Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Rain Fade in Ponta Delgada!


I'm trying to do some posts, however the Wi-Fi connection seems to be as foggy as yesterday's adventure in the San Miguel mountains.

I have several posts written but the connection won't let me save them, please be patient the posts/ photos will be coming soon!

Touring the Presidential Grounds in Funchal

#Funchal

Friday was our last full day in Funchal and surprisingly a very busy day!

In fact with so many beautiful photo opportunities, the day will be recorded in more than one post.

When we walked by the President's residence the grounds were open to the public.

What an amazing estate! 

Join us as we wander on the ocean- washed rounded lava stone pathways through the beautiful landscaped gardens with flora and fauna from around the world.



The property has it's own chapel ...


The shutter of my camera was very busy trying to capture the green lushness and kaleidoscope of colours in the various gardens.



Each tree, shrub, plant and flower is labeled with it's name and country/continent of origin.
This includes Africa, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand probably reflecting Portugal's heritage of sailing and far flung empire.






The peacock house ...


And the colourful parrots have their own domain ...
 





The property is high above the harbour, overlooking the cruise ship terminal and marina ...



                               
   
 


The Presidential Car ...






                
    


         
                      

More of our day to follow ...
   

Sunday, November 15, 2015

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!