Funchal Portugal

Posted by Michele May 02, 2023

Funchal Portugal

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day, as it was a sea day, but we did get to enjoy the show, “Burn the Floor”! It is a modern take on ballroom dancing with fabulous dancers, costumes and music. My face could not stop smiling, under my mask1 Bahahaha

I am a little sick of the food, but the entertainment on the ship has been incredible. They even have tables in the atrium with PUZZLES!! I might write a post later on this ship, Norwegians EPIC, but my advice would be to skip it!

Today we arrived in Funchal, Portugal on the island of Madeira, which is located 370 miles off the coast of Morocco. It is surprisingly mountainous, with rugged volcanic peaks, and a beautiful tropical coastline.

Since we had been here before, and seen many of the sights, we decided to make it an easy day and just visit the Botanical Gardens, and the Old Town.

Out taxi driver (35 euros) took us way up to the gardens, which fortunately was much cooler than down below, as there is apparently a heat wave, and waited for an hour before driving us down to old town. There was an added bonus to the gardens; a breathtaking view of Funchal.

The gardens were lovely, just past their prime, but I took plenty of photos, that may become watercolor paintings in the future! One in particular, the most beautiful water Lily I have ever seen, with the most stunning shadow in the water! Once I downloaded my photos, I saw that I had even captured a little frog, on a lily pad!

The old town of Funchal was quite charming, with the exception of some mean old jesters, who were frightening children! Lol One even asked me, why you wearing this? My mask, right, in my face, I said “Because I have cancer”!, he said, “oh, you should just tell your mind to make it go away!”

I wanted to say, “Fuck Off!” (Succession, if you are unaware, Thank you Brian Cox)

As we walked around, smelling all of the fabulous smells, from all of the cafes, we were wishing that we were hungry, because everything looked and smelled amazing!