FUN IN FUNCHAL AND HAVE SOME MADEIRA, MY DEAR!

Yesterday was a sea day and nothing of any particular interest occurred but today is an entirely different matter. It was been a GLORIOUS day! Perhaps the best so far!!! As I said before, we canceled our scheduled panoramic tour due to circumstances within our control, and decided to explore this port on our own.

Funchal is by far among one of the prettiest places we've been so far on this cruise. We we docked, we look out over our balcony to see that the sun was shining and all the white buildings with the red roofs were sparkling in the sunlight.

We quickly ate our breakfast and boarded the local shuttle bus that took us into town. No long walks to get to our bus today ... YEAH!
When we reached our destination, we got off the bus and strolled along the esplanade.

We could see our ship in the harbor and watch the hang gliders as they gently sailed over the marina.

We walked up and down the streets looking for a sidewalk cafe where we could stop for a cup of cappuccino and watch the people stroll by. I decided to take a little rest while Papa scouted out the place.

Since it is Sunday morning everyone was taking life was slow and easy. This was an ideal spot for people watching which is one of our favorite pastimes. Here are just a few of the people that we saw. I found some of them to have very interesting faces as well as clothing.

While I watched couples enjoying reading their papers and drinking their coffee, Frank seemed more interested in this blonde. After all, that's who they say gentlemen prefer!

I decided that this man was wearing one of the worst toupees that I have seen in a long time. It reminded me of Frank's Uncle Alfred's rug.

When we finished our coffee, we ambled on down the street and found out where all the action was.

This place reminded me of a European version of the Santa Fe flea market. They were selling everything imaginable including food, clothing, shoes and even near life size witches!

The place was bustling with people and there was music playing with some of the tunes that we would have selected had we been afforded the opportunity. Suddenly one of our favorite tunes was playing, so Frank started to do a little dance right there in the street (I pretended that I didn't know him ;-) Thank goodness he didn't start to sing!

It was the perfect place and day for a family outing and many people were taking advantage of this on this lovely Sunday afternoon.

We stopped at a booth where they were pouring samples of Madeira so we sampled their wares.

It was very good, so we bought a couple of bottles to bring home with us. Be sure and check out this clip from You Tube and you'll understand why I titled this post like I did.

YouTube - Flanders & Swann

This little man was watching us, but wasn't a bit happy when I snapped his picture.

A word of warning about cruising. You'd better not linger too long at the midnight buffet tables or you'll end up looking like this poor lady!

Too much of a good thing can sometimes be a bad thing! And speaking of bad .. look at THIS guy's hat. I'm so thankful that Papa didn't decide to buy one!

We noticed a lovely little park across the street, so we decided to take a look. It was very different from the street we had just left ... very quiet and serene and the perfect place to get out of the hustle and bustle.

You'd never guess that you were in the middle of a city!
When we were planning this trip Frank had signed us up for a toboggan ride in Monte which is on top of the mountain in Funchal.
At the foot of the Monte Church you can take the famous wicker toboggan sled ride down the mountain. This is one of the wacky must-try things you do as a tourist. You sit in a large wicker basket that is on two wooden runners. Two "guides" alternately steer and push as you go down the steep mountainside streets back into the downtown area of Funchal. It's supposed to be quite an experience.

While the toboggans appear to be of an earlier decade, they sit atop wooden skids that are obviously of new wood, as they are oft abraded by the trip down the paved streets. Two people to a toboggan, with two burly Madeirans to handle (stop, in most cases) the conveyance as it slides nearly 2 miles into Funchal.

The ride takes nearly 20 minutes and recreates a major mode of travel in the 1800 - early 1900's. I looked at these two sites on YouTube while we were still at home and decided that I better not do this with the problems I have been having with my back. One of these sites is from the perspective of the passenger. For a fun ride ... click on either or both of the links below and check it out! WOW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmGD021ofBQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfVu5nuOqR0

Our table mates, John and Cathy did this and they of fun. I don't even ski, so I don't think it would have been for me, even if my back was all right. I'm a real scaredy cat. My Mother said that when I was learning to walk, I could crawl over the cracks in the sidewalk so I wouldn't hurt myself!
When we left the park, we went back to the "main drag" and had a little libation.

As we made our way down the hill to the shuttle bus, we passed some mimes. They didn't seem to have much business today.

We weren't sure exactly what this building was, but it was certainly beautiful and very well guarded.

I'm sure that it was probably some sort of government building.
When we returned to the ship, we noticed these wind surfers. They were having some sort of race. The bay was full of all sorts of boats and activity. I thought I'd better play close attention as we would be crossing the Atlantic tomorrow, so we won't be seeing these sights anymore :-(

One last look at the beautiful shoreline and it's time to get ready for our evening's entertainment.

If you look closely, you'll see that there was one sailboat at the end of the bay on the horizon that seemed to be wishing us a safe trip. We really hated to leave this beautiful port!

Our entertainment tonight is going to be Elliot Finkel and I'm SOOO excited! We had seen him before on the Seabourn Sun when we sailed around the world.

Elliot is a very gifted pianist, conductor and composer. He plays both classical and pop, including the works of Gershwin, Kern, Porter and Broadway show tunes. I managed to get this shot from a distance. It's very hard to photograph when you can't use a flash.

We loved being able to see him again and enjoy his wonderful music. What a perfect end to a perfect day! This may have been my very favorite. It's really hard to say as there have had so many wonderful experienceses!
We'll be crossing the pond for the next 5 days, so my reports will be few and far between. This long one today makes up for that. Hope you enjoyed Madeira as much as we did.

Cheers!

XOXO, Pcasso