Toronto to Madeira Island 😀

So we finished up the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations with the boys and the family and packed our bags and headed to downtown Toronto to check into The Four Seasons Hotel for a few days as we prepare for our trip to Europe without the RV. It’s an absolutely beautiful hotel and we’re very privileged to have had a chance to stay there. We went to the Eaton Centre. We hung out with Nick. Went out for a couple of nice dinners and froze our asses off in the cold before we left.

We took an Uber to Union Station and got on the Up Express to Toronto Pearson International Airport to meet up with Rory and Susan our travelling companions to Madeira Island and Portugal. We hadn’t been together with Rory and Susan since we visited their place in our RV in May. 😎

The flight to Portugal on Tap Airlines brought us to Lisbon at about 5:30 in the morning Lisbon time. After clearing customs, and all that it was time to hang out in the airport before our flight to Madeira Island. Naturally the first thing that comes to mind at 6:30 in the morning is to have a beer, which is something I did. The flight to Madeira is only about an hour and a half directly over the ocean, but withspectacular views coming into The Madeira Islands. It turns out this is one of the most dangerous airports in the world to land a plane at and you require a special license just to fly here. Isn’t. that cool? 😎

We settled into the beautiful Airbnb that we rented just at the edge of The Old Town area of Funchal. From where our place is we can pretty much walk to all kinds of restaurants to the ocean to the grocery store. Conveniently we have a wine/beer store directly in the building.

We took a gondola ride to the top of the mountain to check out the scenery there. Unfortunately the day that we went, it was foggy and rainy up in the mountain, but that didn’t damper our spirits. There’s a really old church there with the mortal remains of Charles the first the Kaiser of Austria. At the end of World War I with the Austrian-Hungary Empire on the losing end of the conflict the Kaiser was exiled to Madeira Island, where he passed away after several years. They would not allow him to come back to Austria to be buried and he is here on Madeira Island . You should learn a lot of cool things when you travel. 😎

After our voyage down, we wandered around a little bit more and sat down to have some lunch which consisted of a traditional Madeira Island sandwich called a Francesinha. Probably not the healthiest thing in the world as it had bread cheese two or three kinds of meat gravy came with french fries but it sure was filling and tasty.

Other fun things to do around Madeira is watching the cruise ships come and go. I have an app that I got on Vancouver Island so I know what ships are coming and how long they’re staying and when they’re leaving and where they’re from. We can make our plans accordingly as when the cruise ships arrive an influx of visitors sometimes is a bit overwhelming. We’ve seen some great musicians here that play variety of cool tunes and a visit to a local guitar store showed very expensive guitars that were not really that good. 🤪

Cristiano Ronaldo, the famous soccer player is from here. During our tour we went on yesterday his childhood Home was pointed out to us although a little far for me to get a picture of it. Down the cruise ship terminal there is a museum dedicated to him and this beautiful statue out front. The school that’s below the balcony in our apartment has a big soccer field and seems to be busy all the time. We had a chance to walk down to our previous old stomping grounds The Pestana Hotel. It’s still a nice place to visit.

We took a taxi tour to the valley of the nuns. It was a nice tour that brought us up very high on the island and back down to do a valley where as legend goes in 1400s the nuns fled through the valleys to hide out from the pirates who were in Funchal at the time. They also make a lot of different types of Liqueurs in this area and we sampled several of them. Nothing like Jager Meister.

January 11 is also our 34th wedding anniversary so naturally we decided to go out for dinner which is the first dinner that we’ve gone out for since we’ve arrived on this island. There is a street that’s full of restaurants and decorated doors. Rua de Santa Maria is quite a place. We had a wonderful meal and wine. I think it’s one of the most interesting dining experiences I’ve had as you’re sitting in this little crowded street with people walking by having a fancy meal. Very Cool. 😁

We have another week on Madeira Island before we depart for the mainland and we’ve got a couple of tours planned a little bit more hanging out in the sunshine not walking 10,000 steps a day and kind of relaxing enjoying the 20+ degree weather.

Thanks for following along everybody on the blog. I hope you’re enjoying reading it as much as I am putting it together.

Until next time 🤓