SQ26/25 SIN-FRA-SIN A380 Biz & Suites: Frankfurt Xmas Markets & 2 Weeks in Portugal

[yflyer]

After checking out of Reid's Palace, we took a taxi to the Castanheiro Boutique Hotel. The hotel was located in the historical centre of Funchal, very close to the city's attractions, and was also one of the top choices of hotel in Funchal, according to various travel guides.



The hotel was made up of several interconnected buildings, and had very beautiful public areas...





There was a bar with a nice, intimate vibe...



A restaurant...



And a rooftop swimming pool and jacuzzi with very nice views...



The very friendly and helpful staff welcomed us to the hotel with a glass of Madeira wine...

[yflyer]

We had booked this hotel months in advance, and secured a very attractive discounted room rate for our two night stay, so we were very pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to a suite upon check in.



There was a living room area...



Kitchenette with small dining table for two...



A separate bedroom...



...once again with a "double bed" made up of two single beds pushed together.



The kitchenette was very well equipped.



Coffee and tea...



Bathroom with shower stall (No tub)...



High quality toiletries from Castelbel...

[yflyer]

There was also a large gym and indoor heated pool.



Our hotel rate also included a full buffet breakfast. You could enjoy your breakfast indoors, in the restaurant, or at outdoor tables...


Apart from coffee, tea and juice, sparkling wine was also offered...



...with a great selection of hot and cold selections...



...including a lot of fresh fruit...


Always great to start breakfast with sparkling wine when on holiday...

[yflyer]

Overall, we thought the Castanheiro Boutique Hotel was an excellent property, with beautiful rooms and top notch staff, in an ideal location in the city. It didn't have the magic of Reid's Palace, but few hotels in the world did. I think it was a great idea to stay in 2 different hotels in Funchal, first to experience Reid's Palace, then to move to a different hotel in the city centre, close to major attractions, for convenient sighting.

[yflyer]

We stepped out of the hotel for a stroll around Funchal. Many of the city's sights and attractions were just short walk away from the Castanheiro Hotel.

We headed to Mercado Dos Lavradores, which reminded me a little of the Art-Deco design of Tiong Bahru Market in Singapore...



This was a busy market, popular with tourists...



Vendors were dressed in traditional Portuguese costumes...



That day was actually the celebration of the 82nd anniversary of the market...



...complete with birthday cake...



Lots of local fruit on sale...



...some which we had never seen before...



Lots of dried chilli peppers...



Tinned sardines, which were really tasty...

[yflyer]

I headed to one of the wine shops...



...which had a stupendous selection of Madeira, Port and other Portuguese wines...



...including many ancient vintages of Madeira...



...with bottles from the 60's and 70's costing upwards of EUR 300...



At that point in time, I had not yet tasted a lot of Madeira wine, and did not feel that I was familiar enough with the Madeira wine to buy any, so I left the store empty handed.

It was only at the end of our visit to Madeira, and after many sips and tastings of Madeira wine, that I felt I knew enough about the wines, and our taste preferences, to actually buy a bottle or two, but by then, it was already time to leave, and I had no time to return to this store to pick out a bottle or two of the good stuff...oh well...

[yflyer]

We took the Funchal cable car from near the waterfront up to the hilltop suburb of Monte...



The ride up took 10-15 minutes, one could appreciate the mountainous geography of this volcanic island, with neighbourhoods built right up the hillsides...



There were great views of Funchal and the coastline from the cable car station at the top, in the hilltop village of Monte...



Attractions in Monte included Botanic Gardens and a hilltop church, but one of the more unique attractions was the Carros de Cesto...



...where you sat in a wicker chair with wooden skids...



...and two well-dressed men in straw hats would steer and guide you down 2km of roads....



...apparently reaching speeds of up to 50 km/h...



It was all downhill, so while great skill was required on the part of the "paths", the men steering the chair, it didn't look like it required huge brute physical strength, apart from steering and braking (with their shoes)...

We didn't try, but it sure looked exciting!

[SQfanatic]

Great TR so far yflyer. Really love the pictures you pointed out of Portugal. Probably want to try to visit it one time in the future, but next year may be visiting Spain for the Winter break.

[yflyer]

Great TR so far yflyer. Really love the pictures you pointed out of Portugal. Probably want to try to visit it one time in the future, but next year may be visiting Spain for the Winter break.

Thanks, SQfanatic! Many folks combine a trip to Spain and Portugal. I would highly recommend a side trip to Madeira / Funchal as well!

[yflyer]

Back in Funchal, we headed to the tasting room of Blandy's, one of the most well known makers of Madeira wine.



The tasting room was large, and very popular with visitors. There was also a guided tour availble, but we skipped that and went straight to the tasting.



Lots of different styles and vintages of Madeira to taste...these were available in flights, or by the galss...



As complete newbies to Madeira wine, Mrs yflyer and I found this quite intimidating at first, but the learning curve wasn't too steep. Essentially there were 4 different dryness/sweetness levels of Madeira wine, corresponding to 4 different grape varietals...



- Sercial was the driest style
- Verdelho was medium dry
- Bual was medium sweet
- Malmsey was sweet

We shared one flight of 4 different 10 year old Madeira wines: one of each of the four styles above.



I liked the drier style, whereas Mrs yflyer liked the sweeter style.

Apart from those, there was also another rare grape varietal, Terrantez, which made for an off-dry Madeira. This wasn't part of our tasting that day, but we would encounter it later on our trip.

[yflyer]

That afternoon, Portugal was playing their World Gup group stage match against Ghana. This was being screened live on TVs and outdoor screens everywhere in Funchal.



There was massive crowd watching the match at a stage setup close to Blandy's Wine Lodge, at the Municipal Gardens...



The atmosphere there was just incredible...



Every time Cristiano Ronaldo got the ball, the crowd would go wild...



We didn't linger to watch the match -- the crowd was just too large.

We took a walk along the coastline to our dinner venue, passing the CR7 museum and hotel along the way...



I took a peak into the bar at the Pestana CR7 Hotel to see what the crowd was like...



There were enthusiastic fans inside watching the match, but it wasn't the hotbed of fan activity I had expected.



I think many CR7 fans here preferred to watch the match at the mass viewing spaces set up at public squares like the Municipal Gardens.

[yflyer]

Our dinner venue that day was Restaurante Casal da Penha, a restaurant which served traditional Portuguese cuisine...



Our table was on their outdoor terrace...



We picked a table where we could see the flatscreen TV playing the Portugal-Ghana match, which was still going on...



A bottle of Rosé wine to share...



Limpet clams to start -- very tasty!



Large prawns were a Madeira speciality...



Our main was a traditional Espetada Madeira, or Portuguese beef skewer...



The skewer was a wooden stick. Our server suggested we have this either rare or medium rare, so we chose rare...



It was amazingly tender and delicious! Thumbs up!



In-lieu of dessert, we ended our meal with two glasses of Madeira wine...



The football match ended 3-2 in Portugal's favour...



There was much celebration in Funchal that evening!

[yflyer]

We took a slow walk (In beautiful cool weather) back to our hotel...



...stopping along the way to pick up a bag of roasted chestnuts...



These were piping hot and very tasty indeed...

[yflyer]

The next day was a full day 4-wheel drive tour up the mountains and around Funchal...



The drive took us first up the hilly suburbs and neighbourhoods of Funchal, then up winding mountain roads...



...with the view getting more spectacular with each turn...



The weather that day was perfect. Our friendly and knowledgeable guide, Diogo, uncovered the roof of our Land Rover to let us enjoy the crisp clear air...



There were just the 2 of us on the tour that day, so we had lots of space in the Land Rover...

[yflyer]

Our first stop was Pico do Arieiro, the 3rd highest peak in Madeira, at 1818m.


The views from the peak were simply jawdropping.


There was an otherworldly beauty about this place that blew my mind. It was like we were standing at the edge of the world...


Pictures simply did not do justice to this place. You had to come stand here and experience it for yourself.


I just walked around, mouth open, marvelling at the sights around me...


If I had known how stunning the views were from up here, I would have planned an extra day in Madeira to go walking/trekking along the trails here.