Funchal Part Two

 Week One is done and dusted and we are still enjoying our time on the Portuguese Island of Madeira.  Funchal is quite touristic but still feels, acts, portrays itself as Portuguese through and through.  Actually Madeiran through and through - there are some differences in customs and colloquialisms between here and Portugal, mostly in foods and coffee orders, which we are learning at a rapid rate.  

The city is gorgeous and our apartment is at the edge of the Old Town and about 100 yards up from the marina/ the ocean.  Perfect.  We have never stayed or lived anywhere that had so many excellent restaurants within a stone's throw - and that doesn't count the dozens of excellent restaurants 5-10 minutes farther out. It's amazing.  The apartment itself has presented us with various challenges, the kind we have faced in other apartments where the owner never lived on site. The two bathrooms have zero towel bars, the shower heads have had to be replaced, there is no place in the shower to place your soap, washcloth, shampoo ... well, you get the drift.  Cindy is on a first name basis with all the members of management. In order to get in and out of the complex you need a key card and they gave us ONE, which means we need to coordinate all our coming and goings. After the first week they gave us a new one but it didn’t work and they never tested it. This was particularly difficult when our friends from the mainland came to visit, one card for four people just doesn’t work!

They have wonderful concerts in various venues every week - so far we've only managed to hear the Buena Vista Social Club concert - not the original group of course but really fine and fun musicians.  We'll go to some more concerts before we leave on Feb. 3. We walk everywhere in order to do everything. In order to get to the above concert we had to walk thirty minutes, all up hill!  Coming home was a breeze but getting there was not half the fun

The downside is that it's an island!  Our friends who visited us here live in Southern Portugal and couldn’t leave on their scheduled flight because all flights were canceled that day due to wind sheer at the small airport. They finally got out the next day after more hours of waiting, missed their train in Lisbon (both days; MUCH rescheduling happened); it was one hassle after another.  

Speaking of airports, this one is named the Cristiano Rinaldo Airport after the famous son who is a futbol/soccer star. Everyone here just calls him CR7 (the number of his jersey). There is a stadium, museum, statue, store, hotel, and so much more that is simply called CR7. From all accounts he is a rather remarkable human being contributing much back to the community that he loves so much. Nice to hear about honorable professional athletes.

We have done a lot of touristy things but the one that was the most fun was taking a toboggan for two kilometers down a steep and curvy road. It was exhilarating and just a tad frightening - but oh my, the memories! 

Funchal January 2025

Last year we spent two weeks in January in Punta Delgada. It rained the first week and was ok the second and we decided that this year we would find a place where the weather was more accommodating to our needs. We chose Funchal, only because our friends Marc and Abi jointed us for week two after having spend a week in Funchal and they raved about it. 

We booked, sight unseen, a two bed/two bath apartment right downtown overlooking parks and the harbor. We traveled for twenty seven hours, Dulles to Casablanca, to Lisbon to Funchal and arrived exhausted but happy to see the sun shining and the breeze fresh. We got our first taste of hospitality in the town car we had hired to take us to the apartment. The driver was so proud of his island and gave us a running cometary on the history and geology of the island. He alway said that everyone we would meet would be friendly and helpful, except the fruit merchants at the Central Mercado. H warned us not to engage them in conversation or try any of their samples since they would get very aggressive in trying to get you to purchase their fabulously expensive fruits. (He was right on both counts)!

We were met by the apartment manager and shown around the apartment, which is stunning, but we were so tired everything just went in one ear and out the other. After he left we unpacked and walked on our wrap around balcony that has spectacular views of the harbor, the big park and the mountains on the other side of the building. We summoned the energy to change for dinner and ventured out at about eight. We did not want to go too far and found a few restaurant quite close to the apartment and settled into a lovely outdoor terrace table. English, we have learned, is spoken by almost everyone in the hospitality business and while our attempts at speaking Portuguese were appreciated, they were unnecessary. We ordered a bottle of the house white, which at eighteen euros was a bargain,(the Euro is almost at parity with the dollar) and they proceeded to bring us ultra fresh local bread rolls, lots of butter and cheese and olives. I started with a local speciality which is tomato, onion soup with a poached egg and moved on to octopus, grilled and served with fresh flat green bean, carrots, beets and potatoes, enough for two!!  Cindy has what she thought would be a small salad of fresh greens, grilled shrimp and vegetables, again enough for two. We had a most enjoyable time, eating and drinking slowly and realizing that we were really finally here. Our two servers we so sweet and helpful and we thought all was right with the world. We took the short walk home, had a small cognac and hit the sack for nine hours of much needed sleep.

The next morning we woke up refreshed and happy not to be putting on heavy socks, shoes, coats, gloves and hats!  Winter here is 62 and sunny at eight in the morning and it only got more beautiful and he day progressed. We took a long walk around the harbor, a large ship was in with two thousand passengers, all Brits and you could see and hear them from great distances. We went to a nearby cafe for our Pingados, Portuguese for macchiato, and we shared at Pastel de Nata. Thus fortified we went to a large mall where we were told there was on Optician who might have clip on sunglasses since I had forgotten mine at home. We walked in and asked in Portuguese if he spoke English and of course he did!  He had what I wanted and I asked him if he could adjust my other set of glasses that were at the apartment. He said to just bring them in anytime and he would fix them, again an excellent example of Island Hospitality. Of course the minute we got home and started to arrange things at the table by the door, I found my sunglasses but now I have a nice souvenir of Funchal. (I did bring my glasses to him today and of course he fixed them at no charge and was so friendly wanting to know how we liked his Island!)

We returned and dressed for lunch, it being a Sunday we wanted to treat ourselves to a relaxed meal. We had noticed a lovely bistro The Golden Gate Cafe, which remained us of a similar bistro in Nice, so we went and sat outside in the lovely warm sun and had a light but refreshing meal of fresh fruit salad and and omelette with a small salad. The people watching was a treat as was the local white wine. Again, one does not go hungry in Portugal, the portions are on the large side so we are learning to order accordingly. A unhurried walk through yet another park set us up for a refreshing nap, which we both needed as we are still catching up with time zones.