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Getting around Funchal and Madeira
When talking about transport in Madeira, I have to start with airplanes, and let me stop here for a while. Our flight to Madeira was our first flight after literally decades and when our tour guide heard that, she laughed, telling us that we chose a great flight to start with. As we understood and later experienced, the landing is not easy on the island as the planes have to manage a sharp turn at low altitude just before landing and then they face quite unpredictable windy conditions. One day we were watching the planes and we saw one of the planes bump quite significantly before fully landing. We also…
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Artistic Funchal
In the center of Funchal, not far from the city market, we came across an alley lined with artistically painted doors. Some paintings were realistic, others pure fantasy, and together they gave the street the feel of an open-air gallery. I didn’t photograph every single door — now I rather wish I had, if only to remember each scene more clearly. Later we found more painted doors scattered through other streets, but that first alley impressed me most. I have a soft spot for metal statues, and the ones we found here didn’t disappoint. Their green colouring added to the visual effect. Towns tend to put up statues of people…
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Funchal flowers and trees
The plant that I found most impressive in Madeira was a Plumeria tree with its abundant clusters of waxy looking pink and yellow flowers. The pink decorated the edges of the petals while the yellow spread from the middle of each flower, leaving the rest of the petals soft white. I guess we were lucky to be there at the right time to witness the vibrancy and freshness of the trees. I’m still enchanted by them and wish they could grow in our garden. Hydrangeas are undoubtedly my favourite bushes. Every year I buy one or two plants in a pot to decorate our terrace. I also tried to grow…
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Market in Funchal
Markets tend to be attractive sites as you can usually see a variety of goods and colours there, as well as people, whether they are sellers, buyers or just curious tourists. The city market in Funchal is no exception and if we were staying longer in the city, I’d have visited it many more times than just once. I was mainly impressed by the central part on the ground floor, which is filled with fruits and vegetables of many kinds. They looked fresh and to my Czech eyes often exotic. As I always prefer choosing the pieces I would like to buy, I appreciated that you could have a closer…
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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…
