17 to 29 July 2023

Canical to Funchal, 32° 38″ 73′ N, 16° 54″ 62′ W, 11nm, 2 hours 30 minutes

As planned we were able to get into the marina at Funchal at high tide on 17 July, squeezing in through the entrance under the bow of the dredger which continued to work non-stop until we left two weeks later!

This post chronicling our fortnight on Madeira is inspired by a book I found at the Quinta das Cruzes, an 18th century villa which charts 500 years of human habitation on Madeira. On the island we found views from the dramatic to the ordinary, from the literal to the figurative, which give just a little bit of an insight into life on this extraordinary island in the Atlantic.

*I won’t make it to 26 views – we weren’t there long enough – but 14 isn’t a bad attempt!

1. A refreshing view of lush parks

After a month in Porto Santo, the very first view to hit us was the lush green of the capital Funchal’s many parks. Beautifully manicured and full of bright flowers, shrubs and trees, there seemed to be a park around every corner offering a cool, shady spot to sit with a coffee and pastel de nata! It was hard to believe we were only 30 miles from the dry landscape of Madeira’s sister island.

2. A confusing architectural view

At first sight the buildings of Funchal offer a very confusing view. It really doesn’t look very Portuguese at all. Red tiled roofs, towers and turrets suggest somewhere altogether more Northern European. Arched colonnades in the city centre suggest you might be in Italy. Square towers suggest you might be in Southern Spain. In just a few places, however, the church facades and eye-boggling pavements reminded us we were still in Portugal.

3. A deja view

Inside one of those architectural anomalies, the cathedral, and amongst the usual trappings of a Christian church, was a real surprise that immediately took us back to our travels in Southern Europe and North Africa. The Mudejar ceiling could have been straight out of the Ben Youssef Madrassa in Marrakesh or the Real Alcazar in Seville but here it was in colonial Portugal!

4. A terrifying view

Any view from Funchal’s waterfront requires looking up the steep slopes that climb vertiginously up to the high peaks of the centre of the island. The city spreads improbably upwards and roads switch back to reach the higher neighbourhood punctuated by deep uninhabited ravines. Funchal’s botanical gardens sit on the edge of one of those ravines high above the waterfront. We had planned to get there by bus but a bike race had closed the city’s streets and so against my better judgement I agreed to take the cable car. You can see etched on my face the abject fear of being dangled above the deep gorges. I largely left looking at the view to Stefan whilst concentrating on the horizon!

5. A gardener’s view

Safe back on terra firma after not one but two terrifying cable car rides and halfway up the mountainside, it was drizzling gently. We stopped for a coffee and pastel de nata in the café to let it blow over before entering the gardens. Now, we have been to a lot of botanical gardens and we’re going to be honest and say that this wasn’t our favourite. It wasn’t even our favourite botanical garden in a precarious position on a cliff edge – that honour goes to the Jardi Botanic Marimurtra. However, it offered a very nice place for a gentle stroll amongst the colourful plants, a sighting of a traditional Madeiran A-frame house and spectacular views down to Funchal below before we had to make our way back onto the cable car!

6. A street art view

At sea-level again, the cable car station took us right into the heart of the city’s Zona Vehla town. A previously neglected maze of tiny street and alleys, it is now home to countless restaurants (including an Indian restaurant so good we went twice) and the Painted Doors Project. In an attempt to bring this historic but run down area back to life, local artists have used the old doors as their canvases. Two hundred or more doors have been transformed into bold, bright and sometimes surreal works of art.

7. A mouth-watering view

On the edge of the old town, the central market of Funchal feels more tourist attraction than functional. Babs and I gave up on any idea to stocking up with fruit and veg there due to the crowds and the highly inflated prices. The building’s architecture, however, with its wrap around first floor balcony, was the perfect perch from which to view the rainbow displays of extremely expensive fruit.

8. A view from the top

Late one afternoon, we made use of Rene and Babs’ hire car to drive up to the top of Pico do Areeiro. After a long, steep and windy climb we found ourselves 1818 metres above sea level and above the cloud which swirled around the lower peaks. It was also noticeably cooler up there and taking in the view required an extra layer we hadn’t needed in a very long time! Pico do Areeiro is not the highest of Madeira’s peaks but the highest that doesn’t require a highly vertiginous walk!

9. A Churchillian view

Taking a bus trip out of Funchal, we found a tiny harbour town with a curious connection to our hometown’s most famous MP. In 1950 Winston Churchill spent 12 days on Madeira, staying at the posh Reid’s Hotel in Funchal. One day, like us, he made the short trip to Camara do Lobos (literally translated as harbour of the seals), set up his easel and painted views of the bobbing boats. This short visit warranted a bronze statue of the man in action and a restaurant bearing his name! As well as views that probably haven’t changed a lot since 1950, we found art of a very different kind. The streets were brightly and imaginatively decorated with every conceivable recycled plastic object, from laundry liquid bottles to kitchen cloths and plastic bags.

10. A balcony view

One day whilst the boys headed out to find parts for the boats, Babs, Rizzo and I went on a girls’ trip in search of some more of the interior’s spectacular views. Heading out early to avoid the crowds at one of the island’s most popular viewpoints. Following a levada from the tiny village of Ribeiro Frio through lush green woods, a short walk took us to os balcões, technically just one balcony with incredible views into the green valley of Ribeira da Metade. It was a view so gorgeous that my legs temporarily forgot to shake at the drop beneath us! We found ourselves almost alone with the view – just us and some very friendly chaffinches. Had we left it half an hour later we would have been jostled by coachloads of tourists who stretched single file almost the entire length of the walk back to the car.

11. A view of the north coast

Away from the protection of the south coast, the north coast sees sheer rock faces fall vertically into the sea. On a day trip away from Funchal, we stopped at a viewpoint at Boaventura where we took a short walk into the dramatic landscape. After the recent rain, it was incredibly lush and green in the valley and I had my first introduction to the beautiful ginger blossom.

12. An illuminating view

Back in Funchal, our resident engineer found a museum much more to his liking than those I usually choose! Housed in the old power station, the Casa da Luz tells the history of electricity on Madeira from the first electric street lights powered by huge generators. With the generation of our own electricity on board Pintail very much on our minds since the addition of our solar panels, interactive displays allowed us to play with making in a range of more sustainable ways.

13. A view into the past

One afternoon before our time in Funchal was up, I climbed high up into the old town to Quinta das Cruzes to take a trip back in time to look at life on the island in the earliest days of human habitation. Dating from the 16th century, this wealthy seafarer’s home with its Chippendale furniture and Wedgewood crockery could be straight out of the English countryside. The modes of transport required to navigate Madeira’s vertical terrain needed to be altogether different!

14. A view of marina life

We very happily spent two weeks nestled into the waterfront at Funchal where Pintail and Momentum became part of the view for all the visitors and residents taking a stroll around the harbour area. And to cement our visit into that view for posterity I painted a reminder of our stay on the wall.

But it was time for us to find some new views and while we decided where to find them we headed back to one of our favourite views of Madeira, from the anchorage at Baia d’Abra…