After the morning birding tour and the beach we spend a couple hours at home just relaxing and catching up some zzzs. And then late afternoon it is time to go out and explore and then eat dinner before our second birding tour. Quite a busy day today! We are lucky staying right downtown, we just have to exit the AirBnB to enter the old downtown section of Funchal.
First major stop is Praça do Município, the central square anchored by a beautiful church, the Church of St John the Evangelist and the Funchal Town Hall.
It is so beautiful that we cannot resist not taking a 3D photo of the plaza, it is quite an impressive one indeed.
Next is the Pereira D’Oliveira tasting room which supposedly offers free tasting of Madeira wine. Unfortunately that is not correct as far as we can tell and we can ignored quite pointedly so after buying some samples of Madeira wine we decide to leave.
Next we return to the Central Square and enter the Church of St John the Evangelist which is surprisingly beautiful, we really like it and decide to spend some time to explore it.
The church is quite colorful, even more so than typical Catholic ones we have seen. The ceiling ceiling is quite special but also the altar and really everything inside.
We spend some time exploring the church and looking at the altars which are quite detailed and interesting even though of course we do not know any of the saints represented here.
Besides the altars the ceilings and even the floors have lots of details that are special to explore, it really feels that we are in a huge cathedral and not in a supposedly smallish church. Certainly it was worth the visit from our perspective.
Next we are going to a second winery, the Blandy Wine Lodge. Again we are hoping for a free tasting and again we are disappointed, it seems that they are advertising one thing and on site we find something else. All the tastings are basically for cost only so we decide to skip that.
Now we walk the short distance to the Funchal Cathedral, the major church in Funchal passing the first fort in Funchal, the Palácio de São Lourenço that we plan to explore more thoroughly later.
While the Cathedral is beautiful inside and we explore it for some time we feel that the Church of St John was actually more beautiful and special, but it is only our opinion of course.
The altar however for certainly is beautiful with lots of gold and special details and a few saints spread in for good measure.
Next is the Municipal Garden of Funchal which has a few birds but also lots of loud people so we decide to find the cache here fast and then move on.
And then suddenly we are in a quiet area of town with empty streets and we are not sure where we will be able to find a restaurant to eat dinner as we are quite hungry by now.
We shouldn’t have worried as restaurants are almost after every corner and soon we choose one that has alfresco seating that are away from the sun and order. The food is good enough and plentiful and then it is time to start on the way back to the lodging.
We decide to pass next to the Palácio de São Lourenço, the central fort and explore it more thoroughly, from the outside of course. The fort is the first fort built in Funchal, protecting the harbor and the city from sea-based attacks before becoming the residence for the captain-general governors.
It is quite beautiful and well maintained and on one side even has a small spring that likely was quite useful during its days as a fort.
We then pass a store that sells all things related to Ronaldo the most famous export of Madeira, more than Madeira wine quite likely.
Returning on a slightly different route we pass near a small museum that protects a section of the wall but it is never open during our visit and doesn’t have any visiting hours outside. And then a few more passages and we are back at the AirBnB ready to prepare for our night birding trip.
