Funchal, Madeira

Today was dull and raining and my thoughts turned to Funchal in Madeira: an archipelago which is part of Portugal, craggy volcanic mountains, flowers and sunshine, and, of course, wine. Have some madeira, my dear. It was our first landfall after the Bahamas. Utter loveliness. So we walked into the city, just snapping pictures of green and flowers and buildings and then to the market. We walked around lovely gardens and finished the afternoon in a park buying ice cream.

I purchased our cones in some sort of foreign language. It worked, but the vendor replied in English, laughing that I was speaking half Spanish and half Portuguese. But this was my first day ever in Portuguese, so I didn't think that I had done half bad. Of course, it wasn't half good, either.

Then we tottered back to the ship, which by then we were calling home.