Existing Member?

    Cliff Andrade

    Photos from Portugal

    There are [5] photos from Portugal

    As a result of the recession, many have returned to their towns and villages from the city due to lack of work. Blandina, a chef, volunteers in the village community centre. Other have returned to the land or started up small businesses, exploring an alternative path to development - small, local, sustainable. Views[362] In 2008, when the global recession hit, EU money stopped flowing in overnight. Madeira was plunged into a deep recession. Many of the construction projects have lain abandoned since, unfinished and unused. Views[331] Severe flooding has been one consequence of this poorly considered development. A lonely decapitated pylon is all that remains of what was once an area of houses. Views[317] What I discovered as I travelled searching for my own heritage was an island struggling in a desperate search for its own identity. Following EU accession and the money it brought with it, vast construction projects were undertaken to modernise Madeira. But much was poorly planned and considered, bulldozering through the island's unique traditions and ecology as it went. Views[382] My parents emigrated from Madeira in 1974. In 2014, I returned in an attempt to get to know a place I was linked to by blood, but in reality knew nothing of at all. Famous for its tourist industry, I withdrew away from the busy coast, traversing the island by foot along its centuries old paths, that up until as recently as 30 years ago would have served as the island's main routes between communities. Views[318]
     

    About cliffywiffy


    Photo Galleries

    Where I've been

    My trip journals