We began our day with a breakfast outside on the patio of 1905 Zino’s Palace. From there, we leisurely worked our way toward Funchal, the main town on the island. It is about a 25 minute drive from our place. We were able to find a place to park up in the hills without too much difficulty near the top of the teleférico (funicular) line. Our destination was the infamous wicker baskets or toboggans that one rides in down the steep hills of Madeira.
I had expected it to be quite crowded, but it was like they just opened up and we walked right on to our sled without waiting at all. We didn’t see anyone in front of us when we started, but evidently the guys that were pushing us were so fast, that we quickly caught up to the preceding traffic. It is somewhat shocking how they have this coordinated with traffic. At one point we went flying through an intersection where a man was holding up a stop sign for the intersecting traffic. We drifted, skidded, and flew down the hillside until we reached the predetermined end point, where souvenir hawkers and taxis were eager to greet us.
We, however, chose not to take a taxi and elected to go for a 35 minute walk (downhill) to the center of Funchal. We zigzagged through the streets of central Funchal, where various vendors and decor had been set up for the Madeira flower festival. The decorations and patterns in the sidewalks were kind of fun as well.
We made a slight detour to check out the outside of the CR7 Museum which specializes in all things Christiano Ronaldo, Portuguese national football player, and current Manchester United striker. Given the caption of the statue that read, “Greatest player in the world,” the museum might possibly have been biased. Rather than give our money to such a museum, we walked along the waterfront instead.
After another 10-15 minutes we arrived at the bottom of the funicular that would take us back up to where we parked our car. Once again, we didn’t have to wait too long before we were onboard and climbing up the mountain much more effectively than our little Fiat.
It seemed much cooler at the top than earlier, even though it was now afternoon. The skies seemed more overcast and the clouds were shrouding the mountain peaks. After walking back to our car, we had a somewhat circuitous route on very narrow roads to the nearby botanical gardens. Its primary attraction is the “choreographed garden,” which is this rectangular display you see below.
Nothing else was of much note, and the lack of sun certainly cut down on the vibrancy of the flowers and other displays. We returned to the car and made the nearly thirty minute trek back to 1905 Zino’s Palace for the most important item in our schedule — afternoon tea.
As mentioned earlier, I don’t know why this is a thing. Perhaps it is due to numerous visitors from the UK (though we have yet to encounter any). Either way, it seems to have taken on its own identity in Madeira and you can find elaborate tea time setups at virtually every lodging on the island. We were a bit taken aback when the waitress came around and asked us what we wanted to drink. “Tea?,” we inquired somewhat bewildered. This is our first proper afternoon tea, and I guess it is fair to have other options such as juice and coffee for those who aren’t as keen on tea.
The spread was quite elaborate. Not all of our items are pictured in this image. There were about six finger sandwiches of different flavors, four scone/biscuit hybrid things, two chocolate muffiny things, two slices of pound cake, two cheese tarts, and a separate plate of fruit including kiwi, grapes, cantaloupe, and strawberries. It made an adequate lunch.
After our “lunch,” we headed back out in the Fiat to check out a nearby hike. I thought it was going to be a simple pull off to see a waterfall, but information is often sketchy at best in these more remote parts of the island, and it ended up being a 6km round trip trek. At the end of all that, we didn’t even see a proper waterfall. There was a minor cascade at one point but nothing to write home about (or even take a photo of). It was not all in vain, however. The trail followed along a cliff edge paralleling an irrigation ditch. We had excellent views of the surrounding hillsides and terracing that reminded us of previous trips like Bali.
It was good exercise in any event and we were very active today. By the time we finished the hike, it was close to time for our dinner reservation. We decided to simply go back to our hotel for dinner because it was easy, good quality, affordable, and we knew what we were getting ourselves into. I ended up getting the same banana-fish thing as last night. Nicole, still pumped up with scones and tea, elected to have some lighter fare.
We lingered for a while at dinner talking about all of our hopes and dreams before retiring for the night. Tomorrow is very much up in the air. Our prospects of getting to the Azores look quite slim, so we have nearly resigned ourselves to being here another day. Even if we were normal people and bought our tickets, there is only one seat available for purchase, which doesn’t bode well for us. There are a few other wrinkles including rental cars, hotels, etc. that will need to be altered, but we have a contingency prepared. Where will we be sleeping tomorrow night? Only time will tell…but probably Madeira.
passports & pepto bismol 