Fabulous Funchal

2 Days in Madera, Funchal, Portugal

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A truly beautiful little city, definitely not on Americans (or any tourists) radar, possibly because it is a European island without beaches.  Because it’s late February, we weren’t planning on swimming anyway.  It was a truly stunning city and one of our favorite places so far.  It has such a strange name and it is ½ way between the Canary Islands and mainland Portugal.  Everyone spoke Portugese here and they are very famous for their Passionfruit- which we tried 7 out of 12 different varieties!  That’s right: banana passionfruit, strawberry passionfruit, mango passionfruit, it was like a candystore!  We visited on a Thursday and Friday and walked deep into the town, really getting a feel of “being a local.”  Only 30% of the island was populated and most of them were on the coast, where it was warmer, averaging about 18 degrees C in winter.   It was great weather for us and I enjoyed a lovely scoop of Mint gelato.  

The homes were all on the hilltop, all with red rooftops-this is the view from the cablecar. 

On Friday, we rode up the cable car to Point Monte, and came down the hill on a Tobaggen ride!  What’s a Tobaggen?  Here’s me posing in one.  I still haven’t edited our video or gotten the picture of us-it was taken by a guest and I need to e-mail her.  But here is how we really looked while riding down.  It’s basically a basket/sled with two ropes at the back that two men pull you down the ashphalt path with.  They run, push and pull and skid down on their botas- little Ugg boots made in Madera. People have been riding in Tobaggens for over 100 years, it was like a rollercoaster, but there wasn’t even a seatbelt!  It was soo fun and I was so lucky to go with Ivan! 

The streets were amazing!!  We got lost-but then found our way again- in cobblestone pathways of restaurants and apartments.  The apartments were tiny and our tour guide told me that because they were poor and didn’t have much money to remodel their apartments or move out, they painted their doors each year to do something new!  They were beautiful!!! I took as many photos as I could!  Many were done by local artists; some are more intricate than others.

Which one’s do you like the best? 

My favorites:

The dood’s favorites:    

What a fabulous day in FUNCHAL!! 

 

xoxMelissaxoxo