October 18, 2022
We arrived at the Port of Funchal at 8 am. We have a HAL tour booked today. The tour group left at 9 am by bus. The weather was cloudy with a chance of rain. Out bus was to take us up one of the mountains and then allow us to get a great view of the city of Funchal below. This is what we saw…..
We were overwhelmed also. This part of the tour was very short and we went on to our next stop. Camara fishing village. The waters are very deep around Madeira and fishing is really not an important industry here.
Bananas are grown everywhere below 300m where the weather is appropriate. Madeira is temperate all year long and homes are built without central heating or cooling systems.
Everything outside of the downtown area is built in terraces because of the steep volcanic ridges.
Next stop was Reid’s Hotel for an afternoon tea. We made it in well before noon but we did sit down for some nice food and tea.
We enjoyed the great surroundings and the delicious food. Our ship can be seen in the port from the Hotel. This tour was essentially over but we didn’t want to return to the ship yet. All aboard was 4 pm and we had plenty of time to check out the cable car ride and the toboggan ride.
The cable car takes one up to the town of Monte. It is about a 15 minute ride up to the top. We planned to ride the wicker toboggan back down. This used to be an important means of transportation. Wicker toboggan’s with wooden tracks are steered down the mountain by two men.
The ride up to the top was less than spectacular because of the weather. Not much to see. When we arrived at the top, the toboggan ride was closed for the day. Weather. Here is a photo of what we hoped we would do.
We decided to walk down the 2.5 miles to town. Big mistake as it was very steep. One hour to do 2.5 miles. Some nice views of Funchal on the way.
We make it down very carefully. On the way back we saw what looked like a middle school being dismissed for the day. Up or down on the city streets was a way of life. For us it was a bit of a struggle.
We made it back to the downtown area and decided to try the local beer and wine. The Madeira wine is more of a Sherry in my opinion. Fortified with other ingredients to make it taste the way it does. The local Bock beer was excellent.
We enjoyed our drink and then walked a few blocks to our shuttle back to the ship. The ship was docked in a working port and it was nicer to take the shuttle.
Seeing this after a long day is very nice. We made it back before 4 pm.
Terri took a few photos at dinner as we left the island.
We did finish the evening with some cards out on the rear Lido deck but bedtime came early.…