Funchal
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Thu 7 Oct 2010 14:04
Later on we checked the bus timetable and realised that the 20 mile journey from the marina to Funchal would actually take about 1 hour 40 minutes! At least we would see some of the island on the way. The directions to the bus stop were a little vague to say the least, you basically go out of the marina, stand on the roadside and flag down the only bus that will pass! On the way to Funchal we went round every small town and village we passed, in some cases twice to ensure no-one missed the bus first time round!
Madeira is a large volcanic rock right in the middle of the Atlantic and everything has been built into the sides of the cliffs. The towns are staggered up the cliff sides and this makes the road network very steep and windy. It also seemed to be the case that every bus stop was half way up a steep hill and getting the bus going again each time involved a lot of effort and thousands of revs! In addition there are also lots of zebra crossings and traffic lights half way up hills as well making things more difficult - we decided to take care when driving our hire car round blind bends in the road as there was likely to be a bus stuck on the other side.
On the way to Funchal we passed the airport. We had heard various stories that the runway here made for an interesting landing and we could see why. As there is no flat area of land anywhere to build a runway they have had to build one on stilts and stick it to the side of the island. The gaps between the hills are not very long and so the runway is very short and curved at the end to make stopping and taking off a bit easier. Landing here is so tricky that Funchal airport was featured in a programme on the World's 10 Worst Runways!
Eventually we arrived in Funchal and we got off the bus as soon as we could near to the port, and spent the rest of the morning wandering round the marina & seafront area and then through the streets. There are obviously lots of shops selling the local brew - Madeira wine and the local honey cake. Neither of us were sure about the taste of Madeira wine, only knowing that it was very sweet - fortunately for us we stumbled upon a Madeira wine producing House with a tasting going on. After tasting various types of Madeira, including a dry version which was actually not so nice as the medium/sweeter versions, along with the local honey cake and some biscuits, we left feeling fortified and much happier!
We ate a very interesting lunch in the old town in a rice restaurant, where each course, starters, mains and desserts, included rice in some form, although sometimes it was in the form of a rice vinegar dressing, or rice crispies.
On the way back we decided that a taxi would be a better option and after half an hour we were back at the boat.