Funchal, Madeira. (Portugal). February 28, 2022

This is what we saw when we looked out our balcony.  A 5000 passenger floating hotel.  It’s the AidaNorma cruise ship out of Germany.  Our ship has a 900 passenger capacity but we are only 500 passengers.  What a difference.  
View from our ship on the port side in the morning.  A lovely sunny but cool day.  We were lucky as it had rained the previous two days
On our way to the 2nd highest sea cliff in Europe.
Winding roads, tunnel and bridges
View from the glass viewing platform  at the top of Cabo Girao, the 2nd highest sea cliff.  What a view. 

View from the sea cliff
Another view from the sea cliff and the traveler

Introduction to Madeira follows below and more pictures at the end of the text.  

 After three days of rather rough seas and high winds we arrive in Funchal.  Although rain had been forecasted we were blessed with a sunshiny day, albeit on the cool side.  Of coarse for me anything below 70 is cold.  Sunrise was not until almost eight so when we rose and looked outside our balcony a huge cruise ship all lit up stared at us.  It was the AidaNova, a German cruise line and ship with about  5000 passengers.  We felt dwarfed.  Another cruise ships also eased its way into port.  It was the Cunard, Queen Elisabeth, a  ship more in our size category.  That is an English cruise line.  Surprisingly enough the island was able to absorb this on slot of tourists with total ease.  

Madeira, consists of 4 islands, it is an autonomous region of Portugal and off the northwest coast of Africa.  It has a subtropical climate accommodating an abundance of and a greatly varied vegetation. It’s dramatic mountainous terrain is a feast fair the eyes, for it seems every square inch of the island is terraced and planted with something.  It is one of the greenest islands I have ever encountered.  Sure, there are islands like Jamaica and Dominica they are truly tropical and green, but that is all natural wild growing. In Madeira it is mostly cultivated.  Endless hillsides terraced with vineyards, banana groves, sugar cane fields, fruits trees and so on.  Every home has a small garden adorned with beautiful flowers and vegetable garden.  No square inch of space goes unused.    It is also the cleanest island ever,  trash receptacle everywhere, so no excuse to litter.  Also recycling bins scattered throughout the city to encourage recycling.  A green island in every sense.   Their levadas (aqueduct) irrigation system is incredible.  It was dug into steep hillsides so that farmers could make use of every patch of land.  It is still used and channels water to people’s farms.  It’s a rather intricate system that you have to sign up for and you are on a schedule and allowed so much water flow based on your patch of land.   The Levadas now also serve as a tourist attraction and you can hike along them.    

Besides exploring on our own we took a tour that took us through parts of the city of Funchal,  then the village of Camara de Lobos, a fishing village once painted by Winston Churchill who liked to vacation there.  We stoped at a local restaurant, of course with an awesome view, to taste their local specialty “Poncha” a potent drink made of lemons, honey, sugar cane and of course lots of rum.  It tasted lovely but had too much rum for me.  Our tour continued into the steep mountains and valleys, passing pine and eucalyptus forest and ended on top of one of the steepest and highest sea cliffs in Europe called “Cabo Girao”. On top of this cliff was a restaurant, gift shop and a viewing trail and platform.  The platform was partially just grated and then glass so you could look straight down past your feet into the deep abyss.  WOW, not for the faint hearted.  What a view.  

I will let my pictures tell the rest of the story.    

Vineyards everywhere growing the grapes for the well know Madeira Wine
Bananas
See the terraced landscape!
View from the restaurant we had the PONCHA drink.  




Above are the various lovely plantings we came across as we strolled the perimeters of the Botanical Garden.  We did not have enough time or energy to do the entire garden.  The Garden was located across the street from the port.  This was the lower path,  one up from there we stopped at an outdoor restaurant and had the cheapest beer ever.  1.30 Euros a glass.  Was not really a restaurant, it was a lot of outdoor tables and chairs with a lovely view overlooking the port and was serviced by a food-truck.  The rest of the garden was all uphill and lots of steps, hence we opted to pass on that.  We rather enjoyed sipping on our beer and people watching.     It was a very enjoyable day and a place to return to some day.  
Next stop is Cadiz, Spain.        

Just a few more pictures of Madeira 

Flowers everywhere
Narrow streets and behind you can see the terraced grape vineyards
The Fort
One of the churches 
Statue of Christoper Columbus






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