Beautiful panorama

from the roof of Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte!

We have visited Monte before, twice, but on neither occasion had we visited this lovely church.

Walked to the cable car station on the harbour straight after breakfast and having noted three cruise ships docked this morning, which were all disgorging coaches at 9.30 am, we weren’t optimistic about the queues. We had a plan B to take the bus which we did last time but I knew Chris fancied the cable car. Walked straight into the ticket office and only had to queue for about 15 minutes up the ramp. Amazing! We were there by 10.30.

Chris always wants to go to the top of these things despite not liking climbing and I’m daft enough to go too. Half way up we had a nice view down into the church but to go to the roof you had to agree to have photos taken. We always say no to these things, there had been some waiting for us at the top of the cable car, but he wanted to go up. The view was amazing as you can see in the blip panorama and we ended up buying the silliest one of the three photos, why I don’t really know! Extra. ( I think I’m supposed to be trying to push him off!)
They said the funds went to the church but I’m not sure about that.

Had a coffee when we came down where we could  see people boarding the toboggans to ride down the hill. By the time we got into the Monte Palace gardens it was quite busy. I love the rain forest feel of this place with its huge tree ferns and exotic plants that climb down the gorge. The main change from last time was the addition of flamingos above the palace lake. Extra

A poncho in the poncho bar at the bottom of the gardens and then our free Madeira wine ( included in the ticket ) helped us back up the hill to the exit. We also followed the History of Portugal and Madeira on the painted tile panels on the way back up. The only trouble was starting at the bottom we were working backwards chronologically but it was all very interesting.

Had intending getting the bus back down but there wasn’t one for over an hour and with no queue for the cable car we took the easy option especially as the cloud was starting to descend  on the hill.

As we arrived back in the old town we decided we would eat there. Although it was late afternoon the restaurant we chose still had their inclusive three course lunch menu on for less than 17 Euros. We both had seafood again and it was excellent and great value.

A pleasant stroll back to the hotel as the sun disappeared. All three  cruise ships had departed - you can just make them out in the centre of the blip.
Another excellent and full day