Wednesday, April 6: Funchal, Madeira
Bob: The only other time we had visited the island of Madeira in 2007 (Wanderung 15), we had taken a bus ride over to the other side of the island. While that had been a good way to see the countryside, so to speak, we had not really had the chance to see the city of Funchal at all. So on this trip we thought we would wander around the city on our own. In particular, we planned to walk along the waterfront to the lower terminus of the cable car that runs straight up the mountain at the back edge of the city and then wander around the city on our way down. Testing out my GPS on deck in the morning, I was happy to find that it contained the detailed city map of Funchal complete with all the side streets, so I had a backup system to guide us back to the ship in case we got lost and that made me feel a lot better. |
Monika: We did not book an excursion in Funchal, since last time we were on Madeira we had taken an all day bus trip around the island. So today we had planned to focus on the capital of Madeira, Funchal. Funchal is another of those cities built into the side of a mountain that slopes down to the harbor. |
Bob: Our ship was docked on one arm of a big breakwater/wharf that jutted out into the bay in front of the city, so although we could look across the water directly into the downtown area of Funchal, we had to walk a huge "V" to get to town where the first leg was over to the shore and the second leg was back along the waterfront to the center of town. I particularly enjoyed a full-scale replica of Columbus's flagship, the Santa Maria, that was docked near some fishing boats. They offered two sailings daily for tourists and I was very interested, but ultimately decided to stick with our plan of walking around Funchal and saving the Santa Maria experience for our next visit. |
Monika: After breakfast, we walked off the ship and along the harbor. The first ship we saw was an obvious military ship although it was not the standard battle ship grey. Instead it was a pristine white, but had guards all around and several huge satellite antennas on top. So I guessed at some type of communications ship. Along the seawall were signature flags of the different ships that had visited Funchal like the sailing ships Gorch Fock from Germany and the Pride of Baltimore from the United States. A little further on was a replica of the Santa Maria that was used as a tourist ship for two sailings a day. Maybe if we stay in Funchal a few days, we will try to go on one. But today, Bob enjoyed taking pictures of the various aspects of the ship that had been faithfully recreated. I was surprised how small the ship was. |
Bob: Madeira is known as the "Island of Flowers", and the city fathers of Funchal had taken that to heart in decorating the sidewalk leading from the wharf to the city. The sidewalk had obviously been carved from the side of a cliff, and the cliff face above us was quite rugged. But between the sidewalk and the side of the cliff, a variety of carefully-tended flowers bloomed in gay profusion Once we entered the downtown area, the sidewalk turned into a broad, very pretty seaside promenade. In places, the pavement was composed of small black or white tiles assembled in intricate designs. The overall effect was very pretty and reminded me of the tiled designs that we had first encountered in the Azores, another set of islands belonging to Portugal. In the center of the promenade we even found a sundial made with the black and white stones, but as best I could figure it was at least 3 hours off as by that time it was 10 a.m. and when i stood in the middle of the sundial it only indicated 7 a.m.! The seaside promenade also featured several nice sculptures. Some were just amusing including one that looked like a family of rabbits and another one that featured a man on his way to work. Others were more modern like a nude torso, but it all added interest to our walk. |
Monika: Once we had rounded the edge of the harbor we walked along a cliff on a pedestrian walkway with beautiful flowers and even a statue or two. We kept walking along the promenade, past a little marina, a restaurant dedicated to the Beatles, and a large pier opposite our ship. |
Bob: We finally arrived at the station for the cable car and were confronted with the choice of a one-way ticket for 10 Euro or a round-trip ticket for 15 Euro. Committing ourselves to the walk back down the mountain (and fervently hoping that we wouldn't get lost on the way down!), we opted for the 1-way ticket. Joining some other folks in a six-person gondola, we slowly and silently started gliding up the side of the mountain. It was a smooth and comfortable ride, and the views afforded by our trip up the mountainside were fantastic. Below us spread the panorama of the center of the city of Funchal, the port area, and on the far side our ship moored against the wharf. To each side of us we saw the coastline receding into the misty distance. Above us we saw the mountainside continuing to loom above us. As the ride progressed into 10-15 minutes and I saw what a tortured network of streets was below us, I started to get more and more nervous about finding a direct, simple route to walk back down the mountain. By the time we arrived at the upper terminus of the cable car, which was a lot higher up the mountain and farther away from the city center than I had anticipated, I was just a teensy bit concerned about walking all the way back down the mountain and finding our way back to the ship on time. So the first thing I did when we disembarked at the top was to request a pedestrian route back to the ship from our GPS. Fortunately, it obliged me with a nice, direct route down the mountain where I wouldn't have to worry about blind alleys, dead ends, and so forth and estimated a reasonable time of a couple of hours. |
Monika: We finally ended up at the entrance to the gondolas that went up the mountain. This was one of the two attractions of Funchal, the other being the wicker sleds that went down the mountain. We decided to take the gondola up and then decide on how to get down. The ride was said to take 8 minutes, but it seemed to be quite a bit longer. While going up we had wonderful views of the city with its white houses with red roofs and the harbor with the Costa Atlantica and the mysterious white navy ship tied up to the pier. We seemed to be going up at quite a steep angle, and I started worrying about walking down. |
Bob: But Monika wanted to see the land toboggans that slide down the street on that section of the mountain, so we detoured over to the next street headed downhill where the start of the toboggan ride was located. The toboggans are "steered" by two strapping young men who ride on the runners just behind a small, two-passenger wicker basket. I had been convinced that the toboggans must use wheels of some type on the downhill run, but no, as it turned out, the toboggans really just slide down the mountain on bare, unwaxed wooden runners! It only cost 9 or 10 Euro and Bill and Sandy reported it was a fun ride, but Monika was not sure she was up for it so we opted to walked downhill instead. As you might expect from having sleds on wood runners sliding down the hill, the road up on that section of the hill was unbelievably steep. I estimated the grade as a 1-in-3 grade, which is similar to a moderately pitched roof. Although that grade was just great for sliding down in a wicker toboggan, it made walking down the hill quite difficult and after an hour or so our thighs were kind of quaking from the constant effort. Curiously, cars were allowed on the same sections as those wooden toboggans steered by two men in rubber-soled shoes! What could possibly go wrong?? |
Monika: When we got to the top, Bob checked the GPS to see how far down it was. Since it was just 3.5 kilometers downhill, we decided that was do-able. But first I wanted to see those wicker-basket-sleds. So we followed the signs, and at the top of a very steep street we saw a line of these wicker baskets with wooden runners. The street was slick asphalt and we watched in amazement as two guys started pushing a sled down the street and around the corner. We started walking down the same street, and I took a couple of movies. The guys pushing and steering those sleds were amazing as they steered the sleds around corners braking only with the soles of their feet. But what was most amazing was, that it was a city street with cars driving patiently behind the sleds. When the street turned two way, we watched a car trying to start up the steep slope, and we could almost smell the poor clutch burning. |
Bob: After another half hour of that steep downhill hiking, we were mightily tempted to jump on a city bus that also went straight down the hill, but we persevered and finally reached more level ground at just about the point where the city proper started. |
Monika: At this point we diverted from the sledding course. The street was still extremely steep and whenever we stopped to take pictures, my legs started shaking. I took pictures of the various chimneys that were on top of the red tile roofs. We also enjoyed the profusion of flowers that were everywhere. We were walking along one of the bus routes; at one point, we saw two dogs on their back legs looking down the street, when a bus came to a stop, and one of the women walked up to the gate and was enthusiastically greeted by the two. They must have known that she would come in the bus. |
Bob: Although a bit tired and wobbly from the downhill hike, we walked over to the mercado (market) to do a spot of shopping. If you ever get to the Funchal market, be sure to check out the vendor stalls up on the second floor because that is where we found not only most of the fruits and vegetables, but also the beautiful embroidery for which the island of Madeira is famous. Monika picked out a very pretty embroidered table runner (10 Euro), place mats and a center decoration (10 Euro) for our dining room. Even better, we found adorable little embroidered aprons for our granddaughters, a tiny one for Rowan who is 3 years old, and a slightly larger version to fit Annalise who is 6 years old. They should look so cute in them! I also found a really nice dark leather coin purse for myself (10 Euro) and Monika found a sewing thimble with a scene of the harbor on it (2.50 Euro). |
Monika: I was really getting tired of walking down the steep, steep streets and was happy to see when after two miles it finally seemed to level out a bit. We had made it to the downtown area. There I wanted to see the mercado, the market that every Spanish city seem to have. Between the GPS and the maps we finally found it. It had two beautiful ceramic tile pictures in its entrance and a nice little courtyard in the middle. Around the courtyard were the different stalls. Women in native costumes were manning the flower stands. Out in back were the fish market with an amazing variety of (smelly!) fish. Upstairs all around the center courtyard were more vendors. Here we found nice embroidery and we bought a table runner and some place mats for us and for the granddaughters some tiny aprons. But besides the touristy things they also had fruits and by this time I was getting hungry. So I convinced Bob to buy a couple of the local bananas. They tasted so nice and sweet that we went back for a couple more. We even found a nice bench to sit down and rest our weary legs while consuming our snack. |
Bob: After taking a look at the fish market at one end of the mercado, but not buying anything (of course!), we settled on having a couple of the locally-grown bananas to tide us over for the walk back to the ship. Stopping along the way to pick up a bottle of beer and some wine, we wandered back to the ship where the beer was allowed on board but the wine was confiscated until the end of the cruise. Ah well, cruise ship smuggling is such a fun game to play! We chatted over our experiences with the folks at the table that evening and found out that Bill and Sandy had taken the toboggan ride down the mountainside and enjoyed it very much although they found the walk back down into the city from the end point to be a bit strenuous. Other folks had seen different parts of the city, so we had fun discussing what each of us had experienced. But after dinner we were quite tired and just read a bit and worked on our puzzles before turning in for the night. |
Monika: On our way back to the ship, I kept searching for a store that would sell some wine and/or beer. I finally found a supermarket where I picked up a Lancer Rose and a bottle of beer. Since the bottle of Rose had a screw top, we could easily decant it into a water bottle. As we had a second spare water bottle, I decided to go back for another bottle of wine. This one, however, had a cork and we had forgotten to bring the corkscrew. We decided to pack it into clothes and hope for the best. By now it was getting onto 3 p.m. and we were getting hungry besides being really, really tired. So we just went back to the ship. Unfortunately, this time the guy manning the screening recognized a bottle when he saw it, and we had to surrender our three dollar bottle of wine. I just hope, we will get it back in time to enjoy it! Back on ship, the only food available was a hamburger or hotdog or pizza. We opted for the hamburger and enjoyed it with beer (me) and wine (Bob) and rested till it was dinner time. At dinner we compared with our tablemates what each of us had done during the day and had another congenial meal. |
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Transatlantic Cruise | Map of Drive in Ireland | Epilog |
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