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Madeira, Portugal
Weather: Sunny with cloud coming in
Well, we had a great night’s sleep … but I was awake from about 5.30am!! Sunrise was scheduled for 6.01am so I ended up making a cup of tea and took myself onto the balcony to see in the new day and get our first glimpse of Madeira.
The sun rose on the other side of the ship so the light gradually crept around and started to light up Madeira. We had a fabulous view of Madeira once docked rather than the open sea.
We docked a little ahead of schedule so by 7.30 we were heading down to the Oriental restaurant for breakfast.
Afterwards, we headed ashore. Unlike all other ports, there was no maps handed out either at the port or on the buses. Luckily the shuttle bus drop-off point was right opposite Azura on the Promenade. We wandered around a little aimlessly for a bit … and eventually stumbled across Blandys Wine Lodge so just had to pop in for a little taste of the local Madeira Wine.
Callum wasn’t overly impressed by the smell though.Just around the corner was an information centre … but even the maps there weren’t much good with very little detail on the actual town of Funchal and what there was to see. It’s a very pretty town to wander around though.
We decided in the end to wander down the Promenade to the Cable Cars which Callum loved. However there was thick cloud heading in over the hill tops so the view would have been limited from the top … and the queues were pretty lengthy. We’ll do this next time we’re in Madeira though.
Right by the cable car is a rather bizarre statue of Cristiano Ronaldo – probably one of the most famous people born here.
We wandered back and stopped at a little cafe bar on the sea front for a local beer and diet pepsi for Callum!. Jon had a bit of a shock when he got the bill – just Euro 4.80!!! We paid three times that last year in Cannes … and yet more still for the three soft drinks in Barcelona!!
We headed back to the ship for lunch and joined the queue of people waiting the get back on board. 45 minutes later (!) we were through. The port authority had deemed Azura could only use one gangway to embark and disembark passengers and crew and I think we timed it badly with the coaches returning from the tours. Quite a few passengers were grumbling. Eventually The Captain managed to persuade the powers that be that two gangways were essential.
We’d missed lunch in the Restaurant so opted for Nashta at Sindhu. We’d just about decided what we wanted to order … when the menus were whisked away and we were given a different selection of courses. We must have been the first people to eat in there that day as the menus had just switched to the alternate version. We ordered Prawns, Chicken, Salmon, Broccoli, Onion Bhaji’s and Lamb Samosas all served with Naan Bread – and it was fab. There was no hanging about by Jon and I. Callum was tucking in and sampling all the dishes without hesitation and he loved the lot (even though the sauce on the Broccoli was a little “spiky” … spicy!). Needless to say, when we ask him what he wants for lunch, his reply is now always Sindhu!!
He arrived in Kids Club just in time to play Elephant Football and Jon and I decided to grab a scone at afternoon tea (which lead to a sandwich and piece of shortbread too!).
Dress code for Dinner was the more casual of the three dress codes.We opted to go to the Main Dining Room and joined Jane and Charles, their daughter and Jane’s mum and also another couple from Glasgow. You had to tune in to listen to them – they had very thick accents but were good company.
We were once again “stalked” by the lady from Corrie. We’d just finished talking about her (!) when she came and sat down at the table behind us! I think that must be every day so far she’s bumped into us.
Callum was ready to leave Frontiers at 10.15pm when we went to check on him so another early night ahead of Gran Canaria tomorrow.
