Our one port of call was Funchal, capital of the Madeira Islands. The Madeira Islands were the first of the "discoveries" of the Age of Discovery, in the earlier 1400s, by a team in the employ of the Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator. (We visited the site of Henry's School of Navigation, near Sagres, in 2010). Among the Madeiras' other many claims to fame are 1) they make Madeira wine, 2) Funchal is the annual site of the world's largest fireworks display (according to Guinness), 3) the place is really scenic and beautiful and semi-tropical and historic, 4) Funchal is the #1 Portuguese port of call for cruise ships (sadly for Belem and Lisbon; and for the cruisers who miss them), and 5) the port McDonald's has free and unlimited wifi. Having been starved for nine days by slow ship-board wifi and high ship-board prices (75 cents per minute plus a $3.95 "set-up" fee), we concentrated on 5). Oh yes, the Madeira Islands are way off the northwest coast of Africa, about 500 miles west of Casablanca.
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Debarking/embarking, more chances to be impressed by
the Epic... |
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| Funchal Cathedral, 1506 |
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Spring well underway in Funchal; more likely, it's never
anything but spring or summer in this place |
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| Street scene |
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| Nice Portuguese tile |
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| In the fish market |
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| Hasn't changed much over the centuries |
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| Really ugly fish |
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We tried some Madeira (fortified) wine and
decided to wait until we get to Spain or France
to buy wine; I did sneak a small bottle of Ginja
back aboard...the wonderful cherry liqueur we
were enchanted by in Obidos in 2009 |
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| The flower market was pretty neat |
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Returning to the harbor, another view of the Epic, across
the marina |
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From the ship: Funchal is not a small place; said to be
110,000, but it seemed larger than that to me |
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Panoramic view from the 15th floor...wait!...what's that coming
up on the left, I mean, port?! |
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It's Funchal's Exact Replica of the Santa Maria, taking a load
of Epic cruisers on another cruise |
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Sailing away...more islands in the Madeira archipelago; nice
respite |
2 comments:
I'll bet you did not know that some of the finest hand embroidery in the world is from Madeira. I have a handkerchief from there that a friend brought back. Many of my embroidery instructors went there to take embroidery classes. If I had only known that you were stopping there...
Sorry. We did see some embroidery in a shop, but not enough nor good enough to think of you. Maybe next time...the repo cruise was such a deal we'd certainly do it again if it met our schedule; and we'll let you know. Or maybe you'll be on board!
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