We woke late......10.00 am…so spent a quiet morning sorting a few things and bought tickets for the tour bus which is a Hop on,. Hop off bus. We had some problem finding the bus stop as there are different stops depending on whether you bought tickets for the yellow or red bus.
Walk ing some distance up the road. to the bus stop, we passed craft shops, enjoyed wonderful views across to Reid's Palace and out to sea, and of course the ever stunning, colourful tropical gardens.
The bus wound round the hills giving birdseye views of the houses and their courtyards filled with pots of colour, en route to Camara de Lobos - the famous fishing village where Winston Churchill apparently used to retreat to to paint Although the village itself was a little disappointing after similar villages we have visited. It was pretty....but perhaps a little over hyped. Fishing boats dotted the small harbour and cafes, restaurants and shops hugged the cliff surrounding the bay.
There was a Soundshell on the foreshore and we were entertained by the performers having a practice run and sound check for what we assumed would be the evening entertainment.
As you can see, the hillside behind was covered in bananas and grapes. Camara de Lobos is the main wine growing region in the south of the island.
Walk ing some distance up the road. to the bus stop, we passed craft shops, enjoyed wonderful views across to Reid's Palace and out to sea, and of course the ever stunning, colourful tropical gardens.
The bus wound round the hills giving birdseye views of the houses and their courtyards filled with pots of colour, en route to Camara de Lobos - the famous fishing village where Winston Churchill apparently used to retreat to to paint Although the village itself was a little disappointing after similar villages we have visited. It was pretty....but perhaps a little over hyped. Fishing boats dotted the small harbour and cafes, restaurants and shops hugged the cliff surrounding the bay.
There was a Soundshell on the foreshore and we were entertained by the performers having a practice run and sound check for what we assumed would be the evening entertainment.
As you can see, the hillside behind was covered in bananas and grapes. Camara de Lobos is the main wine growing region in the south of the island.
After a wander, we settled for a simple salad at outdoor tables, overlooking the bay, before taking the bus back. to Funchal. We stayed on the whole trip getting off at Blandy’s, but the wine tour we hoped to do was not on. Their wine tasting is rather expensive, so in preference we bought a 4 bottle sample pack to try ourselves at our leisure.
We had another pleasant happy hour sipping pina coladas...yum! Then we tried dinner next door. We both went for the Espetada Beef skewers with a huge salad, polenta, potatoes how you wanted....chips, sauteed or boiled, and sweet potato and were not disappointed. This time the meat was threaded onto the real laurel skewers. We had the house wine which was actually a whole bottle and was very good!
We had another pleasant happy hour sipping pina coladas...yum! Then we tried dinner next door. We both went for the Espetada Beef skewers with a huge salad, polenta, potatoes how you wanted....chips, sauteed or boiled, and sweet potato and were not disappointed. This time the meat was threaded onto the real laurel skewers. We had the house wine which was actually a whole bottle and was very good!