Decided as we hadn't seen a lot of the island yet we would do the half day tour to Nun's valley. This was the valley where the nuns went to hide from pirates. The drive up was spectacular and a bit scary in places. High into the mountains where we could get a view of of the village in the valley. On the way up we saw an area where there were nearly 30 post boxes and a communal car park. There are no roads to the houses and the residents need to walk ...

Took the cable car up and spent the entire morning in the tropical gardens. Then went to a cafe for coffee and cakes. After that managed to persuade George to go with us on the toboggan run. They have tarred a lot of the route over so it is not teeth chattering any more but was still a lot of fun. Had another coffee. Took a taxi back down to Funchal. Then had a late light lunch. In the rest of the afternoon yet another cafe a walk about and then back to the...

As we had booked dinner and dance at Reids palace before we got here we didn't want to do anything too energetic in the morning. Thought we would get the bus along to Lido. Had brunch in the sun in a nice restaurant with a view of the sea but decided we didn't want to go swimming when we were going to Reid's that evening so I had a seat in the sun to rest my foot which has been really painful and George and Iwona had a walk along the promenade. Cam...

In the morning just wandered around and got our bearings. Went for a 3 course special lunch in O Tapassol restaurant. Then wondered some more and had a drink in the sun. (Poncho in Iwona's case-she had to try it). George and Iwona wondered down to take a photo of In the evening we didn't want much to eat so ordered what we thought would be a little snack. George had a Spanish omelet which came with a huge salad. Iwona had a tuna salad which she could...

Picked up at the airport and arrived at apartment. Lovely apartment. Very central. Just went to the supermarket for a few basics. Later went next door to an Italian restaurant as we didn't want to walk too much the first night. All the staff were dressed up for Halloween and they brought us a glass of something which looked like blood but turned out to be run with raspberry juice. Also an aperitif of cooked figs in honey. We had garlic bread with Portug...