What to do on a Lazy Day in Funchal!

#ForumMadeira#DragonTree#O Dragoeiro#Funchal

And time keeps going! When on vacation the time does seem to go quite quickly! 

Today is Thursday and we've declared today another "lazy" day we are suppose to be on vacation afterall!

No we didn't sleep in, there was no breakfast in bed ... just no specific plans! 

Our morning started with a walk  to the west to the Shopping Centre "Forum Madeira".

The walking is important to work off some of the additional calories we've been consuming.

This mall is similar to the large outdoor shopping centres in the large cities in Canada and the U.S.A.

And lo and behold it was all decked out for Christmas! 

Normally this time of the year we are in Central Florida and I usually have my Christmas shopping for the grandkids all completed by the 1st of December before we return to Canada. 

That's not happening this year!

 

                             

    

We took many steps walking all three levels of the shopping Center.  

There wasn't anything that screamed at us "Buy me, buy me!"; even though there were some bargains for leather shoes and handbags to be had.

    

 

Fresh geranium planters surrounding the artificial palm tree.

 

Today's walk we were again surrounded by the "Giant" tropical plants lining the boulevards.

These fiddle heads were reaching and touching the second floor balcony of this building.

We decided to return to "O Dragoeiro" Restaurant/ Cocktail Bar for tonight's dinner!

The trees were all lit up to greet it's guests ...

                   

This photo was taken earlier in the day ...

Tonight, we were welcomed by "Smit" (sp.) offering us a pre-dinner drink of Madeira wine ...

Once again we thoroughly enjoyed a great meal.

We both chose a salad starter, the swordfish with the freshest of vegetables ... brocolli, carrots, peas and something we've never had before "Pimpi mela". 

I haven't been able to translate this to English, maybe some of my extended Portuguese family or friends will know what this vegetable is?

And to satisfy our sweet teeth ... Senhor chose chocolate mousse and I decided to try the passion fruit pudding (delicious with some crunchiness from the added seeds). 

I'm going to share a recipe to make this pudding in another post.

For a day with not much planned it still was very busy with more sights, sounds and tastes of Funchal!