Day Eight Six April 1

Well it looks like my blog for April 1 was deleted and it was not an April Fool's Day joke.

For those who may have read the blog before then some of the information maybe repetitive.

After seven straight sea days crossing the Atlantic Ocean we made our to the island of Maderia and its wondeful city of Funchal. We were not the only ship in port as the P&O Acadia and Viking Jupiter were also there.

Our arrival time today was 11:00 with all aboard 16:30 and departure 17:00. This did not leave much time for exploring but we made the most of it.

One of the attractions is the Mederia Cable Car which was approximately 2 kilometers from the cruise terminal. It rises from the city and climbs the mountain side until it reaches the summit and Carro de Cesto where you can visit Igreja do Monte church. People who take the cable car have the opportunity as well to visit the Tropical Monte Palace Gardens. With limited time we chose not to visit the gardens .

Our main reason for taking the cable car up was to ride the Wicker Toboggan Ride situated at the top of Carro de Cesto road with our friends Ilona and Keith. As the name suggests Janice and I sat in these wicker style benches and two men dressed in all white with boater hats steered us down the hill. Please look up Funchal Wicker Toboggan rides on the internet for more information.

The road has lots of turns and these men must use their experience and their feet to turn the basket as well slowing it down. At one point, there is a safety guard who stops on coming traffic to allow us the right of way as we travel through residential streets of Funchal's Livramento suburb.

The approximate length is two kilometers and the tradition goes back to the 1800s. This was very exciting and inexpensive as the cost was thirty euros for both of us. If we had had another day then I would have done the ride again. During the ride there are places where camermen take your picture and then try to sell you a copy at the completion of the ride which we declined.

It was then time to walk down the street to reach the town. During the two kilometer walk down you needed to be aware of the cars as there was no sidewalks and some drivers were not concerned with us being on the road.

A quick lunch and then it was off in search of the coloured doors. This is an area of Funchal not far from the ship where there are lots of restaurants and the doors are painted various different styles. Feel free to look on the internet for the coloured doors of Funchal.

At one of the last bars down this street the four of us were treated to Poncha a traditional Maderia drink made of citrus juice, honey, and rum. I found it very strong .

From there Janice and I found are way back to the ship but not before we found another bar and another Poncha. I will sleep well tonight.

Our next port of call was Gilbratar some 616 nautical miles away.

At least this is what I thought as when we return from dinner a letter was included with the "Currents" newpaper indicating that due to adverse and severe weather conditions that will result in unsafe sailing conditions, we have made the prudent decisions to bypass the ports of Gilbratar and Melilla and have three more sea days. This information was provided to us by the General Manager of Insignia.

The safety of the passengers and crew always comes first and if a port is missed so be it. A new stop was included though that being Cagliari, Italy on April 5.

Funchal , Maderia was wonderful and should not be missed if you ever have a change to visit Portugal.

Again some of this maybe be repetitive and I was trying to remember what I did on this day. Going forward I will try at least to write something down on every port of call that evening because we are coming to a point where we visit something like 10 ports in eleven days.