Small Wonders.164
Village Views.34
More shots from the remarkable Curral das Freires, high up in the middle of the island. Another good place to re-visit when the weather is clearer, for hiking and other pleasures :-).
Urban Garden.134
Coasting.43
Islands.13
Village Views.33
More of the lovely little north-coast town of Sao Vicente.
Urban Garden.133
City Views.163
As the countdown continues towards both a new year, and the end of my 365 days in a row of posting at least one new post per day, we bring you a collection of sunny, warm photos from … my first morning in Funchal, which was already more than three weeks ago! Ah, memories of warmth and sun now that I’ve seen (and not yet posted) iced-over canals back here in A’dam. Time flies, but photos remain in my folders until I pop them up here or give up. The round building has some historic (military) significance, just fyi. Enjoy – and those of you in the northern hemisphere, notice that the days are now getting longer. Southern hemisphere friends, sorry that our gain is your loss, but you’ve had your six months, now it’s our turn 😊.
City Views.162
My various images of Funchal city from before and after I went up to the Botanic Garden. A rainbow appeared near sunset. I wandered the outside of the Palácio de São Lourenço in the center of the seafront. (I’ve since learned that although its own signage talks about being fortified and having inland forts added due to some invasion during the Napoleonic wars, in fact the oldest portions of this structure shown a few times in this post were the first fortification on this island, whose slave-generated wealth did make it vulnerable to both pirate attacks and military invasion by enemy powers.) I strolled past the Christmas market with its folkloric village, just behind the Palácio — in one of the gallery photos, look closely and you’ll see a few interestingly-costumed folks heading down the staircase. I didn’t stay to see more of what they do, since the rain started up again at that moment and I was hungry. It’s really a very pleasant city to explore.
(so much world, so little time....) 