A sunny break and a bit of warmth was needed to balance the winter and cold spring weather. We upped sticks and flew from Manchester with TUI and 4 hours later we were in a pleasant warm sunny hotel with a complimentary cocktail. We'd been to this hotel before - a small family run place but sadly the owner was not in the best of health having suffered a series of mini strokes from which he was still recovering.
We decided not to do any tours this time, just to potter around Funchal and so trips to Monte on the cable car and to Miradouro Pico do Barcelos and Câmara de Lobos on the hop on hop off bus under our own steam were the choice. The obligatory stroll along the Funchal promenade to see the cruise ships in the terminal and a stop off at the gardens on the way back was also enjoyable.
The one thing I really found interesting though was somewhere I'd never seen before, all the times we'd been to Funchal and that was the Atelier Vicente's Photography museum. A historical trip back to the 1800's with photographs of the island, period portraits and artefacts from the time with a room laid out with the painted background, posing chair and the actual camera used, as well as the old dark room, old cameras and a glass slide cabinet. The best few euros I spent.
Here's a few images from the trip.