Our last day in Madeira spent in Fuchal

Monday, July 29, 2019 Day 18

Last full day on Madeira. Down we went to Fuchal to take in what we missed on our first visit. The first stop being coffee and the bakery. Besides tunnels, Madeira has an abundance of bakeries, very convenient.

Close by was the Blandy Wine Lodge, the oldest wine cellars in Funchal. It specializes in Madeira wine which is kind of like port. There are many kinds of Madeira wine, from dry to sweet and because of the way that it is processed it can be kept for decades. Of course we did the tasting, out of curiosity. Varied reviews, as usual.

We headed off on our own as we thought we may have missed a garden the first time around. We wandered up the hill, through a park and then were asked for 1 euro each to continue. It turned out we had reached the gardens of the regional governor. It was a small but beautiful garden with the plants well labeled and tended a view out over the harbour.

On to the square in front of the Municipal Hall. The sidewalks and squares in Madeira often are black and white patterns in various designs. Also on the square was a church, an impressive sight.

The rest of our visit to Funchal was spent just wandering through the streets and checking out some of the little shops. One, of the beaten track, was in an old church, full of tourist stuff but no tourists, with the highlight being the basement that was a wine cellar full of wine bottles that looked like they had been there for many a year, as well as more tourist stuff that also looked like it had been around for a while.

A wander along the waterfront and then back home for our last evening in Madeira.