Grand Africa Cruise - Funchal, Madeira

Cruise Day 9

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

“My favorite things to do is to go where I’ve never been.” – Diane Arbus

After seven days at sea it's "Land Ho!" as we dock at our first port of the cruise, Funchal on the island of Madeira.  Madeira is an archipelago of four islands 280 miles off the northwest coast of Africa and is an autonomous region of Portugal.  Only two of the islands are populated with Madeira being the largest and home to the capital city of Funchal that has a population of 112,000.  Madeira was discovered in 1419 and settled in 1420.  The climate is mild year round which makes it a popular vacation spot and puts tourism as the most important part of its economy.

Madeira is an island about 280 miles west of Africa.

We are docked in Funchal, the capital and largest city of Madeira.

The flag of Madeira

The alarm went off at seven this morning and it was still dark outside; it felt like the middle of the night.  We could see the lights of Funchal as we sailed into the harbor.

An early morning arrival in Funchal.

After getting ready for the day, I went out on the balcony and watched us dock as Val finished her morning routine.  We went to the Neptune Lounge and had a quick breakfast and then got our things together and reported to the World Stage (the ships’s theater) at 7:45 to join up with our tour group (and all the ship tours leaving this morning).  Luckily for us, our group was the first one called and we were quickly on our way to the buses.

Today’s tour is called The Best of West Madeira and it covers the same area as the tour we had arranged in 2017 that was cut short because Val wasn't feeling well, but this time we would be doing it on a bus with a lot of other people instead of us in a car with our tour guide.

When we got on the bus today we were very surprised at how cramped it was, it was a big bus, but the seats were crammed so close together you could hardly move.  I guess tour buses are following the airline’s example and cramming as many people as possible into a small area.

The weather forecast was for clouds and possible showers in the morning and it was cloudy, but not raining and we could see a few patches of blue sky so we hoped for the best.  Our tour started with a drive through Funchal and then turning west up the coast.  Our first stop was Camara de Lobos, a little fishing village that we had stopped at in 2017, but this time the bus was too big to fit down in the village so we could only see it from a viewpoint on a hill above the village, not quite the same.

Our tour bus was too large to go down into the village so instead of walking around like we did in 2017, we could only view the village from above.

Our next stop was Cabo Girão, the highest sheer cliff in Europe (we are closer to Africa, but I guess it’s because they are part of Portugal) and the second highest sea cliff in the world.  The view would have been spectacular except that as we climbed up into the mountains, the fog and clouds had moved in and there was nothing to see.  We spent our time looking around a little tourist shop that was there and using the restrooms.  There was someone sitting outside the restrooms charging 50 cents (in Euros) to get in.  We had forgotten how common this was in places outside the US.  There was also a cafe there if you wanted something to drink or a snack, but we browsed in the shop instead.

Madeira is a very mountainous island and there seems to be no flat land to build homes on or farm so everything is done on a slope.  As we drove through the country side, our guide told us that all of agriculture was done by hand as they can’t get machinery up on the hillsides.  Bananas are a huge crop here; banana trees are everywhere and they grow year-round.  We stopped in the village Ribeira Brava and were able to walk around, but there wasn't too much to do there.

You can see the terraced terrain behind this old church.  Madeira is so mountainous that most of the housing and agriculture is done on terraces.

We drove on and stopped at a few other viewpoints, but the cloud cover was pretty heavy.  As we drove along the coast though the mountainous countryside, we were amazed at how many tunnels there were; they rarely went up and over, but went through the mountains.  Our guide said these tunnels cut hours off the drive up the west coast from Funchal.

The highest point on the island is 5000 feet and the views were supposed to be spectacular from there, but once again we were completely fogged in and everyone on the bus voted to just keep driving.  As we came down from this high point we began to see the sun and soon it turned into a sunny day.  The drive up the coast was very beautiful with scenic beaches and small villages.  We stopped in the village of São Vicente for a view of the coastline and a waterfall coming out of the sea cliff.

The village of São Vicente.

No matter where you stopped, there was almost always a place to buy souvenirs.

There were no more stops though as it was lunchtime and we were heading to Porto Moniz, the most northern spot on the west coast of Maderia where we would be having lunch at the Cachalote Restaurant.  We had a great lunch with soup for an appetizer and then a salad, potatoes and rice to go along with the main dish of black scabbardfish.  For dessert we had ice cream and what else on Madeira but sliced bananas.  You never know how good the lunches will be on a tour, but today’s was very good, particularly the fish.  The area around the restaurant was quite picturesque so we were glad that we had time to walk around and enjoy the now, beautiful day.

The weather had turned sunny and warm and the outdoor seating area looked inviting, but as we were part of a group, we had to eat inside.

Another example of the use of terracing.

Soon it was time to get back on the bus and finish our tour.  We had one more stop to make at a less than exciting resort area.  I guess it was mainly for a bathroom break, but it was a nice beach area so we walked around for a bit before getting back on the bus and heading back to the ship and arrived there at four.

It was a pretty good tour, but in hindsight, I wish we would have booked a private tour again.  The morning weather didn’t help, but that’s the way it is and you have no control over the weather so you just have to make the best of it.

Although the tour wasn’t especially strenuous, Val and I were very tired when we got back, the time changes have really taken a toll on us.  We will have another whole week before another time change so we should have our internal clocks straightened out by then.

I did go out on the rear Lido Deck to watch the sail way, but afterwards I went back to the cabin and relaxed.  We had had a rather large lunch today so neither of us were very hungry tonight and didn’t feel like getting dressed for dinner so we went up to the Lido Buffet and had a light dinner and called it a night.

The Funchal harbor.

Sail away out on the Lido Deck.

We say goodbye to Funchal and Madeira.

Tomorrow we will be in the Canary Islands, but we don’t arrive until eleven, so we have an easy morning and we should be able to catch up on our sleep.