October 30, 2026

Friday

Docked at Cidade do Funchal, Maderia, Portugal

Cidade do Funchal, the City of Funchal, is the capital, largest city and a municipality on the Island of Maderia. It is part of Portugal. The settlement of Funchal began somewhere between 1420 and 1425. The first settlers named their settlement Funchal after he abundant wild fennel that grew here.

The name, Funchal, is formed from the Portuguese word for fennel, funcho, and the suffix -al, to denture a “plantation of fennel”.  The Island of Maderia is part of an archipelago situated in the region of Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is claimed by Portugal even though it is some 805 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of mainland Portugal.

The island is approximately 520 kilometers (320 miles) west of Morocco and 400 kilometers north of the Canary Islands (which España claims). It has been called the “Island of Eternal Spring” for its mild subtropical climate. Maderia sits on the African tectonic plate, but is, politically and ethnically associated with Europe. Its population, about 250,000 in 2021, is predominantly descended from the original Portuguese settlers. It’s geographical location, and its productive soils, led the island to become an important maritime port. Today Funchal is one of Portugal’s major tourist attractions, and it is the leading Portuguese port for cruise liner dockings.

We don’t have any excursions planned for today. Today we are going to the Laurel Spar in the Savoy Palace Hotel. The hotel was rebuilt in 2019, although the original Savoy Classice opened on the site on 1912. It is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and operates as Funchal flagship luxury resort.

We are having lunch at Terreiro at the hotel after our spa treatments. It will be interesting. We haven’t found Portuguese cuisine particularly our thing; not sufficient flavor, but the write up on the restaurant sounded really good. We shall see.

We took a taxi to the hotel. It is uphill from the pier. The taxi, like all the others, was  €10. We couldn’t see a path to walk it from the ship was another reason fro not trying. It as 09:30 when we left our suite, and the appointment for the spa was 10:30; but you need to be fifteen unites early.

The ride to the hotel didn’t take all that long, although the route was rather circuitous  due to the narrow one-way streets. He dropped us off at the front door of then hotel and we walk around admiring the facilities of the hotel. Looking for both the spa and the restaurant. We found a sign leading us to the restaurant, but the path ended with a gate you needed a room key to open.

We found the spa about 10:10 and walked up the counter and checked in. They gave us a clip board with a questionnaire. We then spent the next ninety-minutes getting an aroma therapy massage. After lunch we headed up to the reception desk to ask how to get to the restaurant.

We stopped along the way and talked to one of the hotel employees about how to get to the restaurant. He directed us to the locked gate. We explained we weren’t guests but just here for the spa and lunch. He asked us to wait a minute until his colleague returned and he would walk us there.

He took a slightly more direct route to the same card key operated gate. Then he used his key to open the and a took us down to the restaurant. Suddenly it felt familiar. They sat us down at a table. As we looked around, we kept getting that déjà vu feeling.

We ordered drinks. A glass of Merida for me, and a sangria for Mary.  We asked for the convert (pão, azeitonas, manteiga, caseria, a Nossa seleção de azeites e enchidos regionals; aka bread, olives, homemade butter (it was pink), a selection of olive oils, and local cold meats). As a starter we got mini prego de picanha no bolo do caco, manteiga de alho e batata; aka mini picanha steak sandwich in bolo do caco, garlic butter and home made French fries.

Mini prego de picanha no bolo do caco, manteiga de alho e batata

Batatas fritas

Mary ordered the gnocchi de batata-doce assada, tomate seco, abacate e pinhões; aka roasted sweet potato gnocchi, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado and pine nuts). I went with the arroz de pasta corn enchidos de parco Ibéric; aka duck rice with Iberian pork sausages).  It was very good but portions were bigger than we could finish.

 gnocchi de batata-doce assada, tomate seco, abacate e pinhões

arroz de pasta corn enchidos de parco Ibéric

May 2024 on World Cruise, same restaurant

After lunch we decided to walk back to the ship. It is less than a mile and all down hill. As we walked out of the restaurant, we realized that this was the site of the May 2024 World Cruise Party. There was no prior connection before that moment.

We walked back to the ship. It was somewhat difficult because it was all downhill, nut very steep and the street was mostly cobblestone. Back on board about 15:30, and hour before all aboard.

We were tired and both took a nap. Although Mary chose to sit out in the sun on our veranda. I noticed her sleeping and went out to have a cigar.  She texted me asking where I was just as I was about to enter the room.

We played cards. I went for a cigar and Mary went up to the pool deck for a salad. It had just gone 21:00 when I went to bed.

The captain warned us that the distance to Bermuda is 2,400 nautical miles (2,762 miles) and due to a combination of the trade winds and Canary Current off the coast of africa, the next two- days we will see 4 to 7 swells in the sea. This is going to rock the ship. The one thing we did before going to bed was apply our scopolamine sea sickness patches, just in case.

Buonanotte e ciao

Enrico e Maria