A week Ashore
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Tue 7 Aug 2012 18:39
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Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 August
2012
We have realised that to have a chance of seeing
more of Madeira we need to be more central so decided to stay at a small hotel
('Quintinha') in Funchal for a week. So on Monday we took the 10am marina
courtesy bus for the 15 minute ride to Machico and then caught the regular bus
for the one hour trip to Funchal. A quick coffee and then a taxi to the
hotel, arriving soon after midday. The bus ride was a tour in itself as it
weaves inland and back to the coast, past the airport with it's runway
built on massive concrete stilts and then into Funchal.
The hotel was small (about 35 rooms), the room
fantastic and the food in the restaurant was superb.
On Tuesday we took the hotel courtesy
bus down into town and walked around 'Old Funchal' which has
narrow cobbled streets, many with cafes and restaurants:-
 One of the customs in Old Funchal is to paint
the front doors:-
 This house belongs to a
professor:-
 After a nice lunch in one of the street restaurants
we strolled around Funchal itself. Madeira, like Portugal is struggling a
bit at the moment but the town is clean and well looked after:-
 They say Christopher Columbus lived both here
and in Porto Santo so here we have the obligatory statue:-
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