Trip to Madeira and Sao Miguel

Day 5 - Monday, February 19, 2024 - Funchal

Another 8:30 pickup for our tour of Funchal. We started at the Farmers market and specifically at the fish market. It was interesting to see what the black scabbard that we ate looked like. We were then able to wander and check out the fruits, veggies, flowers and souvenirs also sold there. Then we visited an embroidery shop and saw how they copied the patterns onto the cloth and how they determined how much their workers would be paid. They also showed how they cut the patterns and finished off the product. This shop has 60,000 patterns now. They started with 40,000 but they have bought patterns from closing shops. It is a dying art. Next we went to St. Ann Street, the oldest in Madiera. For years it used to be a drug and crime infested area until they got artists to go down and paint the doors and it restored the area. Now it is THE spot in Funchal. We went then to Monte, we saw the church, cable car and where you can ride the toboggan. It was really crowded today because there were 2 cruise ships in the harbor. So we'll go back Friday. More Madieran wine for us at a wine tasting. We asked to be dropped off downtown and walked back to the hotel doing more exploring. We stopped for a sandwich along the way. It was Pittsburgh style with hamburger, lettuce, tomato, ham, cheese and an egg. We both commented how good the food is here and surprisingly inexpensive. I blogged, Ron read and then we went for Happy Hour. Too full for dinner.

The Farmer's Market