Sun, sea, relaxation and fun... that pretty much sums up the whole trip... Nav thoughtfully planned the whole trip as a birthday "surprise" for me... aaaawwwww...
And, he even booked this hotel really nice hotel for us... hehehe... and guess what the hotel is called??
It's CS Madeira... cool eh?
Madeira is an island on the Atlantic Ocean... although it is part of Portugal, it is actually closer to the African coast rather than the European continent... which explains why its weather is Spring-like all year round!!!
After checking into the hotel, we went for lunch to sample some of the local delicacy... the famous Madeira wine... and local seafood, which is in abundance...
We spent the first afternoon enjoying the warm afternoon by the sea in the hotel... mind you... this is October and compared to London, which is cold and wet... this is just heavenly...
That night, we went to the harbour side for dinner...
And I had seafood again... grilled baby squid... yum yum...
Since we decided that this is going to be a trip whereby we can really DO NOTHING, we spent the next whole day lazing around the pool in the hotel...
The hotel has 4 outdoor pools and 2 indoor pools... the outdoor pools were really cool... it's filled with fresh sea water and they are just by the cliff... so from certain angles... you actually feel like you're swimming off into the sea!!!
The weather was so good to just sun-bath and do a bit of swimming... we even went to swim in the sea as the hotel has access to the sea...
We were too lazy to even go out for lunch that we ate at the hotel's restaurant by the pool... and I tried something new!!! It's a type of shellfish called limpets... it's a bit like escargot and cooked in garlic butter and olive oil...
After the sun set, we went to the spa in the hotel and tried the various steam bath and jacuzzi... feeling refreshed and relaxed, we went out for dinner at this restaurant which has views of the cliff and sea...
Well... I think the view was much better than the food... although Nav liked his kebab-styled grilled meat... it's quite similar to what you get in Greece and Spain... lots of grilled meat and seafood...
After lazing for two days, we decided to do some touristy stuff... so we headed off to Funchal town centre...
One of the main attraction here is the cable car which brings you to the highest point of the island for the panoramic views...
And at the top of the hill, there's also this really cool toboggan slide thingie... They will take you in a sled like thing and start sliding down the hill. Usually there will be two guys that will ride along with you to steer the toboggan around... They will jump on the back runners and lean to twist the sled around to give you a thrilling ride... When we came around a corner and saw a car coming up the street towards us, they hopped off and used their bodies as brakes and steering!!! It was really a funny experience...
After the ride, we made our way to the Botanic Gardens which is supposed to be one of the main attractions in Funchal...
And to get to the Botanic Garden, you'll have to take another cable car ride there...
The Botanic Garden was okay... although I sort of expected it to have more flowers since the weather was great...
We spent the first afternoon enjoying the warm afternoon by the sea in the hotel... mind you... this is October and compared to London, which is cold and wet... this is just heavenly...
That night, we went to the harbour side for dinner...
And I had seafood again... grilled baby squid... yum yum...
Since we decided that this is going to be a trip whereby we can really DO NOTHING, we spent the next whole day lazing around the pool in the hotel...
The hotel has 4 outdoor pools and 2 indoor pools... the outdoor pools were really cool... it's filled with fresh sea water and they are just by the cliff... so from certain angles... you actually feel like you're swimming off into the sea!!!
The weather was so good to just sun-bath and do a bit of swimming... we even went to swim in the sea as the hotel has access to the sea...
We were too lazy to even go out for lunch that we ate at the hotel's restaurant by the pool... and I tried something new!!! It's a type of shellfish called limpets... it's a bit like escargot and cooked in garlic butter and olive oil...
After the sun set, we went to the spa in the hotel and tried the various steam bath and jacuzzi... feeling refreshed and relaxed, we went out for dinner at this restaurant which has views of the cliff and sea...
Well... I think the view was much better than the food... although Nav liked his kebab-styled grilled meat... it's quite similar to what you get in Greece and Spain... lots of grilled meat and seafood...
After lazing for two days, we decided to do some touristy stuff... so we headed off to Funchal town centre...
One of the main attraction here is the cable car which brings you to the highest point of the island for the panoramic views...
And at the top of the hill, there's also this really cool toboggan slide thingie... They will take you in a sled like thing and start sliding down the hill. Usually there will be two guys that will ride along with you to steer the toboggan around... They will jump on the back runners and lean to twist the sled around to give you a thrilling ride... When we came around a corner and saw a car coming up the street towards us, they hopped off and used their bodies as brakes and steering!!! It was really a funny experience...
After the ride, we made our way to the Botanic Gardens which is supposed to be one of the main attractions in Funchal...
And to get to the Botanic Garden, you'll have to take another cable car ride there...
The Botanic Garden was okay... although I sort of expected it to have more flowers since the weather was great...
We also visited the Se Cathedral, which is the central point of Funchal...
Since it's our last night in Funchal, we went for a nice dinner... and had quite a lot of food!!! Don't ask me why the crab salad that we ordered came in a glass and decorated like a face... so funny!!! Oh... and they have this fried rice cake thing which is a local Madeira delicacy... quite like it... although I don't know what it's called...
And the next morning... after breakfast, we left sunny Madeira and headed back to London... oh well... it was a fantastic four days... I mean how often do you get to have breakfast by the sea??? (hahaha... not that I eat breakfast that often... :P)
Oh... and just so you know... Madeira cake is actually a type of English cake... and I thought it would make good souvenirs... sigh...
Since it's our last night in Funchal, we went for a nice dinner... and had quite a lot of food!!! Don't ask me why the crab salad that we ordered came in a glass and decorated like a face... so funny!!! Oh... and they have this fried rice cake thing which is a local Madeira delicacy... quite like it... although I don't know what it's called...
And the next morning... after breakfast, we left sunny Madeira and headed back to London... oh well... it was a fantastic four days... I mean how often do you get to have breakfast by the sea??? (hahaha... not that I eat breakfast that often... :P)
Oh... and just so you know... Madeira cake is actually a type of English cake... and I thought it would make good souvenirs... sigh...
