A brief visit to Funchal

Berthed at the foot of the volcanic cliffs

We arrived at Marina Quinta do Lorde after a further 4 hours of motoring.

In the North of the island near… nowhere!

So we had a quiet evening, with the locals in the bar (Paul & John!) followed by our long awaited fish curry, from our own catch.

Followed by some Port

And a sleep

The next morning, we took Paul to the airport and collected Rich in our hire car.

Richard slightly over dressed!

And off we went to the West of the island as recommended by JJ our chef in Porto Santo.

The island is beautiful, with massive canyons and ravines, most worked into agricultural terraces for bananas and Madeira vines!

Tunnels everywhere!
and more bananas than you can shake a stick at.

Then into the capital of Funchal. A beautiful city, again showing wealth beyond the apparent explanation. Presumably as a result of its place in an historical empire.

Beautiful gardens abound
The Ritz with the Union Jack, against the Carioca brickwork!
Town square
A fire tree, a long way from its origins
The fisherman’s church above the harbour.

Off to Isle Grande Deserte tomorrow. Not sure if we can expect a bar or restaurant there….. clues in the name maybe…

2 responses to “A brief visit to Funchal”

  1. simonmartinryall Avatar
    simonmartinryall

    Hi, Peter

    We are enjoying your accounts and tracking your progress, but we are confused.

    We are seeing these (consecutive) elevation readings: 8.43; 4.37 ;0.31; 4.37; 12.48.

    What do these readings mean and why do they change?

    Simon and Jennifer
    s.r.bruce@btinternet.com

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    1. Peter Hirst Avatar
      Peter Hirst

      Hi guys. Thanks so much! It’s a blast. I can only think that the GPS tracker is set to measure altitude from the WSG datum, ie the bottom of the lowest astronomical tide. When the tide is higher, nearest Springs (moon & sun aligning) the figure goes up. But also on some days we have anything between 1-5 m waves depending upon the weather in the mid Atlantic and I imagine that affects the reading as well.
      But it’s a guess!
      P

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