Sept. 16 - Monte in Funchal, Portugal

"The goal is to die with memories, not dreams." –Unknown

Today was Stan's birthday and it was probably our best day yet on the island. We took the Funchal Cable Car to Monte to visit the Monte Palace Tropical Garden. At the beginning of the 20th century, tourists reached the mountain by steam train. Nowadays, they make the same journey from a cable car. The ride from Funchal old town to Monte takes 15-20 minutes one way, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy beautiful views of the city and its surroundings. It covers a distance of 2 miles and makes an impressive ascent of 1,902 ft.

Views from the cable car.

This small parish of Monte is located at the highest point in the city of Funchal and was previously a health resort. It's known as the parish of basket cars, is one of the most distinctive areas of Funchal with a spectacular panoramic view over the bay of Funchal.

View from the top.

Babosas Chapel - the original was built in 1906 but was destroyed by a flood in 2010. It was rebuilt to look the same. Seems like all the churches we saw in Madeira looked a lot alike.

The Monte Palace Tropical Garden covers an area of approximately 17 acres. It's located at the Quinta Monte Palace. It looks like the gardens of a fairytale castle with its beautiful mansion, pond, little waterfall and various other structures. The gardens feature over 100,000 plant species with a separate section devoted solely to Madeira’s flora. The estate was first developed in the 18th-century. It became the Monte Palace Hotel in 1897. It was opened to the public as a garden in 1987.

Scenes from around the lake.

The Palace

View from the Oriental Garden.

A few of the beautiful flowers we saw.

A little snack bar in the garden.

We could see the Monte Toboggan coming down the hill from the garden.

Some of the beautiful flamingos we saw. Did you know flamingos are what they eat. Many plants produce natural red, yellow or orange pigments, called carotenoids. Carotenoids give carrots their orange color or turn ripe tomatoes red. They're also found in the microscopic algae that brine shrimp eat. As a flamingo dines on algae and brine shrimp, its body metabolizes the pigments — turning its feathers pink.

Another lunch with a view at the Pátio das Babosas.

The Carreiros do Monte (hill racers) were invented in 1850 when local residents wanted a quick way to travel from the parish of Monte to the city of Funchal. Now the Monte basket cars (toboggans) are used to transport thousands of tourists who are looking for a ride full of emotions, adrenaline and an unforgettable experience with splendid views over the city of Funchal.

The route is about 1.25 miles long and runs through the streets of the city. The vehicle reaches a speed of approximately 24 MPH and arrives at the bottom station in about 10 minutes. The carts are driven by men called Carreiros, dressed in white and wearing straw hats. They also use rubber-soled shoes that allow them to break the carts.

The Church of Our Lady of Monte was originally built in 1741. It was damaged by an earthquake a few years later and rebuilt in 1818. We climbed all these steps and then up to the bell tower.

The view from the bell tower of the church.

Watching the toboggan action from the church.

We decided against doing the toboggan since the lines were so long. But it was fun watching them.

Funchal has so many little cafés along the narrow streets...so many good cafés. To celebrate Stan's birthday we ate at O Visconde (The Viscount). The service and good was wonderful.

We tried a few different things. Seafood is a big thing in Madeira and it is very fresh. We started with the octopus salad, which was very good. Stan had sardines and I had the carbonara. We also had a bottle of wine and the bill only came to $44.50.