Funchal, Madeira- yup where the Wine comes from!!!

Funk-al? Funchal? We definitely butchered the name of this island paradise before we arrived!

But welcome to Funchal, Madeira Portugal pronounced “Fu-n-shal”.

We knew NOTHING as we walked off the ship yesterday morning except on a map it’s an island Madeira with a population of about 250k and Approx 110k living in the capital Funchal.

While seemingly remote- they’ve just started a direct flight from NY to Madeira taking about 6 hours.

Our taxi driver in Cadiz, Fernando who I raved about in my last post, found Diogo, a taxi/tour guide in Funchal and he was waiting with the biggest smile as we disembarked. There’s something to be said for seeing a welcome face when you arrive in a place you know absolutely nothing about. We watched as other cruisers boarded on of MANY tour buses and felt a sigh of relief we were not them!

Diogo had a day planned for us that consisted of a drive to the top of the island, around to a peak overlooking “Nun Valley”- yes, where back in the day of German Pirates- the nuns lived and hid!

We stopped at one of many peaks- where to be honest each view was more breathtaking than the next. One spot had a glass walkway over a drop of 500+ feet straight down to the waves crashing below against the rocks. Won’t lie- it would be MY fat ass that cracked the glass and all I could envision was a Funchal news headline

“Tourist from cruise ship crashes to her death while standing over the Glass walkway”…. It made me grateful I hadn’t had breakfast!

He asked us if we wanted to do the “cart down the hill”? Confused - he took us to another hill where very mature men with hats not unlike a gondola “rower” in Venice meets a member of some all male Quartet- were pushing couples in baskets down a VERY steep hill at quite a speed. Again I had thoughts of breaking some poor man’s back or being the couple that broke free of their grasp and tumbled at 100mph down and yet another newsworthy headline- so while it looked fun- we passed!

We learnt that Madeira wine is from - Madeira and they’re known for their Rum punch akin to a Long Island Iced Tea and after 2-3 of those you’d probably steal one of those hill rolling baskets and go on a joy ride! The island is known for bananas, wine, rum, incredible seafood and it’s views! Back in the day it was known for White Gold- SUGAR.

Every house has the same orange terracotta roofs which from a distance makes the island look so pre planned out and perfectly “decorated”. Diogo said the terracotta comes from Portugal and is perfect to deflect the heat.

The sun was out in full force all day and the reflection off the water was the perfect photo no matter where you were.

The views built up an appetite so we stopped for a late lunch at a very local spot in a small fishing village. Diogo said there used to be hundreds of sea lions back in the day but as the people moved in- they relocated to another island. The seafood was so fresh we were watching the fisherman drop off their catch as we were ordering. A platter of langoustines, mussels, clams, shrimp- the perfect Mediterranean diet that I could happily live on. Diogo had a scabbard a local fish served with bananas (he showed us a photo online of the fish and let’s just say it’s not winning any beauty pageants with razor sharp teeth and an eel like body- but when skinned and cooked was a tender white fish which we tried and mmmmmm- yes, I could eat like this everyday and the thought of processed food made me want to BARF!

This perfect day ended with a stop at a chapel in the fishing village where again I said my prayers as I have done in every place we’ve stopped on this trip. Hoping just one of them gets through to God. My prayers have been getting less complicated- just keep me feeling ok one more day so I can digest this incredible trip and not miss anything!!!

People have asked how I am holding up. Mornings are hard- my body and RA aren’t necessarily cooperating but I am out there moving. Went from essentially a sedentary lifestyle aka my “bed island” to walking up every hill so I don’t miss a view. Ok maybe slower than others but I am doing it.

My brain still gets fogged as I look at the boxes of meds and I have to be careful to pop in my mouth the right one….Would suck to take a night night pill as we leave for a day at Port! But I have come close.

My appetite is changing- lots of fruit and veggies and tomorrow I start my walking around the ship. I’ll start with one go around and build from there- I mean if being on the wide open ocean isn’t incentive to walk around the ship with my spotty Wifi playing my “cruise tunes” playlist on Spotify then I don’t know what would motivate me! Wish me luck- I will keep you posted.

We are back on board- two full days at sea as we leave the European continent and on Saturday arrive at Cape Verde, Africa!

My Funchal postcards were really nice- you definitely want to win one of these guys! Thanks to the few of you who are commenting- makes it more fun to keep writing!

How are you enjoying the blog? Am I boring you yet? I hope not- I hope I am giving you a glimpse into these towns we are so blessed to be visiting and the people we are meeting. THEY are honestly who are making the trip memorable- seeing their homes through THEIR eyes. Making friends I am adding to my WhatsApp around the world and making note of places that definitely deserve another visit.

More to come from Africa!