Sub tropical

You can tell we are somewhere different by these amazing sub tropical plants that are flowering in November.

We were up a 3.30 am after leaving the family about 7.00 pm last night to go straight to Bristol airport to do our bag drop. I have to say it was brilliant as there was nobody there. We even got out of the short stay car park within the 20 minute limit for the £5 charge ( I know it’s disgusting.) We then spent the night at nearby accommodation so we could park and ride easily to the airport for our 7.00 am flight to Funchal.

All went well and we were in our hotel by 12.00 midday.
All I wanted was a shower as I’d forgotten (over 40 years since we were here - 1978!) that light cloud and 21degrees feels so much warmer with the humidity that is common here and that these flowers love and thrive on so much.

We had a wander around the hotel grounds and had a lovely lunch near the pool. I had a fresh tuna salad nicoise and a freshly made pineapple and lime lemonade. A huge and fabulous butterfly flitted past but sadly didn’t stop. The canopy above the seating area was hanging with huge Bromeliads, bigger even than ones we saw in Singapore many years ago.

Chris had looked at his Facebook earlier and saw a picture of a very good friend of ours from our village on the famous toboggan coming down from Monte here in Madeira today. She is on a cruise which is docked in the harbour.. 
We didn’t know so we decided to go down to take a closer look at them. There were three cruise ships in the harbour, the biggest of which we could see from the hotel but we’ve no idea which she and her husband are on.
I’m almost surprised we are here ourselves as this is third booking we’ve made for this holiday, the first being for February 2021. Cancelled of course and then postponed to February this year but we didn’t fancy travelling then so here we are at last.

More excitement my oldest blipfriend is here this week too so we are hoping to meet up at last! She was one of my first ever followers.

Having a little relax and rest now in our room, Chris is asleep, we’ve booked dinner for 7.00 

The hotel itself is surrounded by great flowers and foliage, certainly something to come here for.