Well, I’ve been to Portugal! We docked just fine and it was a bit cloudy with the tiniest of drizzle at first, but it actually cleared up mostly by the time we walked onto dry land. I have to say, it felt good to have feet on the ground again. In order to disembark, Portugal asked us all to complete a form the day prior where we listed our dates of vaccinations, including the booster. It had to be in a certain number of days…something like 270 OR you had to have the booster in order to go ashore. No problem for us.
We didn’t have a tour booked because nothing really appealed, so we just strolled off after breakfast and took the shuttle bus to the center of town to walk around. We saw our buddy Kelly on the bus- he’s trying to start a new business and was eager for WiFi to send some much delayed paperwork.
The first views of the city- WOW! So pretty. Clean- so very clean. Gorgeous titled or cobblestone streets. Insane gardens, trees, flowers, paintings, sculptures all around. Every direction I turned was absolutely lovely. This area is known for their cork trees and, oddly, embroidery. Ok! Also, Madeira wine…which we were for sure going to taste.
We walked around and just enjoyed the beautiful city. Our British buddy, Glenn, had warned us that everything would be closed because it was Sunday. He was right. I mean, some touristy things were open and some restaurants but all the little stores were closed. We had decided we needed to buy wine glasses because (can’t remember if I mentioned this) the ones on the boat are complete crap. Meaning, they are tiny. Like 3 ounces. And so…well, tiny, that you can’t possibly swirl the dang wine. Anyway, no glasses could be found on this day. Oh well.
After a good, long walk, we decided to plop down in an adorable cafe called The Ritz and enjoy some Madeira wine and some WiFi. The waiters all spoke pretty good English, which was helpful in figuring out which Madeira we wanted to try. I speak Portuguese but not wine Portuguese. We decided to go with a 5 year and a 10 year and we shared. We wanted the 15 year but our waiter said the 15 years were sweet. Nope.
We were having such a great time people watching, Madeira sipping, and WiFi browsing that we sat there long enough to want some food. Also, this was helped by us not being able to figure out how to get the check. But, whatever. So, we ordered some tomato bruschetta and some mushroom bruschetta. Holy cow- it was so amazing that my mouth nearly died. I don’t know what this crap we call bruschetta in the US is, but it no longer deserves to be called as such. Freshly off that tasty treat, we finally got the check, paid out in euros, and left for another walk.
By the way, our new Irish friends told us to head straight to a large bank ATM on land to get euros. We got a great exchange rate and our bank will refund ATM fees - so this was a win. Also, their ATMs knew we spoke English just from reading our card. I found this funny because we have to select our language in our own dang country but not in a foreign country. Ha.
Things seem quite cheap to us here. This doesn’t mean they are- perhaps our we live in wine country in California selves don’t quite see pricing accurately. We normally pay more than $100 for lunch with drinks. This was about half that.
Anyway, I found a lovely lady sitting in a garden working on embroidery and I bought two kitchen towels from her. I love buying kitchen towels and Christmas ornaments when I travel because they are things I get to use periodically and get reminded of the places I’ve been.
We took the bus back to the port and then walked back out along the sea to check out some more shops and things that were open for us touristas. We found another lovely seafront cafe so we sat there for a bit and took the waiter’s recommendation of a medium bodied, dry, white Portuguese wine and it was just delicious.
I went to use the bathroom and found the most hilarious doorknobs ever. They were an actual (I mean not a real one) human hand that you had to grab and turn. It was so weird!! So weird in fact that I grabbed the wrong one and walked right into the men’s room. So, that was cool.
After another hour or so of people watching, dog watching, general hang out time in Portugal, we decided to walk back to the ship.
I love days like this. I don’t need much entertainment, if any. I enjoy walking a city. Talking with locals. Eating the local food and drinking the local wine. It was perfect. A delightful city that I would happily visit again if given the chance.
The next day, we had a sea day again. My brain can’t figure out why because a) it’s stupid and b) we don’t have google. Portugal is attached to Spain so my brain wants to think that we can leave Funchal Portugal one night and arrive at Cadiz Spain the next morning. But no. And, even more odd (to me) we went way out to sea to the point we couldn’t see any land. I guess we just went out and hung out. Whatever!
So, we rallied all our friends for the Nicora wine tasting at 4 in our favorite wine bar, Vines. Jason had told our main man, James, about it in advance so we didn’t overwhelm them. Everyone showed up and we shared the Euphoric and Buxom. Man- was that ever a hit! Everyone is still talking about it. They asked a lot of questions and just really enjoyed hearing about Nick, Nicora, and wine making. The only downside was that the rest of the wine we had afterward tasted terrible!
Aside from th Nicora tasting, which was for sure the highlight of the sea day, we did a load of laundry and chilled out some by the pool. Laundry is interesting. Here on the boat, we can do a week of laundry in one load. At home, we are doing like 9 loads a week. What is wrong with us? You can live simply if you try!
We went to bed early ish because our first day in Spain was to start early the next morning with a 7:30 am appointment to disembark. I always go to bed early at home, but the 7 days in a row of day light savings has changed me, apparently, and now I stay up till 10-11 and wake up at 7-8. I don’t even know who I am anymore. This is the European me.
No comments:
Post a Comment