Madeira // Funchal

The 31st was the day that Lucia and I got to traipse about Funchal, the capital city, by ourselves. Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens, which was beautiful regardless of the poor weather. I should mention that cable cars are also a very useful and dare I say common method of transport in Madeira. We took a cable car from Funchal to the gardens, and were to take another cable car from the gardens to another part, but after a fire a couple of years back, the car was closed off. We were in the Japanese gardens for the most part. 

After that, we carted back and had lunch in the capital. Might I add, it was so difficult to find restaurants with vegetarian options. So much of the menus were comprised of fish, which I don't eat. It was a great pity in a way, as so many different types of fruits and vegetables grow in Madeira, and had a proper chef stepped up to the task and prepared something with them, I'm sure I would have been blown away.

We arranged a time to meet up with Lucia's dad, and until then, had a couple of hours to spare. We bought some delicious gelato, and headed up to the harbour to enquire about tickets for dolphin watching, an activity we'd do a few days later. By then, the weather was gloriously hot. Maybe too hot, but that didn't matter.

So, it wasn't very halloweeny at all, but that didn't matter. As with all the other days of my trip, I had an incredible day of new discovery. Travel is so rewarding. Also, that Bird of Paradise flower? They were everywhere, and so beautiful.