Home » Portugal » Madeira part II.

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast we walk downtown. At Avenida do Mar by the harbour you can buy a ticket for the city buses valid for 7 days (remember your passport!). This Passe Turistica costs only 15 EUR.
<br/>

Madeira part II.

Eric
2005-12-08 20:08:04

Displayed times (last time: )

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast we walk downtown. At Avenida do Mar by the harbour you can buy a ticket for the city buses valid for 7 days (remember your passport!). This Passe Turistica costs only 15 EUR.

The yellow buses are excellent for getting around in Funchal. You can select your destination and the appropriate bus, or you can enter one at random and see where it takes you. Get off somewhere, go for a walk and then take a bus back. It almost impossible to get lost in Funchal - if in doubt just go downhill!

On all bus sheds are an advert for toilet paper: an ecstatic male photo model sniffs to a roll of toilet paper. It must be the perfumed brand they use at the hotel. What will be next?

Having bought the tickets we stroll at random in the centre and buy two small umbrellas as defence against the frequent showers that drift from the mountaintops. At the main square is a pavement-café, which offers rest for the weary. Here are many locals chatting. Civil servants dressed in suits, housewives and students sip "bica". Bica is a small strong coffee - like espresso. The coffee quality is excellent.

Nearby, at the market, they sell flowers, vegetables, fruit, leather goods, meat, live chicken and much more. There are vegetables and fruits we have never seen before. The green fruit that looks like a hand grenade (in the middle of the picture to the left) is annona, which has a delicious sweet/sour taste with a touch of vanilla. The market and the neighbouring small pubs are crowded. Beside the vegetable market is the fish market where we see the night's catch of espada, the deep-sea fish with the huge eyes and the greedy mouth. There are also sardines, squid and huge chunks of tuna. Outside we get a sandwich and surprise: the sun is shining! We catch a bus to the hotel - siesta-time.

Botanical GardenLater bus 31 takes us to the botanical garden. ...