Azores & Madeira - 2014: Madeira: Funchal

There being no organized your today we had a leisurely breakfast then headed out on what would become 6 hours of sightseeing, mostly on foot.

We walked to the marina where we stopped at a coffee shop.

Refreshed and having enjoyed watching the world go by, we continued on generally in the direction of the cathedral.

Yes - that is a real eagle

Silly us, of course the cathedral was closed on Sunday. Actually it was open until noon so we had missed it by 30 minutes.

We continued past the public market (also closed) and headed into the oldest part of the city. (NOTE: We had been told that Madeira shuts down on Sunday with most shops, museums, etc. closed, so other than the cathedral we were not surprised.)

Lady in traditional Madeira garb selling flowers outside public market

In the narrow streets of the old part of the city - Zona Velha - we were amused by the way in which doorways were decorated....

...some being a bit extreme (with a couple inappropriate for G rated blog).

The Madeira StoryMuseum, being the exception to the closed on Sunday rule, was open. We found it a well presented accounting of the island's history.

Leaving the museum we weighted the pros and cons of taking the cable car up to the Monte section of the city. There is to be a group tour there later in our trip. On the other side of the equation, visibility was good. The photo op carried the decision.

We did not go to the botanical gardens that will be party of the upcoming organized tour, instead just wandering around. We saw the departure point for the sled ride down the mountain (also part of the tour, so more on this later), visited the church and found a wonderful place called Quinta do Monte to have lunch while overlooking Funchal.

olive trees from Portugal planted by the Romans in 300 BC

We rode the cable car back down, walked as far as the Contemporary Museum (which we knew would be closed) and then back through some of Zona Velha before taking a taxi back to our hotel.