Pandemic Diaries - Mediterranean Cruise - Funchal, Madeira Island, Azores

11 November 2022 – Funchal, Madeira, Azores

 

Richard and I chose to go in to Funchal, the largest town on the island of Madeira in the Azores. We had no idea what to expect, but had always heard that these islands were beautiful and lush, full of flowers, old buildings, and seafood. Turns out that yes, they have all that and more!

 

The Azores Islands were uninhabited until about 600 years ago, when the age of exploration began and Portuguese navigators claimed this group of islands as part of Portugal.  The islands are volcanic, with steep sea cliffs – in fact, the steepest sea cliff in Europe is located here, and the second highest sea cliff in the world is in the Azores, some 1900 feet high (630 or so meters).  There are no natural beaches on Madeira, just these huge dark volcanic sea cliffs plunging into the sea.  Our taxi driver told us that there is now an artificial beach, with the sand brought in periodically and dumped to replenish the beach.

 

There are 260,000 or so inhabitants living on Madeira, the largest island in this group.  Yes, they are known for their Madeira wine, as well as port and rosé.  Also lace, and cork products.  And buildings enhanced by the ubiquitous blue and white Portuguese scenic tile murals.

 

Rather than waiting in line for the shuttle bus to town, we decided to splurge and take a taxi.  This was our last stop in Europe, and we both had more euros than we had expected to have at the end.  So it was worth 10 euros to have a taxi ride rather than waiting 20 minutes for a crowded bus.

 

Our driver was very informative, and answered our many questions about the Azores, with some of the information quoted above.  Traffic was very busy, though, with three cruise ships in port, but he made it through the gridlocked roundabouts and dropped us on the main street in downtown Funchal.

 

The sidewalks and even some streets in Portugal and Brazil, that former Portuguese colony, tend to be made in black and white stone, creating all kinds of designs.  Here in downtown Funchal, the sidewalks were pure white with black flourishes and medallions, lined with more black stones creating a border with an occasional criss-cross effect.  Really meticulously crafted sidewalks, adding to the beauty of this old city!

 

And benches along the street (and it the park) were painted with local flowers!  Not all the benches, but enough benches that it was noticeable.  Really, very pretty touches that just made Funchal a very lovely place to visit!

 

We found a nice outdoor café and had coffee and apple pie.  I know, we tend to say things like “as American as apple pie.”  It really isn’t, and we’ve had delicious apple pie all around the world.  So, this was a lovely pie without a top crust, and the apples slightly glazed.  Also raisins added in.  Quite the tasty pie.

 

We both wandered around a bit, once we were fortified with our pie.  I walked through the public gardens in town, full of huge trees and flowering plants.  There were various vendors selling homemade items, but I really wasn’t planning to shop, so I just wandered around enjoying the park.  There was a fair-sized concrete arena built into the far corner of the park, maybe for musical events or something.  Not large enough to hold all the island’s citizens, but large enough for maybe 1000 people or so.

 

The gardens also had a lovely fountain toward the front, creating pretty rainbows in the mist.  It was a very relaxing place to wander for a bit, right in town.  (There are terraced gardens out in the valleys that are supposed to be gorgeous, but we chose to have a very low key day on Madeira.)

 

A block or two down the street from the gardens I found the old fort or castle, which seemed to take up at least one square block, if not more.  It was huge, and painted white.  The best information I’ve found is that this is a castle (which is more like a defensive home for royalty – less than a palace, but more than a fort), and dates back to the 16^th century.  This 500 year old building (or so) once dominated the town of Funchal, and the official name is the Palácio de São Lourenço – maybe the Palace of Saint Laurence in English.   Some sources also refer to it as the Forteleza, definitely a fort or fortress in addition to being a palace.  It now houses the military museum, although it was closed when I went by.  There were workers moving all kinds of dividers, so perhaps they were changing exhibits.

 

I have to add that the side street along one side of the fort, coming up from the waterfront, is a very narrow and winding one-way street.  Drivers actually need to drive across the sidewalk along the main road, navigate around a few stanchions preventing vehicles from driving down into the one-way street, and then turn onto that main two-way street in order to keep going.  It was a crazy obstacle course of a road!

 

Another block or two beyond the fort was the old Bank of Portugal in an absolutely gorgeous chocolate brown trimmed éclair of a building!  Really, it was one of those ornate Victorian buildings with embellishments and pillars and all kinds of architectural details.  In stark white, but with dark brown columns and pediments and whatnot.  Definitely looked like some pure white pastry decorated in dark chocolate!  I couldn’t quite figure out the finial on top of the building, it almost looked like a ship curving around a globe sort of structure, but I can’t quite tell.

 

I also found a church toward the end of this street, with an interesting campanile made of brick, but the steep roof was covered in diagonal rows of colored tile, forming a diagonal stripe pattern!  The church itself was more traditional, but that bell tower just stood out, it was so different! 

 

My favorite building, though, was some café or restaurant with large panels of cobalt blue scenes painted on white tiles.  These murals showed what I guess were scenes of life in pastoral Funchal – people fishing, or working in the fields, or showing off their produce.  Definitely bucolic and idyllic, and not realistically portraying the hardships that people faced 100 or so years ago.  But very pretty, and a very Portuguese way of decorating the building.  (One of the panels is an image of that church bell tower!)

 

By this time, we were both ready for lunch.  Richard had the traditional Portuguese hamburguesa, while I had garlic shrimp.  They weren’t as good as the incredible prawns I had at Cabo de Roca years ago on our first trip to Portugal, but they were really delicious.  What can I say, certain local foods are just wonderful, and shrimp eaten on an island in the ocean are almost always amazing.

 

We took another turn around Funchal, but couldn’t find anything we just couldn’t live without.  So, we found another taxi, and headed back to our ship.

 

It’s strange knowing we’ve finished the Europe portion of our cruise, but that we still have another week before the cruise itself ends.  Yes, a week at sea.  Crossing the Atlantic will be a new experience for both of us, and we aren’t sure exactly what to expect.  Other than a relaxing time.  I’m hoping for calm seas, or at least no storms!  (Given Richard and my history with hurricanes and tropical storms, well, there are no guarantees!)