Olsen Cruise Blog

Early morning brought our first sight of land for 3 days in the form of the port of Funchal in Madeira. We had an early start for our trip, which left

Our first stop after leaving Funchal was a sleepy fishing village called Camara de Lobos. There was not much happening there so early in the day but we did see some very picturesque views and some nice fishing boats. From there we began a very steep and twisting climb (which resulted in one small boy being so travel sick he had to leave the tour) up to Cabo Girao which is the 2^nd tallest sea cliff in the world (580m). It was very busy here but we managed to get a few nice shots before moving off. Some refreshment was required next so we headed to Ribiera Brava on the south coast, which is the end of a long valley that begins in the middle of the island. Here we had chance for a drink and also a look round a church, which was very ornately decorated (especially as it was Holy Week).

Climbing again, we followed the Ribiera valley all the way to the summit and a restaurant at Encumeada. Here we sampled some puncha which was White Rum with honey, and orange juice – very nice but very strong! And so began our descent to the Northern shore of Madeira following the Sao Vicente valley to the town of Sao Vicente for dinner and some free time looking around the shops in the small village. We took the opportunity to buy some Madeira wine here before heading back the fast way through a network of tunnelled motorways to Funchal and the awaiting ship.

We had been advised that Fred. Olsen would be sending a camera crew and video/helicopter team to film us leaving Madeira and we took part in a deck party as we set sail followed out by the helicopter. Passengers waved us off from the other 2 cruise ships that were in dock that day: the Prinsendam and the Costa Europa.

# posted by Stephen @ 11:38 PM