In my last post, L1836 – Which way?, I described our visit to A Coruña in Spain, and the tour we made from there to a small town and to a garden beside an estuary. We sailed from A Coruña late in the afternoon, and we were concerned to see that sick bags had been put out in the corridors when we came out of dinner that evening. While the ship did roll around a bit during our two days at sea sailing towards our next port, Funchal on the island of Madeira, fortunately the sea was nothing like as bad as we feared or have experienced in the past on our many voyages.
Very early on the third morning some vibration through the ship alerted us that we might be approaching Funchal, and when I pulled back the thick heavy curtains I could see in the darkness the twinkling lights of the port in the distance ahead. Usually on cruises we sail in ocean view cabins, and at this point I would have to rush to get dressed and then scramble up on deck to watch our approach. In this case, as we are lucky enough to be travelling in a large suite, it was simply a case of putting on one of the towelling bathrobes and wandering out onto our balcony. The town, with all its houses and other buildings rising up the hillsides, looked lovely with all the lights, but getting a photograph to do the scene justice was difficult in the very low light conditions on a moving ship.
As we turned and reversed against the quayside it seemed to get light very quickly, and soon the town came properly on show.
Carol and I went out onto our balcony before breakfast and to be honest we got a little emotional to be back in Funchal. Regular readers might remember how Carol and I first met at the start of the world cruise on Black Watch in January 2017, and that it was in our first port on that cruise, Funchal, that we first spent time alone together which was the start of our friendship and romance, and ultimately our marriage (see W1702 – Funchal Fun). On that day in 2017 I had spent the morning on my own doing a tuk-tuk tour, and in the afternoon I had taken Carol for a walk to see all the painted doors in the oldest part of Funchal.
This was the first time that Carol and I had been back to Funchal since then, and there was only one way that we wanted to spend the day, to complete the circle as it were – a tuk-tuk ride in the morning, followed by a walk to see the painted doors once again!
Long before we sailed I had contacted the wonderful tuk-tuk driver that I first met on a ship’s tour back in April 2016 called Andrea. She so impressed my elderly family friend Barbara and myself then with her passion and knowledge for her island, combined with her caring and helpful nature showing us around (see D1602 – Third time extremely lucky). At the end of that tour she had given me her contact details, and in 2017 I had been delighted to do a different tour with Andrea once again. Although this year Andrea was now working for a different tuk-tuk company, she was still pleased to be able to show me even more of her island.
After a hearty breakfast we watched from our balcony and saw Andrea arrive down on the quayside, this time in a smart red tuk-tuk. I had to look carefully to check it was Andrea as she had completely changed her hair style, but once sure we made our way down to the quayside to meet her. I was so pleased and proud to be able to introduce Andrea to my wife Carol – very aware of the huge change in my circumstances since the last time I was with Andrea, when I was a very confirmed bachelor! Introductions and hugs over, we agreed our route and set off from the port. Andrea was rightly very proud of her new tuk-tuk, which had the bonus of a clear plastic sunroof, and clear plastic windows that could be zipped in place when needed. She told us that she was much happier now working for a small company, and asked us about all our travels since we had last met.
Our first stop was at Doca do Cavacas, where Andrea showed us the natural swimming pools in the rocks below, and the lovely views along the coastline. As ever Andrea was keen to use my camera to take photographs of us, and to allow us as much time as we wanted at each stop.
We then drove on to Câmara de Lobos, the lovely fishing village famous as somewhere that Winston Churchill came to paint. I had been to both this and the previous stop on my first tour with Andrea, but it was the first time for Carol and she loved all the brightly painted fishing boats and the stunning fisherman’s chapel. Andrea pointed out that the ‘painted doors’ had spread to other parts of the island, including Câmara de Lobos.
After wandering around the harbour by ourselves for a while, we rejoined Andrea, and she took us on the scenic route to our next stop, Cabo Girão. The road twisted and turned as it snaked its way up the steep hillside, giving us amazing views most of the time.
Cabo Girão is a viewpoint on the second-highest cliffs in Europe (580m), and features a walkway – part metal grid, part glass – that extends out over edge of the cliffs. Regular readers will know how Carol has a problem with heights, but she was very brave in this instance and came out onto the walkway with me – albeit by always looking into the distance rather than straight down to the beach and sea far below. Unfortunately for me, but probably fortunately for Carol, low cloud / mist was swirling around and rather impeded the otherwise spectacular views that can be seen from the viewpoint.
Once Carol and I had finished looking at the views, and around the couple of souvenir stalls there, we rejoined Andrea who then took us on the faster ‘motorway’ route back to Funchal, pausing as we reached the fast section to close the plastic windows so that we did not get cold at the higher speeds. At the tuk-tuk stand near to our ship she paused briefly so that she could introduce her new boss to us, and then we were on our way again, driving through the centre of the town and then climbing up and up towards the agreed end-point for our tour, Monte. From there you can either take one of the wicker sledges half-way back down towards the town centre (guided by two men in their traditional straw hats and blazers), or as we planned, by cable-car.
It was time to say our sad farewells to Andrea, once again she had given us a fabulous tour, and we cannot recommend her highly enough (you can find the company she now works for at tuktuking.pt). Of course we have already told her the date next year when we will be returning to the island, so that we can do another of her fabulous tours, and catch up with her again.
We then bought our tickets for the cable-car ride back down to the old town, the station at the bottom is very conveniently very close to Rua Santa Maria, the long street with all the painted doors. Again Carol was very brave with the height of the cable car above the ground, and I suspect she was helped by it being a very steady and smooth ride down.
We then made our way up Rua Santa Maria, my camera at the ready to photograph any doors that I did not remember photographing when I have visited the street before. At the far end of the street we reached the viewpoint overlooking the sea, where back in 2017 we had stopped for some time chatting and laughing together – a spot that definitely could be considered where the our relationship very first began.
Just as last time, we very reluctantly tore ourselves away and started to make our way back to the ship, for once again the ship was leaving the island far to early, this time around 4pm. We returned to the ship too late for lunch, but we did make do with a large ice-cream each from the new gelato bar on the ship – and I am pleased to report they were delicious! We watched the sailaway from our balcony, and Andrea’s bright red tuk-tuk was clearly visible parked up in the stand as we reluctantly sailed away from our special island.
We then sailed overnight and during the following morning towards our next port of call, Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Our adventures there are likely to be the subject of my next post, which once again may well be delayed as we are in a run of five different ports each on consecutive days.
Postscript
The evening before we arrived in Funchal we made good use of our super-sized suite to do some entertaining. We wanted to invite three members of crew around – William and Scout from the Destinations team, and Bethany the Future Cruise Manager (otherwise known as ‘Dad’ and two of his ‘daughters’ – see W1801 – Turkish semi-Delight) – who we had got to know well when they were on Black Watch on our second world cruise. In particular we wanted to thank Bethany as it was her that suggested we did this particular cruise so that we could be in our fabulous Owners Suite. We all had a really good and fun evening, and it was very entertaining and interesting to hear the many anecdotes from our guests.
An Englishman Onboard 
Glad the trip is going well and your blog is brightening a gloomy day in England
But these pained doors….you’re going to have to let go a bit Graham!
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