7 Days...

This morning we saw our first sight of land since the past 7 days!! Wow. I was so happy to be off the ship and exploring again. We arrived in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. It's named after the fennel plant and it has some of the most beautiful sights and gardens. We headed off the gangway early for a stroll through the town. Our mission was to find the cable car that would take us up 2,000 feet into Monte for some spectacular viewing. The city gave off a good vibe as we walked down the coastline past the Santa Catarina Park and into the shopping district. Just like in Lisbon, the streets were all tiled with cobblestone (for the most part) and there were little shops for everything you could need. There was even a McDonald's close by. We weren't bothered too much with the shops just yet because we wanted to get to the cable cars. We wandered through the maze of streets before stumbling into old town (well after asking for directions twice). We dropped 10 Euros and took the cable car 2 miles to the top. It was almost like a theme park at the bottom with gift shops and the Madeira Story Center where you could learn about the history of the island. Just as you pulled onto the wire, a photographer came around and nabbed your picture. We decided to give them a sour face just to be different. We headed up over the old town and into the town of Monte. We were told before we got here that we MUST take the basket sleigh ride down the mountain. It only goes a little down the mountain, so we'd have to get a cab the rest of the way. Intrigued we decided we'd conquer that after we walked around for a bit. We walked around the grounds taking in all the fresh air while climbing the many steps to get up as high as we could. The gardens here (where a hotel was placed) were so beautiful with so many vibrant colors. We also got great shots of the harbor below. After a refreshing glass of lemonade, which some will argue was just a Sprite with lemon; we headed over to check out this basket sled idea. I got excited as we came up to the sleds. After all by this point we learned they were actually called toboggans so I was thrilled by the idea this could be a fast ride down the mountain in a chute or something. We walked down the street where all these people were gathered. There was a group in front of us so they were all getting situated while we tried to figure out what was happening. All of a sudden a big truck came up the road ahead and we dodged to get on the sidewalk. That's when we realized that this toboggan run was actually a sleigh ride down the streets of Monte. The asphalt streets of Monte. The sleighs were lined up as people got into them and two Portuguese men got a good running start and rode with them as they slid down the hill on the slick asphalt. We all looked at each other as if this might be a joke and then we also realized they were charging 12.50 Euro a piece to ride. What the hell? We were already there, so we took the plunge. Three of us in one wicker sled and 2 in the other. Yes, I did say WICKER sled. Just your ordinary patio furniture looking chair with some slicked down skis attached to the bottom. Each pusher was equipped with especially thick rubber soled shoes for stopping and running. We got in and we were off sliding down the asphalt slopes of Madeira. These slopes were pretty steep too and you could really get going. What actually made it thrilling were the cars and other large vehicles coming at you up the hill or the occasional parked car on the side of the road they had to dodge. Also the fact that these were STREETS with no curved guidelines like a chute would provide. All the turns were done by the pushers and their stopping abilities on the rubber soled shoes. It was so much fun as we careened down the mountainside. Thank God it was a slightly mild day too, which meant the asphalt was a little cooler than normal. About halfway down I smelled the ever so familiar smell of burning wood. I looked at the sleigh in front of me and it was smoking!! I'm sure we were doing the same at this point with 3 in a sled. I didn't THINK about friction. There was no moisture or ice to cool things down a bit. Just raw wood rubbing on asphalt. It was hilarity. We finally reached the stopping point and a picture was already waiting for us of our adventure down the hill. These folks sure like to capitalize on those pictures. We took some video and snapshots of our own though and decided not to buy as I was clearly focused on getting video in the picture I saw. We got a cab back to the city where the local shops were enjoying their siesta. Hmm. I forgot about that little closure, but no bother. We were hungry anyway. We sat down at a local dive and had some good eats and some Sangria. Yum! After we were satiated we took a little walk around the city taking in all the gardens and sights (more cathedrals and forts). There was definitely something brewing for later since all these small daytime events were happening. It was a book festival of some sorts, but there were also small staging areas lining the streets and even the amphitheatre was set in the park in the city. We were unfortunately going to be making our way to Portugal mainland by the time the festivities began. We sat down for some more Sangria on this gorgeous day before heading back to the ship. It was our goal to make the most of our first land day after 7 and I think we did fabulously.