Madeira –Fun in Funchal

November 17^th, 2025 

Naomi booked plane tickets for the two of us to fly to the island of Madeira for 8 days.  I have to admit, I’m not sure if I’d heard of the place, and if I had, it definitely wasn’t on my radar as a place to visit.  It is located about 1000 kilometres southwest of Lisbon in the Atlantic Ocean, and about 600 kilometres off the coast of Morocco.  I think more people are familiar with the Canary Islands which are about 500 kilometres south of Madeira.

Excited on the plane.

Bye Lisbon.

Bye Portugal.

Hello Madeira!

It was about an hour and a half flight from Lisbon to Funchal, the main city of Madeira.  We landed the Cristiano Ronaldo Airport, as this is the hometown of the soccer legend.  Funchal’s population comprises about 110,000 of the island’s 250,000 inhabitants.

Landing in Madeira.

We've landed in Madeira!

We flew with TAP Portugal airlines.

After grabbing a rental car and settling in at our hotel, The Vine, we went for a walk in the mid-afternoon along the waterfront.  The plan was to make our way to the Madeira Cable Car to see some great views of the city and get the lay of the land.

Our rental car for the next week...a Renault Captur.

The rooftop pool at our hotel, The Vine.

Looking out to the ocean.

The nearby streets.

The harbour can accommodate up to three cruise ships at a time.

Cristiano Ronaldo was born in Funchal, the main city of Madeira Island.  They are so proud of him that airport is the Cristiano Ronaldo Airport.  Note the parts of Ronaldo's body that people touch most frequently!

Looking out from the harbour.

About to get on the gondola.

Here we go...

Getting higher up.

Glad to be in a gondola!

Looking back on the city.

At the top of the gondola line, it was a short walk to a beautiful tropical garden called Monte Palace Madeira.  We spend about 45 minutes strolling around the lovely grounds that were perched on the hillside.

Entering the Japanese Garden.

A couple of resident swans.

An arborist was busy at work.

Some amazingly colourful ducks.

Hello Mr. Peacock.

Feeding time!

They are beautiful birds.

Some strange statues.

What a view!

This was originally a hotel, built in 1897.

A nice little figurine.

Naomi's version of the statue...

I asked her to mimic this one...but not surprisingly she declined.  ;)

The garden's were gorgeous.

Naomi loved the tilework.

What a place.

Flamingos?!?  What are they doing here?  Well, sleeping...

There are a few reasons why they sleep on one leg, the main reason is for heat preservation.  And believe it or not, they are actually more stable on one leg than two.

Buddha and a Buddha Baby.

The fearless Terra Cotta Gardeners.

We limited our time there to under an hour as we had our last, and most important activity of our fun afternoon in Funchal: tobogganing down a city street on a wicker couch!  Yup, you read that right.  It’s called Carreiros de Monte and it’s been around for more than 100 years!  It is a “must do” in Funchal.

The idea is that one or two tourists can sit in a wicker love seat which is mounted on two wooden runners.  A couple of “Carreiros”, the men who guide the sled, start you off by pulling on ropes attached to the front corners of the toboggan.  Once you start moving, they jump on the back and use their feet, with specialized rubber shoes, to propel and guide you down the steep and occasionally curvy roads.

The men of the toboggans, known as carreiros.

This is how the wicker couches used to be brought back up the hill after a run...now they pile them in the back of a truck.

And they used to wear funny hats like this.

Some other tourists starting their run.

The sledges:

It was near the end of the day, and it wasn’t hard to notice that the Carreiros looked tired.  I asked the younger of the two how many times he had been up and down the hill, and this was run 6 or 7 of the day.  We hopped on our toboggan and settled in for the ride.  The two men pulled the ropes for about 10 feet and then hopped on the back…off we went!

Our carrieros...I thought they could have smiled a bit more, especially the guy in the dark blue jacket.

It was a fun ride as we slid over 2 kilometers down the asphalt road which almost looked like they were coated with wax from so many wicker sledge rides in the past.  I’ll let the videos do most of the talking…

The start of our run.

Naomi's reaction...

The fancy footwork of the carreiros.

Slip sliding away.

What a view to a slide!

Skiddin' out.

Passing by the couch traffic cop.

Through a slow section where the carreiros really earn their money.

The ride caused some strange noises to come out of Naomi!

Getting near the end...

At the finish...we almost got a smile out of our carreiros.

We grabbed a taxi back to our hotel after these 2 hours of “Fun in Funchal”…a cable car ride, a tropical garden and some cool couch surfing!  I think we’re going to like Madeira…