DAY 118-FUNCHAL, MADEIRA

 Our position today is in the town of Funchal on the island of Madeira.  We are enjoying a beautiful, sunny day despite the forecast for rain.

BACKGROUND INFO:
        This morning we arrived at Funchal which is the capital and largest city for the island of Madeira.  Madeira is 280 miles due west of  Morocco in North Africa.  The Madeira and the Azores islands are the two autonomous regions of Portugal.  It was formed from volcanoes eons ago.  Madeira is approximately 35 miles long and 14 miles wide, so not that large, with a population of 268,000.  Yes, we have been here before also.  It is a very beautiful island and a popular year-round resort with nearly 1 million visitors each year.  It is probably best know for its “Madeira wine”.  We did the wine tasting tour on one of our previous visits here.   Funchal is located in a valley with gentle slopes beginning at the coast and rising to 4000 feet.

WHAT WE DID TODAY:
       Well, we did not go on our scheduled tour this morning.  Instead we both worked out earlier than normal so I could take the shuttle into town.  I managed to take the 10:30 bus to town and spent 1 1/2 hours there.  The center of town is actually an easy walk from the ship.  I told Rebecca after lunch she would be going back in town with me as it was sooooo pretty.  Weather is perfect too.
       I was just returning to the suite when Rebecca came down the hall saying she just saw our good friend, Bobby Arvon, walk by our balcony to board the ship.  So we went to Reception where he was signing into his room.  
       The three of us took the shuttle bus back to town at 1:30.  Walked around, did some shopping, and had a glass of wine at a street cafe.  Rebecca and Bobby took the 4:00 pm shuttle back to the ship but I walked and beat them back by 10 minutes.
         We'll meet Bobby for cocktail hour and dinner this evening.  We sail at 5:00 pm for our next port of call, Bermuda.  We'll have 5 sea days, however, before arriving there next Wednesday.  The Captain just made his pre-departure PA saying we would be experiencing some very rough seas tonight.  Must be pretty bad because he said he was re-routing further south to try to avoid the worse part.  Time to get a new patch out!!  Just a heads up but sometimes we lose the internet satellite in very rough seas.

Here is the link to today's photos:    https://goo.gl/photos/gCGge6tvp5eSnQkv8

Here is the link to photos I took when here in 2011:   https://goo.gl/photos/4F8dGPi5tAhZPyj37