4/29 – A chilly day in Funchal, Madeira

Arriving at our appointed time, actually a little early (because our Captain is the early bird captain!), we are disappointed to see that the Aida Prima is already in port. They weren’t scheduled to arrive until 9am – must have been a medical emergency or something. Means we are at the absolute last berth on the pier – oh well, just a longer walk. Hopefully we won’t be fighting with too many Aida passengers for a car at Sixt.

We’re off as soon as we see the gangway open, then start our trek down the pier and up what we call Hell Hill, on our way to Sixt. There are 2 other couples from our ship ahead of us, virtually running up the hill (one of which practically ran us over on the pier trying to get in front of us). Uh huh, you people are not going to make it all the way without stopping, no matter what. And they don’t, but they are still hauling ass to get up to the rental car place. They do get there in front of us, because we aren’t going to give ourselves a heart attack running up that hill. And it turns out one couple doesn’t even have a reservation! What? Oh, and then the guy starts complaining about the high price he is quoted. Buddy, have you looked around? It’s a busy port day, you’re lucky they even have a car.

A long discussion ensued, and you know we are getting antsy. Finally the other couple asked if the no-reservation folks wanted to go with them. Wow. That was super nice, way nicer than we would ever be. They all agree, then more discussions ensue. We swear. No one does any research in advance! One of them asks if the car rental agency has an ATM. Sigh. Then they ask where the tourist information places are located. Well if you weren’t in such an almighty rush, you would have seen the BIG tourist info place at the port. Then where is the best place to go, etc., etc. I’m rolling my eyes the whole time, and trying to distract myself with pictures of the great rainbow above the city (PS – none of the weather services forecasted rain – thank you very much from the puffy coat wearing, no umbrella couple – yeah, I’m never taking the umbrellas out of the backpack again.).

We finally get our turn, and have a blast talking to Otavia, the Sixt agent. She’s the best and so funny. We talk about the power outages in Spain and Portugal that fortunately didn’t affect the island, even though her husband kept saying they should go to the grocery store. LOL. Grabbing our car, we head out of the city toward the Western side of the island to begin our day of hiking. The weather is looking totally sketchy, with sprinkles, big black clouds and wind. The wind was predicted, the rain not. More rainbows though – really cool, although we could never get a good picture, you could actually see where the rainbow ended (started?) in the middle of the ocean. Amazing.

Our first planned spot is to hike the Banana Route or Vereda da Vargem in the town of Madalena do Mar. Unfortunately upon our arrival, it starts to pour down rain – not to mention the wind gusts are really strong. Nope, not even getting out of the car – we’re onto our next planned stop, the Farol da Ponta do Pargo for a scenic hike along the cliffs. Not! Arriving at the lighthouse, the wind is still wicked, but at least the skies aren’t dripping yet. However, after a few minutes of exploration and photos out to sea – where there is the start of a rainbow, sort of, you can see it in what looks like a water spout out there in the water – we find the entrance to the hiking trail blocked with a sign saying it “access is forbidden” during construction activities. Well damn. Now what?

Back to the car we go to sit and reconnoiter. We find another trail in AllTrails at the Trilho da Promenade do Calhau das Achadas da Cruz. Yeah, well, it looked great, all along the waterfront beneath the cliffs – so we figured, what the heck? I hit the directions button in AllTrails and off we went following instructions to get to the trail. The drive took us up through the cliffs overlooking the water, through typical Madeiran forests that looked like they may have been part of the massive fires that burned on the island in 2024. Many of the trees are stripped bare or are all grey – even if there are leaves still there. But then again, many are alive and green and growing. It’s really weird, but otherwise a beautiful and scenic drive.

We turn where the map tells us to, heading for, of all things a teleferico or cable car. Where would a cable car go here? And why are we heading there? All will be answered when shortly after navigating some very narrow and steep roads we arrive at the cable car parking lot. Here we find we are at the terminus of one of the steepest cable cars in Europe. 451 meters high, traveling 600 meters in 5 minutes on a 98% slope – that thing is scary. Totally scary. And look at that wind will you? Oh no, no, no. Not on a good day would we even consider that – on this day? Ha! And there are people waiting in line. More power to ya! Just looking down the mountainside to the little beach town below is enough to scare the pants off of you, and that is with a big sturdy guardrail/fence. Unfortunately it appears that the trail hike we wanted to do on AllTrails is actually down there on the beach level. Oh, and later, after fully reading the description it does say we have to take the cable car. Oh well – never mind.

Apparently though, there is another trail up here along the cliffside. Called the Vereda da Ladeira, it is a part of a trail running system along the island – this particular part along the steep cliffs leading from the cable car to Porto Moniz. We figure we’ll just hike – not run – a bit of the trail. A bit is all we can and will do too – as it is a little muddy and slippery due to all the rain they’ve been having. How people run these trails, we’ll never know. The views are amazing – just look at those cliffs and sea views. But really? That trail is also pretty darn hazardous! We only get a little ways down the trail before there is a totally unprotected really steep drop off that we decide is not worth our lives. Between the crazy strong wind and the slippery rocks – nah, not even chancing it.

Reverse course then! The one bonus is that there is a little café at the beginning of the trail by the cable car – so we decide to escape the wind for a bit with 2 cappuccinos while we stare out the window overlooking the sea – and watch the rain start to come down. Perfect timing.

And perfect timing for lunch too. This is the furthest point west in our adventures today, and now we are turning back toward Funchal with a stop for lunch at one of the 4 restaurants we had scouted out previously. Driving through the forests on the way to Ponta do Pargo (to check out 3 of the restaurants to see if any are open) the mist rolls back in, and the sunny day turns mysterious and dark, making the drive back toward the east sort of spooky. Just as soon as it rolls in, it rolls out again and the sun reappears. It is just a crazy microclimate island, on show for us today.

Coming out of the forest, the views across the rolling hills are so verdantly green dotted with the vibrantly white houses with orange roofs. So gorgeous. Arriving at our chosen lunch spot, O Farolim, we find we are about 20 minutes too early for lunch. But the very sweet Manager tells us we can have a coffee while we wait, escorting us to the best table in the house, overlooking the village, church and rolling hills out to the sea. Couldn’t ask for better! We just hang out with our excellent whipped cream topped cappuccino – beautiful presentation! Then when the time comes, order and dig into an excellent lunch of garlic bread, Presunto (which is locally produced Proscuitto) and Espada Madeirense (scabbard fish with bananas, typical Madeira-style). It was all so good and so perfect. Plus light because we have Morimoto tonight and don’t want to eat heavily at lunch.

Another TIE situation here too – the restaurant is completely full as we are ready to leave. We know we eat early for Portuguese and Spanish style, but it saves us lots of time and hassle – which we need when we have limited port calls. Off we go, back toward the Banana Route to see if the weather has improved in Madalena do Mar. It isn’t looking good, as we drive through pouring rain and fog and wind. But the storm is behind us, so we were hopeful we’d had enough time to hike the banana fields before it reaches there. We are lucky in this respect, as there are sunny skies as we pull into the seaside parking lot and make our way toward the banana fields on the lovely waterside promenade.

The entrance to the Vereda da Vargem could be easily missed – it is literally an alley in between the wall of a restaurant and the wall of the banana fields! We actually find it – AllTrails was really accurate in this respect – and wander around through the various fields all just loaded with bananas. It’s an easy and fun little trail to take – albeit narrow at times.

Exiting the fields to traverse over to another farm, we come upon a cute little request for donations to fund a trip to Disneyland with a 50 Eurocents banana purchase. Oh, how can we resist? We only have 1 Euro coins, so we splurge for 2 bananas – looking forward to trying them later, after our hikes.

Walking the road to the next fields, we pass by the pretty Igreja Matriz da Madalena do Mar, stopping for photos, of course (they have bananas for sale here too!). Then past this great old building called the “Casa do Rei,” which is where the Slavic King, Henrique Alemao lived incognito, as well as the place where Cristobal Colon – Christopher Columbus – was born. He was baptized as Segismundo Henriques. Who knew?

Back into the Banana fields we go, this time on Route 2 – Vereda do Nateiro – with more plants, more bananas and more narrow little walkways meandering through the fields. Fun.

The skies are darkening though, and a few little raindrops begin to fall, making our exit from the fields a little quicker than planned as we quickly make our way back to the car and head into Funchal. The rains definitely come, but then just as quickly stop as we near the city. Stopping for supplies at a large Contente, more Pateis de Nada thank you, and then gassing up the car, we are successfully back at Sixt with plenty of time to spare, allowing a leisurely walk down Hell Hill and down the long pier to our ship.

Back aboard, we hung out on the balcony for a bit, getting some great shots of the sea birds all around, and after the gym some great sailaway shots as we leave Funchal, pass the wild Madeira airport, built out above the water and make our way Northwest toward the straits of Gibraltar.

Dinner tonight is Morimoto, which is wonderful as always. We have the Gyozas to share as an appetizer, Ed has the ramen and then the Lobster Pad Thai while I have the ever fabulous Buri Bop with Yellowfin Tuna. Yummy.