Enchanted by Funchal

When my husband and I were looking for a holiday destination last year, Madeira — the Portuguese group of islands — captured our attention. It was pricier than we expected, but we decided to go anyway. Or rather to fly, as travelling by plane is the usual way to reach the main island.

And we never regretted it — even after a year, I am still full of nice memories. I would like to share some of them here, with my photos and words, but do not expect a guide or recommendations of any kind. It’s rather a story of me falling in love with this interesting place that somehow touched my soul and made me feel connected. Sure, there are many places we visit and enjoy but just some of them become ingrained in our bodies and minds, for whatever reason.

We had a base in Funchal, the capital, and I decided to split the photos I took there into several posts to highlight the city’s features. This is the first part with places across the city as they caught my attention.

We were spending the days by hiking and exploring and in the evenings or late afternoons we were strolling through the city. I loved to come to the pier with the simple lighthouse and watch the ocean and the small anchored boats. It felt utterly peaceful and soothing. Even now when I close my eyes and think of the site, my body reacts. Who would believe that?

The hills above the city hidden in clouds were quite a usual sight even when the day looked nice and sunny. Although the main island is not that big, we learned soon enough that the weather may differ significantly in not that far away locations and can change quite unexpectedly.

You need to climb up to the top of the city to get to the fortress. On a sunny day it meant lots of sweating and a bit of cursing and we even got lost in the alleys for a while. What was nice though were the narrow steep streets out of the centre and the view of the city and ocean from high above.

The centre of the city features a mixture of new and old, parks and streets, shops and restaurants. There is also a part of the city with many modern hotels and shopping centres, and we were told that their number keeps growing each year. But although it was July and the city hosted many tourists, it did not feel overcrowded or stuffy, and it would be great if it could stay so.

Those painted benches, one of which you can see in the photo, looked lovely. I should have photographed more of them. See, that’s the thing about places like this — they never quite let you capture it all, but maybe that’s part of the charm.

In my next post I will take you to the city market, stay tuned.

In the meantime, “Take the time to smile”. 😉