David Lloyd in comics festival in Calheta

David Lloyd doing autograph signing in our V For Vendetta copy

David Lloyd is a world famous British comics artist best known as the illustrator of the story V For Vendetta.

He was in Madeira to open an exhibition on the graphic novel V For Vendetta, in Casa das Mudas Art Centre, in Calheta (5 minutes away from Sofia's Place).

V For Vendetta (2006) is a film based on the aforementioned comic book. The movie was exhibited in the Art Centre auditorium, after the exhibition opening and the autograph session, last Friday March 26.

Guest testimonial 2 (Homelidays website)

"My wife, 2 year old daughter, and I spent a week at Sofia's place. It was very special and I look forward to staying there again soon.

From the moment we arrived the stress we carried from the mainland was released upon meeting the owner Sofia. She is a warm, kind, and friendly woman and made sure we felt at home in her beautiful village of Jardim do Mar.

The home was wonderful. It was clean, private, quiet, had a view of the ocean, a nice sunny patio, and had all of the amenities we needed.

We enjoyed that the village for the most part was car free and everything we needed was within a short walk. We did need the car to explore the rest of the island, but it was nice to park the car and walk through the town.

The home was nicely located and we were able to walk through the village down to the ocean with our daughter and did not have to worry about oncoming traffic.

We also liked being able to walk down to Joe's pub and take in the local scene. For us to have a quiet and peaceful village to stay in was something quite special and I would recommend it to anyone."

Overall mark given by the renter: 5/5

Date  28/02/2011  - Mr. Andrew R. - Member n°5017497 (The Netherlands)

Testimonial on Homelidays website

Carnival in Madeira

Carnival parade 2011 in Madeira

Carnival is lived with quite intensity by people in Funchal, the Islands's capital. Traditionally there are two Carnival parades in Madeira, and they are very different from each other.

The most important one, the allegoric parade, which takes place always on the Saturday of the Carnival weekend, is the more sophisticated one and needs a great deal of commitment and organisation from all the groups and the people involved.

Numerous Samba groups with thousands of participants in magnificent and colourful costumes dance to electrifying Samba music through the streets of Funchal, spreading an ambiance evoking the Carnival of Rio. It can be criticised precisely because of following the Rio's Carnival... It could be (more) original and based on Madeiran own Carnival traditions.

The second parade, called "trapalhão", traditionally floods the streets of the city centre with thrilling joy on "Mardi gras" (Tuesday ending the Carnival period). In this parade everybody can take part and the – sometimes quite daring – costumes and depicted caricatures are left to the participants' own imagination.

At least one month before the Carnival peak time the best-known and established Carnival groups visit the hotels and entertain the guests with dance and music performances.