Madeira: Funchal and Palheiro Gardens

In the morning, after breakfast, we met with our travel group and met our tour guide from Studiosus, who would accompany us for the next week.

After a short introduction, we took the bus to the capital of Madeira: Funchal.

After a city tour, we walked through the old town to the cathedral, which was inaugurated in 1517 and was the first bishop's church outside of Europe.

Like many buildings in Portugal, it was built in the Manueline style by King Manuel I.

Inside, it was quite crowded: there were not only many tourists, but also some locals who were praying or waiting in front of the confessionals. Unlike what we are used to, the confessionals were open, so you could see the priests and the faithful from the outside.

Our next stop was the Mercado dos Lavradores, a market hall with a diverse range of fruits, souvenirs, flowers, and fish.

First, our guide showed us some exotic fruits that you can't find in our supermarkets. Then we had time to explore and shop at the stalls ourselves.

We only saw the fish market from above, but we already caught a glimpse of the black scabbardfish, which we were going to eat in the evening.

But our guide assured us that it tasted better than it looked...

We then bought some fruit at a stand where we were not invited by the vendors to try it. There, the fruits usually cost twice as much...

Our path led us further through the narrow streets of the old town, which slowly came to life late in the morning. Tables were set up in front of the restaurant doors and price boards were hung up.

Fortunately, not all doors were open yet: In fact, at many doors in the old town, you can admire the works of about 100 artists who bring color to the old town of Funchal with their works.

The project is called 'Arte Portals Abertas' and the works are designed in different styles.

After a short walk back along the waterfront, we were picked up by our bus again.

Next, we went up to the 'Palheiro Gardens', which are located at an altitude of 500 meters.

The estate belongs to the English Blandy family, who still live in the Victorian villa built in 1891 in the middle of the garden.

We strolled through the gardens and our tour guide told us the names of many plants, which unfortunately we did not remember...

For a break, we had coffee and cake at the tea house before exploring the grounds on our own.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant where we tried the black scabbardfish, which is typical for Madeira.

According to our tour guide, it tastes good even to people who don't usually like fish. And indeed, we found it quite delicious.