Funchal: On Foot

Funchal, the capital city of the Portuguese Archipelago of Madeira, is located on the island from which the name of the archipelago is derived.

The name of the city comes from the Portuguese word funcho … aka fennel. The suffix of “al” means “a plantation of.” Put it all together and you have Funchal = Plantation of Fennel … a reference to the wild fennel early explorers found growing prodigiously on the island.

Upon hearing the word Madeira, the first thing most people associate it with is the wine by the same name. Likened by many to port, the wine is one that is known to be able to withstand a lot of jiggling on rough seas … and warm temperatures. Both of which are things from which wine should be protected. Mui and I tasted Madeira wine on our first visit to Funchal. We both agreed then that we didn’t care for it … so we skipped wine tasting opportunities as we explored Funchal today.

On that first visit in 2003, we hired a private driver who took us to Cabo Girāo, the second highest sea cliff in the world, and some of the smaller towns outside the city … including to the spot from which Winston Churchill is said to have painted many-a-seascape … puffing on his cigar, of course.

Our second visit to Funchal was in 2015. On that occasion, we took the tram up to the Monte Palace Gardens and the Funchal Botanical Garden … what lovely places. I especially enjoyed the tiled murals along the garden path that gave us glimpses into the early history of the island. No, we did not ride the basket sledge back down the mountain, leaving that to those who like adrenaline-inducing activities.

Since we did not explore Funchal, the city, on either of our previous visits. That is what we did today.

The ship was cleared early … well before our scheduled arrival time. Thus the complimentary shuttle was not yet running. No matter, we’d walked into town in 2015 from the very same berth … the one furthest to the city. So, we set out on foot … much to the amazement of fellow passengers who were calling out from their verandas to tell us the buses weren’t ready yet!

A slow and easy pace got us into the city around 11:00a … at least that’s what the time stamp says on the selfie we took at the Madeira sign.

From the waterfront, we moved inland, following narrow cobblestone streets … frequently decorated with mosaic-style designs under our feet. We had no paper map to guide us … Google maps got the job done and helped us find everything we had on our loose-itinerary of places of interest … including a shop in an off-the-beaten-path neighborhood where we sated our craving for pasteis de nata, a tasty custard-filled pastry that is a Portuguese delicacy.

Colorful street art … colorful flowers, fruits, veggies, and fish at the market … colorful characters followed. The Sé, locked up tight on previous occasions, was open today … to honor the 100th anniversary of the passing of the Austro Hungarian Emperor Charles (the 1st of Austria and the 4th of Hungary) who was exiled to Madeira following WWI. Packed to the gills in the morning, it was quiet and we were able to stop for a quick look see on our way back to the ship.

We fit a lot into our day in Funchal. And I took a lot of photos, so I will split the day into multiple footprints. This first one has a collection of photos from this and that and there.Read more