Sleighs, cable cars and flamingos (plus a mugging in broad daylight)
This morning we took the cable car from the sea front to up the hill (mountain) that is the backdrop to Funchal to Monte. The ride was calm and scenic, taking about ten minutes to ascend the 550 metres to the top (cost: 12.50 euros each, one way, or 18 euros each for a return. We bought one way tickets – for why, read on …)
Arriving at the top, we had a coffee in the sun overlooking Funchal and the sea beneath us, before heading into Monte Palace and its gardens (15 euros each) We were originally going to take another cable car (9 euro each return) and then go into the Botanical gardens (10 euros each) but changed our minds, and I’m glad we did. The 70,000 square metre tropical gardens were lush and well looked after, featuring ferns, azaleas, orchids, banana trees (with bananas dangling from the branches – I eat a banana everyday, but have never seen them growing before), with glimpses of Funchal town below through the foliage.
But there was more to it than trees and plants. Pink flamingos mesmerised me as they stood on one leg, occasionally stretching the other behind them as if in some avian yoga class.
Sculptures and artwork were dotted throughout, and there was a more formal contemporary art exhibition housed in a building. My favourite piece was a 4 metre tall piece of art made from red plastic cutlery. But there were plenty of other pieces to inspire thought and comment.
We lost ourselves – metaphorically, not literally – in the Monte Palace gardens and it brought to mind one of my favourite poems:
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare
Leisure – by William Henry Davies
and I did let time and space wash over me as I stood (and sometimes sat) and stared.
And, as the saying famously says, what goes up, must come down and we too, had to descend back into town. We could have taken the cable car back down the hill but this being Christmas (v tenuous link!) and this being Madeira we took a sleigh ride back down. I believe in “the olden days” these sleighs were used to transport goods and produce down into the port, nowadays they take tourists for a whizz down the slope. It was fun, the ride was about 10 minutes and although Becky thought at one point we’d end up in the gutter, and we did pass perilously close to some parked cars, it never felt unsafe.
At the end of the ride, we still had a way to go to get back into town – persistent taxi drivers badgered you to take a cab for 20 euros, but we elected to walk (it was all downhill) in the increasingly warm sunshine.
So what about the mugging? This morning, on our way to the cable car station, we stumbled across an indoor market, Mercardo dos Lavradores
Inside the fruit and veg was colourfully displayed, tempting for the tourist and local alike. Becky made the fatal mistake of engaging in conversation with a vendor of dried fruit. Resisting their offer of a sample of dried mango, she weakened when offered a macadamia nut to try. Less the two minutes later, we were buying two bags of nuts for the princely sum of 31 euros! I couldn’t help but feel we had been robbed, and in broad daylight, too. (And to add insult to injury – the nuts are so expensive, I’m not allowed to eat them! (I’ve been told I can have two a day when we get home!))
But its been such an enjoyable day, even nut-gate can be forgiven, and remembered as an amusing anecdote.