Funchal, Madeira

Another port in which we expected nothing and were pleasantly surprised.  Funchal is on the island of Madeira, a small island in the Atlantic off of Portugal. The city is renowned for its flowers, which were not only in bloom everywhere, but there was also a competitive event underway. In the island in the center of the main street, people were laying “carpets” of flowers on a background of cedar branches with a judging taking place the day after we left.  The aroma of the flowers and the cedar makes the display doubly appealing.

There is some road construction between the dock and the center of Funchal, so there was a shuttle provided. While technically it would be an easy walk, the road construction had turned it into an unappealing trail. We were pleased to take the shuttle that dropped us off a block from the flower carpets and the Hop On/Hop Off bus. We often use the HO/HOs because they are an easy way to cover a large part of a city in a day at a reasonable price and see the important things for tourists to see.

We chose the Yellow Bus, although we usually choose the Red City-sightseeing line. The Yellow Bus has two routes, one around the city and another that travels a bit out of town as far as Camara De Lobos. You may have heard of that town because Winston Churchill spent time there and painted the charming houses built into the hillside.  We rode the shorter in-town route in the morning, returned to the ship for lunch, and went back on the shuttle again to ride the 90-minute out of town route. There really was not time enough for us to do hopping, so we just rode both routes round trip, enjoying the sunshine on the open top deck and the ride.

Not only flowers are growing everywhere, there are also banana trees in big farms and in little yards. There are many hotels and restaurants because Madeira is such a popular vacation destination.  It is clearly a prosperous place and one that looks like a place to visit more than once. Even if I return, I will not be taking the famous basket ride down the mountain or the gondola ride up and down. The bus ride was adventure enough for me.