Funchal
Promenade
looking east towards the fort
Mercado dos Lavoradores - link needed
The famous fish market was finished for the day when we arrived and was being cleaned up
The courtyard, where flowers, fruit, leather and other goods are sold
The Independence of the Seas dwarfs the buildings in Funchal
town centre
Homenagem a Bordeira - statue outside the Embroidery Museum
bougainvillea grows out across the wires over the ribeiro
Avenida Arriga?
The Jacaranda trees contrast well with the yellow taxis
Note the woman at extreme right taking a photograph. She appears in the same posture on the left of the previous!
Toyota showroom with traditional
azulejos
near the Marina shopping centre
the Independence of the Seas seemed to be visible at the end of every street
Farewell to the Independence of the Seas
In the old town restaurant area
Pizo
the three chimneys on the right are on the
Central Térmica da Vitória - the thermal power station with 16 diesel generators.
Despite all that water (and a bit of wind power), this station generates 60% of the island's electricity
Lower station
Cacti are used to create a fence below the cars.
Close up of the cactus fence
When I saw this telephérique, I said "I bet that was built by Austrians" and sure enough it was. See
Rancho for another by Doppelmayr
Me at ease. Teleférico in the background
The ascent
Looking to the harbour with AIDAaura moored there
2016
In 2016 August there was an
extensive wildfire here. Six weeks later Frank Ardley took this view from the telephérico. The hillside is totally bare. On the left we can see things like fridges scattered on the ground.
Follow the maps link and look at Google StreetView to see the lush vegetation that was there before.
Cabo Girão
Looking down to Ribeira Quinta Grande
Quinta Grande
Cruz da Caldeira
Miradouro Restaurant
espetada is meat on a long skewer. It is brought to your table on the skewer and hung up. In this restaurant they have holes in the table and in the tablecloth to take the stand.
Also visible in this picture is another Madeiran speciality
milho frito - fried cornmeal cubes
Encosta Cabo Girão
looking down to the villas. The location means that the HPB site may be cool and in cloud when it is sunny in Funchal
the view from our bedroom window.
Stayed in
this unlikely article
for all of four days until some mean-minded person said
image removed - not in the UK, this article doesn't need photographs anyway.
HPB have created a path with an artificially tidy levada passing through the site. The real Levada do Norte runs nearby.
These tiny lizards scuttle over all the baclonies
HPB site at Encosta Cabo Girao
Jardim Tropical Monte Palace
Lilies grow in profusion beneath these dramatic tree ferns
Looking down through the garden towards Funchal
Grotto
(Image ripped off from somewhere on the web.)
The tallest vase in the world according to the 1992 Guinness Book of Records. 5345 mm high.
Now beaten by a
clay pot in Taiwan.
There seem to be very few dogs in Madeira and most of those we saw were asleep
Koi carp ponds
Ancient olive tree and lavender
Monte
spare cars in the top station of the cable car
looking down from Foguete into the valley of Ribeira João Gomes with the harbour in the distance.
(Image ripped off from 2867523635_f03a5bfd94.jpg found somewhere on the web.)
Another view with location details
Cabo Girão
The farmer who tilled this field (by hand!) has done so within inches of a 500 metre sheer drop!
In this image (ripped off from Funchal_from_CabG.jpg found somewhere on the web) and taken at an earlier date, there seems to be some sort of edging to the field but in my pictures there is absolutely nothing!
Serra de Água
looking east across the valley
See how the pine trees bend in the prevailing north east wind
Terracing up the mountainside
There is so little flat land that farmers terrace as far up the mountains as they can
Central da Serra de Água (power station)
pipe bringing Levada do Norte down
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