Madeira Blog turns 20, rereads its old predictions and owns up: 7 out of 13 came true

FUNCHAL — Madeira Blog (madeirablog.eu) turned 20 this year and celebrated in the bravest way a blog can: it reread its own posts from 2006 to 2009. Of 13 forecasts that can be checked today, 7 came true. That is 54%, a little better than tossing a coin.

What came true

easyJet “as of October 2007”. It came, from London and Bristol.
The Old Town “will be the New Town”. Zona Velha is now where Funchal goes out to eat.
A leisure port “by 2008”. A year early, even: cargo moved to Caniçal in 2007.
The Tall Ships in 2008. They came in September.
Cheap flights to Lisbon “next autumn”. One autumn late, in 2008.
Jardim “will be back”. He was, with 64.2% of the vote.
Ronaldo still has to prove he is as good as Maradona and Pelé. Five Ballon d’Or awards later, we are counting this one.

What did not

TOBOJUMP. We “heard some rumours” that Monte’s wicker toboggans would move to the cliff at Cabo Girão. They are still in Monte, luckily for everyone.
More Spanish visitors on Porto Santo, “definitely”. Hola Airlines stopped flying in 2010.
The Principality of Pontinha as “the door of entry to Europe”. Portugal never opened that door.
Madeira’s own airline. “Soon … I think. Will keep you posted.” Fly MI never flew, and the update never came.
A “new era” of ferries to the mainland. On 2 November 2026 the ferry missed the 2027 budget too.
The Monte railway, rebuilt from 2010. Work never started.

Not counted, but we’ll take it: in 2007 we quoted Ronaldo’s brother on the family’s old house: “Maybe they will build a statue there.” Funchal got its statue in 2014, just not on that spot.

“We were spot on about cheap flights and hopeless about ferries, island airlines and flying toboggans,” says Paulo Áureo of Madeira Blog. “The old posts are the quickest way to see how much the island has changed: in 2006 the airport handled 2.4 million passengers, last year 5.4 million. Our next forecast: the ferry will come back. We’ll check in 2046.”

Notes for editors

Madeira Blog (madeirablog.eu) was founded in February 2006, one of the first blogs about Madeira.
The archive: 143 posts from 2006 to 2012 at their original addresses, madeirablog.eu/archive/, and the new series Madeira year by year, from 2012: madeirablog.eu/years/.
How we counted: forecasts the blog published whose outcome can be checked today. Announcements of events with a fixed date were left out.
Images: madeirablog.eu/press/
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Contact: Paulo Áureo, [email protected]