Madeira - Funchal

Funchal is the largest city and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. It is situated on the south side of the island. I was staying outside of town, in the Lido area, but spent some time looking around Funchal.

Firstly I took the bus up to the Botanic Gardens. These were quite extensive, laid out on a steep hill and gave some great views over the surroundings -

See more on the flora of Madeira.

From the gardens, I took the cable car up to Monte -

From there I took the other cable car down to Funchal -

In Funchal I visited the Farmers Market -

The Riberia de Joao Gomes and the resident Muscovy ducks -

This mother has 10 youngsters-

Time for lunch, I wasn't especially hungry so thought I would try the bolo do caco, a Madeiran flat bread. I had an unfilled one, it just had garlic and oil and was rather tasty

Later that day I had a coffee and egg tart

I was staying in Lido, just outside Funchal. This was really pretty with the number of flowers and also flowering trees.

The coastline is particularly rocky, with lava rocks, no beach. There are concrete areas for sunbathing and ladders down to the sea. But at this time of the year the sea is still very cold.

The lido is still being prepared for the season, they made quite good progress in the week I was there

Clear water

Goodbye from the skinks