A cloudy day but the heavy rain of last night was over and not expected to return so it was a good day to play tourist. My internet notes gave high marks to the Market, but advised getting there early to catch the fish vendors so I strolled up at the crack of nine (hey, that was 1am PST!) and it was in it's full glory. Unfortunately the tourists outnumbered the buyers, but it was still a sight to be seen!
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| can you tell a cruise ship was in town? |
There's nothing better to do on iffy days than to hit a museum or two so I did, three! The first was the Casa Museu de Freitas, a doctor living in Funchal in 194?-197? who was a very eclectic collector, and who bequested his treasures to his museum foundation. 18th -19th C. English/French furniture anyone? Beer steins and tea mugs from around the world? How about 15th C. religious art? It was displayed in his house as he would have when he lived there, so I must say it was tastefully done, but just a bit odd.
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| Only pic before they told me pics weren't allowed so no shot of the tea mugs! |
Right next door was a Decorative Tile Museum which was almost interesting and had a very nice washroom. Up the hill was another mansion-turned-museum specializing in Portugese/Madeiran antique furniture, silver, and art: the Crosses Manor Museum. I had to dash thru the rooms as they were civilizingly closing for lunch in 30 minutes but I found the lower level rather fascinating as it used to be their wine warehouse so there were tremendous carved wooden ceilings and 2-foot thick walls which must have kept all that good stuff nice and cool. Upstairs, the living quarters were set up as if an 19th C. couple were still in residence excepting that she had a LOT of jewellry and he had a fetish for ancient Roman cameos. Again, no photos were allowed, party poopers, but this is the outside and some of their garden.
As you can see, the sun started to break through so I took advantage of the clearing skies for a very touristy activity - the Teleferico! A huge long cable car ride 1804 feet up the mountain to the town of Monte. I was wedged in with 5 post-teenaged Germans so the car was going selfie crazy.
At the top are the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens - can I use the word eclectic again? Lush, verdant, dripping (still in the clouds up there) greenery and weird out-of-place art installations. A Zimbabwean sculpture museum, anyone? Modern cubist art near a 2nd C. stone carved roman bust? A Japanese temple downhill from the 2nd greatest Portugese tile collection? Maybe it's all the fresh sea air on this island....
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| Wonderful ferns and cycads, too early for blooms and I would not be lying saying this path was 45° steep! |
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| 1897 mansion, then hotel, left abandoned 40 years till 1987 when park was formed |
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| Fountains and follies |
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| Largest vase in world, according to Guinness |
Aroung the corner was a cool church, up some very steep stairs, that in a side chapel were the remains of the last ruler of the Austrian Hapsburg empire, Charles I. Apparently he was another ruler forced into exile after a foiled power grab and died here in 1922. Who knew? Cool panoramic views from the bell tower as well.
And, for the ultimate touristy thing to do, around the corner from the church was the world-famous, as-seen-on-CNN, tobaggon ride down impossibly steep streets at neck-breaking speeds with only your guides' unerring skill and smoking rubber boots to safe you from certain death. It was a blast!
Yippee! I'm on the road again, this time back to Europe for 6 weeks. My original plan when booking such a long trip was to walk two more medium-length Caminos, one in Portugal and one in Spain but just last week I finally admitted that wasn't going to be possible (dodgy ankle) so I panicked for 48 hours until I came up with a new itinerary. The question was: with tickets booked into Porto, Portugal, where could I go that I haven't been before? Well, how about the Madeira Islands?! I've heard about them, I've actually seen them from offshore, but I've never been on them and certainly not explored them so I figured 6 days should do it. My first destination was in place!