the car hire company and just to make sure that you you know you're able to rent a car because sometimes like especially when you get good deals they can be non-refundable so it's always nice to check with the car hire company

Paula Barnes (13:17)
⁓

⁓ Yeah.

And can you drive around the city? It's not restricted.

Sophian Hoe (13:32)
Yes, you can drive around the city. It's not like, you know, Barcelona, Madrid or London where they have restricted. ⁓ It's easy to drive around there. But of course, you know, like I would I would not recommend driving during the peak hour period because especially when everyone's going to work or everyone's finishing work drive like come to Funchal maybe like after 9am. And then if you are, let's say if you want to go somewhere else is best.

Paula Barnes (13:50)
Yeah.

Sophian Hoe (14:00)
outside, out of Funchal for dinner, it's best to leave maybe just before 5 o'clock or leave after 7 o'clock. Traffic can be quite bad, especially like the highways. There's only two lanes. And once there's an accident, can, yeah, it's all over. So, yeah. So you have to plan it quite well in a way. But, Funchal is actually, you can drive around Funchal. It's quite easy. And so nice to see all the little suburbs around Funchal and

Paula Barnes (14:15)
I'd say it's all over.

Sophian Hoe (14:29)
Here you can see some interesting tourist spots too.

Paula Barnes (14:33)
Would you say, if someone was coming to visit, would you say, where would you say they should stay? And how long for?

Sophian Hoe (14:40)
Okay,

okay. Well, I think for a first timer, it's always, I would recommend staying at least for five nights minimum. Yeah, so I mean, you can also do three nights or four nights up to, it's up to you. But I, if you want to explore Madeira, five nights minimum. And in terms of, this is a personal preference in that sense, you know, some people like want to be based in Funchal.

Paula Barnes (14:48)
Okay.

Sophian Hoe (15:06)
and then they use Funchal as a base to travel around the island. I kind of prefer to be in the west area or outside of Funchal. The reason is that you come to Madeira to experience a different side of Portugal and it's all mostly nature and waterfalls and hikes and stuff. And why not be closer to nature and live in the smaller towns? you've also at the same time, you feel like you are...

Paula Barnes (15:30)
Mm.

Sophian Hoe (15:35)
you're part of the community, you're like a local tourist rather than just doing the touristy stuff.

Paula Barnes (15:37)
Yeah.

And I guess if you've got a car, it won't matter, right? You can stay in those little towns.

Sophian Hoe (15:44)
No, it won't matter. Yeah,

exactly. And then so like it's always best to check with your host, especially if you want to do Airbnb check with them if they have parking spots. So or they can advise you where to park because sometimes some of these places they do have parking spots. Sometimes they don't, but they will they will advise you where to where's the nearest place to park there. Yeah, because the one thing about Madeira is that especially we go out of Funchal, lots of hills and mountains and and so and some of the roads can be really tight.

Paula Barnes (15:53)
Mm.

Okay.

Sophian Hoe (16:14)
So

one time I drove on a small lane, an extremely small lane and I was panicking and everything. So you have to really be aware of those small roads, especially the higher you go, the roads can be smaller. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Higher small car, but higher automatic car. Yeah. Oh, yes. Because you only because you don't get stuck and then they have to having to.

Paula Barnes (16:29)
that's good to know. So hire a smaller car then? Yeah. yeah, you don't want those heels.

Sophian Hoe (16:42)
negotiate the clutch and the accelerator and it will cause stress. Especially for first time, I recommend getting automatic car.

Paula Barnes (16:44)
Yeah, it's frustrating and yeah, very, very stressful.

Yeah,

I always get automatic anyway because I can't drive a manual. I can if I really have to I can but it scares the life out of ⁓ me.

Sophian Hoe (17:01)
Yeah,

especially when you're on holiday, put that stress away, know, one less stress for you.

Paula Barnes (17:05)
Yeah

exactly and so I guess the next question is if I wanted to buy a souvenir I'm not talking about souvenir shops because everyone knows where those are what would you suggest I purchase if I came there on holiday as a souvenir?

Sophian Hoe (17:20)
Well, that's the thing. It's kind of hard to say because a lot of things in Madeira are souvenirs. I mean, of course, apart from souvenir matnecks and towels and stuff and t-shirts. But what I would say, I personally like to go to local supermarkets and buy local food products and souvenirs. ⁓ That's what I do. One thing is it's more affordable, but so you pay local prices. So that's this.

Paula Barnes (17:35)
Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Sophian Hoe (17:48)
bread that I really like. It's sort of like Christmas bread but you can eat it all year round. It's called Bolo de Mel. It's a dense cake and it's made of sugarcane, honey and walnuts and you can eat it any time of the year. What we do is we don't cut it traditionally like cut into slices but we just pick it up and bite it.

Paula Barnes (17:55)
Okay.

Nice.

⁓

Sophian Hoe (18:17)
So that's really amazing. And that's what I always tend to do by people as a souvenir. yeah, that's a piece of Madeira. ⁓ Of course, Madeira wines, ⁓ if you're into fortified wines, ⁓ there's lots of choices. I wouldn't recommend ⁓ the wines over there because the fortified wines are much better than local wines somehow. I think they're still in that stage where they're trying to refine it and make it better. ⁓

Paula Barnes (18:18)
That's tip.

That's good. Anything else?

Okay.

Sophian Hoe (18:46)
It's not there yet. So in terms of wine, it's best to buy like, you know, wines from Alentejo or Dourau Valley or my favorite is the Dau Valley in North of Portugal. Yeah. So.

Paula Barnes (18:48)
Okay.

⁓ okay. I'll pop

all that stuff that you've given me, all the information in the show notes so people can ⁓ know what to purchase and what your favourite is.

Sophian Hoe (19:07)
Yeah,

yeah and also I recommend this little cookie biscuit called Bolo de Cana which is really great when you have your coffee. Yeah so it's a little biscuit but also made of honey and sugar cane and some spices too.

Paula Barnes (19:11)
Mm-hmm.

Nice.

yum. ⁓

that sounds good. I do the same. I like to go to supermarkets and bring back a little bit of the country with me.

Sophian Hoe (19:31)
Yeah,

yeah, and actually that's the best way because you get to see what the locals local produce local products and you spot local and you know what you know local people like and and this is I understand this is a traditional rather than going to a tourist shops I mean, of course, there are some really good tourist shops that very high quality stuff But yeah, if you are not not too sure it's always best to start off with supermarkets

Paula Barnes (19:42)
Mmm.

So what does a typical meal look like in Madeira?

Sophian Hoe (20:01)
Ah, that's kind of subjective in a way because I mean everybody has a personal preference but I've tried quite a lot of so personally I like there are many options okay there's some options where like you can have you know of course when you go to restaurant you start off with a bolo de caco which is their garlic bread made of and then the bread is made of sweet potato and that's nice and then of course then

Paula Barnes (20:23)
Yum.

Sophian Hoe (20:31)
I personally like Asordia dimadirans, which is the clear broth soup with rosemary and thyme and bay leaf and it's got a poached egg inside and it's got ⁓ bread dip in it so it's nice and soft. So you've got all these really interesting textures here. you've got the... For the locals, it's kind of normal, but for the first time visitors, you'll be like, my gosh, what's that fish with...

Paula Barnes (21:02)
⁓

Sophian Hoe (21:02)
whether it's beef or chicken on a skewer, laurel bay stem, a brunch, and just charcoal grill ⁓ with simple seasoning, salt and pepper, and that's about it. And this is something that I realized that it brings back ⁓ nostalgic memories for me growing up in Singapore where the days before when I was growing up, used to, my grandparents and my grandparents and grand uncles, used to grill their meats over charcoal.

Paula Barnes (21:11)
nice.

Sophian Hoe (21:32)
And then when Singapore changed their policy to electric grill, that's something really missed that charred burn. Yeah. And taste and yes, that's something you cannot get from electric grill. Yeah. And then every time I always look forward to that because it just brings back home childhood memories.

Paula Barnes (21:36)
Yeah.

That smokiness.

I agree.

That's nice. Yeah, that sounds nice.

And do you have a dessert?

Sophian Hoe (21:56)
Yes, there are many desserts. There are several desserts over there. But I'm not really, how to say, I'm not, personally I'm not really a dessert person, Madeirans dessert person, because only I find that Portuguese, ⁓ as a nation, find Portuguese desserts are a bit too sweet. Yeah. But oddly enough, there's this dessert I really like called tresleche, and it's not Madeirans, it's Venezuelan. ⁓

Paula Barnes (22:13)
really?

But

it can be found there.

Sophian Hoe (22:26)
Yeah, it can be found there because there are so many

Venezuelan immigrants over there I expect and then they also brought their culture, Brazilians who brought their culture. So I get to try Venezuelan food there. So that's actually my favorite.

Paula Barnes (22:31)
Really?

That's interesting.

And what is it? I don't even know what that is. So what is it?

Sophian Hoe (22:45)
It's basically like milk caramel, know, soaked in milk and it's just soaked overnight and it's so so delicious. It's sweet but oh my god when it's soaked overnight, it's so good and usually it tends to be, I usually tend to go have that every Monday where I go down to the beach and then I sit by the beach, watch the sunset, have my dinner and have my meal with Trash Ledge.

Paula Barnes (23:10)
have a treat.

how nice I'm gonna have to Google that because I'm gonna have to try find it somewhere. it does it okay that's good to know.

Sophian Hoe (23:16)
yeah, yeah. Thresh slash means tree milk. Yeah. Yeah. So

it's got condensed milk evaporated and milk.

Paula Barnes (23:24)
That condensed milk gets you every time. I mean, it's huge here in, well, I was just in Malaysia. It's huge in Malaysia. It's quite big in Singapore too, Coffees and their sweets and stuff like that.

Sophian Hoe (23:27)
Yeah.

yes, yes,

Paula Barnes (23:36)
So I guess every expat has that moment where they arrive at a place and go, yeah, this is a beautiful destination. What was it about Madeira that brought you there or just kept you there?

Sophian Hoe (23:50)
I think this is something very personal in that sense. I find that I'm never bored of being in Madeira and there's always something new I can discover in Madeira. And I realized that when you're visiting Madeira versus living in Madeira, it's a two complete different reality. When you are there as a tourist, you collect the highlights like walking the Levada.

and then go in taking the cable cars and going to tourist sites and watching sunsets and sunrises. Whereas, as a local, as someone living there, ⁓ you get to see a different side of Madeira where you get to interact with your neighbours and people there are so friendly. then they... I mean, in my area, people kind of know who I am. And it's interesting, like...

They are curious to find out about me and then they ask questions and then also in the area like there's a few restaurants and that's something I don't get in Singapore. For example, the restaurants they remember me, they have a chat with me, we have small talks and we make jokes and we can...

Paula Barnes (24:55)
⁓

Sophian Hoe (25:05)
You know, it's a very nice community and when I don't come to the restaurant and when I haven't visited restaurant for quite a couple of weeks and then they be, you know, they be asking, oh, how have you been? Are you okay? This and that. And, and yeah, I guess that the feeling of, yeah, being part of the community really struck me. I don't get experiences anywhere else in the world actually.

Paula Barnes (25:28)
Yeah.

Sophian Hoe (25:29)
Yeah, and that's something you're very unique in Madera. you know, chatting with people and then people wanting to get to know me and then they, you know, we became like, we built a friendship, built a little bond and that really makes a whole difference here.

Paula Barnes (25:33)
That's nice.

That's that community feel, right? That you all of a sudden belong that you didn't mean to belong, but you just belong because it just feels right.

Sophian Hoe (25:51)
Yeah.

Yeah, and especially when they speak to me in Portuguese and I still struggle in Portuguese. but they, you know, they are forgiving and they understand what I'm trying to say and switch codes in both English and Portuguese. And, you know, I think that's, that's amazing.

Paula Barnes (26:02)
Yeah

Is English common there?

Sophian Hoe (26:16)
⁓ English is common in the tourist sites but more is less common in the rural areas here. So it's always best to pick up a bit Portuguese before you come over here like saying hello, thank you and I think people will appreciate all these little gestures you know.

Paula Barnes (26:36)
Yeah, I think every

country does that, right? Like you just learn a couple of phrases and they appreciate it a lot more than you realize.

Sophian Hoe (26:44)
Yeah, exactly. Sometimes we get you to give you free samples or something like that. You just never know. you just make the day. And I think that's all they are. They're really happy about it.

Paula Barnes (26:49)
Yeah.

Yeah.

If you have a visitor, what would be the three-day itinerary look like? Not as a tourist, if I was to Google best things to do in Madeira, but if you were to have visitors, what would you do with suggest to do in those three days?

Sophian Hoe (27:11)
Okay, well, of course, I got to include Funchal, you know, got to see the highlights around Funchal and walk around the pier and, you know, see CR7 because that's the home of Cristiano Ronaldo, ⁓ which is very important, there's a religion over there. So you have to do your pilgrimage to the museum and yeah, and then... ⁓

Paula Barnes (27:26)
Which is very important by the way.

Yeah.

Sophian Hoe (27:37)
Of course you have to sample as many local food as possible. Then I would also say from Funchal, head up to the Monte Palace, which is the Botanical Gardens, ⁓ and take the cable car up to the palace, which is an experience because you get to see a panoramic view of Funchal and the mountains and the suburbs around. If you're not afraid of heights, for sure.

Paula Barnes (28:01)
Beautiful.

Sophian Hoe (28:05)
and then of course take the toboggan ride after visiting the Monte Palace and then down the hill and then make your way slowly down to Funchal and of course you got to include a lavada walk which is a nature hike there's so many to choose from but you know as a tourist it's always best to do the easy ones where it's a nicer walk ⁓ my personal favorite is lavada do alecrim which is actually ⁓ alecrim means rosemary so not that he has rosemary around but

Paula Barnes (28:31)
Okay.

Sophian Hoe (28:35)
somehow it's a very gentle walk and it's a very nice, very good for beginners especially those who don't want to go up and down the hills. yeah, do that, it takes half a day and then of course you've got to visit the Laura Silva ⁓ Forest which is a UNESCO heritage site. It's one of those ancient forests in Madeira. But also be

Paula Barnes (28:55)
⁓

Sophian Hoe (29:02)
You know, because of old tourism also always be aware of all these places, respect the respect nature to not climb out on the trees like some tourists would do and take photos. Yeah. And then, you know, and an interesting part is that there's cows around the area and the no, no, they are the domestic. Yeah. Well, they are far me. But they are very gentle. So you can actually get close to them and take photos if you want to. Yeah. Yeah. So and.

Paula Barnes (29:04)
Hmm. Hmm.

Really? Hmm.

⁓ wild cows? ⁓ okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

That's nice.

Sophian Hoe (29:31)
And of course, you have to go to Port of which is on the north-western side of the island where the natural rock pools are. So it's sort of like, you those natural rock pools in Sydney, you get you know, get the coast. But this is Port of Monish is quite wild and it's quite, yeah, it's a nice place to spend the day itself, go into the pools. But there's a paid entrance. There's also the free public pools.

Paula Barnes (29:39)
⁓

Mm-hmm.

Sophian Hoe (30:00)
So, yeah, it's good to do both. You get different experience. you know, and of course, you know, how we cannot miss, yeah, eating Portuguese food, especially, you know, all the dishes I mentioned ⁓ and I also recommend trying the grilled lampets, which is the lapage. It's just grilled with garlic and butter and squeezed with lemon just before you serve. ⁓ It's just so interesting and just so delicious. Yeah. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (30:23)
Yeah.

I'm guessing there's a lot of seafood dishes there being an island.

Sophian Hoe (30:33)
Yeah, there's a lot of seafood here. Lots of fish here. And so interestingly, in Madera, you do get British influence on the island. So I would recommend going for high tea at the Reeds Palace Hotel here. And it's quite a nice, it's not about the high tea, but it's actually a nice experience because you get to see outside in the veranda and then the veranda faces the Atlantic Ocean and the views are fantastic.

Paula Barnes (30:43)
Mm-hmm.

⁓ okay, that's my favorite.

Sophian Hoe (31:03)
So it's experienced by itself. So I highly recommend that. ⁓

Paula Barnes (31:06)
Nice.

Is there anything you recommend to do at night?

Sophian Hoe (31:12)
At night, basically just eat. ⁓ Well, yeah, yeah. I mean, ⁓ in my area, it's where I live. It's called Madeleine do Mar. It's madeleine by the sea. So there's two restaurants that I really like. One is Moria, which is a seafood, a local Portuguese seafood restaurant. And this is what I always do whenever I friends over, I bring them there and we eat.

Paula Barnes (31:15)
A good restaurant today.

Sophian Hoe (31:41)
the spaghetti seafood. ⁓ my gosh, it's like the best thing in the world. The best spaghetti dish you ever have in your life. And what I would do as a Singaporean, I always bring my sambal along. Just to make it spicy.

Paula Barnes (31:49)
Well.

Yeah! ⁓

And so

where is ⁓ your restaurant and what dishes should people try?

Sophian Hoe (32:06)
⁓ So my restaurant, Markan Madera, is actually just outside Funchal City. So we are just below Royal Savoy, Savoy Palace, Savoy Palace actually. So the whole stretch is called Hua Imperiates Dona Amelia. ⁓ So it's a stretch of restaurants and cafes and shops. ⁓

Paula Barnes (32:16)
Mm-hmm.

Sophian Hoe (32:29)
Yeah, if you go to Savoy Hotel, can ask them. They know where it is. of course, you can always Google us or contact us through our social media. yeah, I would recommend, I mean, the thing is, it's hard to recommend because everyone has their own preferences. But of course, you can start with the Nasi Lemak with lamb rendang, which is one of our diners' favorite.

Paula Barnes (32:51)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Sophian Hoe (32:56)
And the other thing is, so I recommend is Boa Colua Fried Rice, which is the ⁓ truffle of Southeast Asia. And this is something you see at Paranakan restaurants. And this is the only place we serve in the whole of Portugal. And interestingly, we have people who really liked it. And there was even a teenage boy, a tourist family from Germany. And they would specifically come to the restaurant just for that.

Paula Barnes (33:04)
yum.

Wow!

Sophian Hoe (33:25)
So that's

Paula Barnes (33:25)
Wow!

Sophian Hoe (33:27)
where I feel like, okay, I hit the right note when someone, a little boy, a teenage boy, drags his family down just because he really misses that he wants to that dish here.

Paula Barnes (33:40)
And what times are you open?

Sophian Hoe (33:44)
We are open usually in the evenings. During the summer months, we open for lunch and dinner, but during the winter months, we are open mainly in the evenings because also we realize that there are tourists coming in, most of them tend to, those who are based in Funchal, they tend to go out and explore the island, the north, the east and everywhere else. And then when they come back to Funchal, then they look for food options here. So they come to us.

Paula Barnes (34:10)
Nice.

I definitely, I was going to say I definitely have to ⁓ come and visit maybe next year. I've got a lot of Europe trips next year planned so maybe I need to stop over.

Sophian Hoe (34:12)
So you have to come and visit.

Yeah

Yeah, it's only an

hour and half from Morocco and yeah, so and two hours or three hours from Ireland actually. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (34:24)
Wow, yeah. Is it? And I'm

in Italy a lot next year, so maybe I need to come over. Yeah.

Sophian Hoe (34:31)
Yeah, I'll be able to four hours. Yeah, come over here.

It'll be great to have you happy to host you in Madera.

Paula Barnes (34:37)
Yeah,

I'd be so excited. I've heard so much about it. I feel like I really need to come and see what everyone's talking about. So what would you say is your favourite neighbourhood or area?

Sophian Hoe (34:52)
is basically where I live right now in Madalena Doma. I really like the area because you don't see many tourists. There are a few Airbnb's around but they are, how to say, they're more tourists who have been to Madera Island and they're coming back for like in a second or third time and they know the area and then they and you don't see many, you know, unlike the other places like Funchal or

Paula Barnes (34:56)
Yep.

Sophian Hoe (35:20)
Calietta where you see a lot of tourists going to the beach. In Madalena Roma, the beach is mainly like local tourists and then local people and so maybe just the pockets of a few expats and tourists around. So it feels very local over there, which I really like it. And then there's a restaurant I go to called Brazama. It's like a religious trip. Every Monday I'm always there because that's when the restaurant's closed.

Paula Barnes (35:38)
Okay, yeah.

⁓

Sophian Hoe (35:50)
go there

to have my drinks and watch the sunset. It's amazing and then have my dinner over there. And then of course, tres leches to end the day.

Paula Barnes (35:57)
Nice.

Nice

and and what is is there anything to do around that area? there any walks or?

Sophian Hoe (36:09)
They're not really in the sense, mean they are like how to say, Madalena Domar has the biggest banana plantation around the West. So I would recommend going through the, there's like banana levada walks where you can walk through the banana plantations and have a wander around, get lost in the area. yeah, but it's all you know, path and you can't get lost and then you end up

Paula Barnes (36:16)
⁓

Okay.

Sophian Hoe (36:35)
exiting at the pub and you can drink your your porn chai enjoy your drinks by the beach. I would say it's a nice place to be based and then you can go up to Caliato, Preserich or Ponta di Pagodiccio in western side area of the island and then to Funchal itself it takes about 20 to 25 minutes to get to Funchal so it's actually not far. So it feels like a world away from the Hassan Basel but yet

Paula Barnes (36:37)
Hahaha

Nice.

No fur.

Sophian Hoe (37:05)
you you feel so, it's so local and it's just very nice and calm and peaceful.

Paula Barnes (37:11)
So nice. I'm really, really, you've convinced me that I really need to come try, come visit. Yeah. So thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. Especially being my first, I'm really excited that. ⁓ And hopefully I get to see you in person soon.

Sophian Hoe (37:14)
You have to, you have to. I'm looking forward to that.

No worries, I'm really on it. It'll be the first day.

Yeah, yeah, hopefully we get to meet again soon, whether in Madera or in Lisbon or in Singapore. the world is really small, apparently. Yeah, so thank you Paula.

Paula Barnes (37:38)
Somewhere in the world. It is, it is smaller than people realise. But thank you and we

will hopefully I'll see you soon. Bye.

Sophian Hoe (37:50)
Okay, take care,

bye.

Paula Barnes (37:53)
Thank you for joining me on the Truly Expat Travel podcast. If you liked this episode and you found it valuable, then why don't you go ahead and like and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode moving forward. I've got some amazing guests and some fantastic destinations coming up. But if this is the episode and this is the destination that you really wanna go to, then I suggest you head over to trulyexpattravel.com where you'll find

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