Day 3. Funchal’s market hall and a coastal walk

Funchal waterfront, Madeira — Funchal waterfront

We ate breakfast out on the terrace again and it seemed even warmer than previous days. Our plan for the morning was to walk along the seafront to the old town and then take the cable car up the mountainside to Monte, but it didn’t quite work out like that. We managed the first part, enjoying our stroll along to the cable car station but we decided against taking the ride up the hillside as there were huge queues waiting to board. The reason being that the P & O Ventura had arrived in port that morning and most of its 3,000 plus passengers seemed to share our plans.

Funchal Market Hall, Madeira — Funchal Market Hall

We thought it best to postpone our trip until later in the week and instead we headed to the beautiful old market hall with its stalls of exotic fruit, flowers and vegetables served by ladies in traditional national dress. The market is set around an open courtyard with a traditional black and white mosaic paved area, the upper floor having some craft stalls and a pleasant open air cafe.

We continued our walk through the town, returning to the hotel for a light lunch. About an hour later we set off again along the coast in the opposite direction, following the path to its end past the Funchal Lido and on to the Forum shopping mall. This shopping centre, although not large, contains a good variety of international brands over four floors overlooking an open courtyard. We paused there for coffee and then returned to our hotel along the seafront. The walk took approximately 40 minutes passing the ‘hotel zone’ home to many of the newer, large hotels.