A Bus Ride around Funchal Madeira

 Hi,

I am going to start with the View from our bedroom window,  8 floors up this looks straight out to the Atlantic Ocean.   We never saw one ship the whole week,  only a few local fishing boats,   Fish seems to be the main food in Madeira,  with every menu featuring fish.

This next picture you can see the bus stop for the Red Bus tour around Funchal and to a few other spots which as you ride with us I will try and remember them for you.

This rock was right in the middle of our view a lovely nesting place for sea birds.

 Here is the Red Bus that tours Funchal,   Funchal is the capital of Madeira,  Madeira is owned by Portugal and they speak Portuguese.
This picture was taken outside the cable car stop,  which I found the best place to take a photo of the bus  (more about the cable car later in another post)
So let me take you on a bus ride,   the pictures were taken on the bus so you might get the glass,  but hopefully I have picked the best of them.
So here we go hope you enjoy the ride

The Sea Front

This is the cable car which starts at the sea front and then goes up,  and the picture below also shows the cable car as it goes up above Funchal.   There will be a post about the cable car later,  and I take you up.

This is the Embroidery museum and shop,  it was here that we stopped on our trip for a look around and wine tasting,   The embroidery is beautiful but very expensive,   I saw some  beautiful napkin rings but at 50 euros for four or a tablecloth for 200 and 300 euros they were way too expensive for me.

Avenue Arriaga,   the most popular avenues in Funchal with bars and shops,
The colourful hangs were made by the children from recycled plastic and bits.

This Statue was on a roundabout of a flying man is a monument to peace and freedom.







This lovely fountain was a roundabout as the bus drove in and out of Funchal.

Now we are on their motorway to the village of Camra De Lobos

Bananas growing,  they are one of  the main crops along with cherries and grapes for the Madeiran fortified wine,  and are grown on very small plots,  gardens as well as fields,   Because Madeira is so hilly they have the crops are grown on steps down the sides of the hills,

Entering Camra de Lobos   this picturesque Village is where Sit Winston Churchill painted,  back in 1950's

The beach and looking into the village








This is a picture of the pub name after Sir Winston Churchill,  sorry the picture is not good you can see the sign just over the bar of the bus.

I saw this hanging from a shop/cafe,  the Madeiran figures are in national dress dancing around the pole.

On the road back to Funchal,   the whole island is a riot of colour from the flowers growing along the roadsides to gardens,  no wonder they call Madeira the Island of flowers
The picture below shows our hotel its the tall yellow one in the middle (Hotel Raga) of the picture  taken from the bus.

Well that's the tour I hope you enjoyed the pictures I am sure I have missed bits but I hope you enjoyed it.

Hugs

Margaret