December in Madeira

Way back in mid-December, we made a quick trip to Madeira, a Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco. Its main city, Funchal, is famous for it's Christmas displays. Evidently their New Years' Eve fireworks are also very famous. We didn't stay that long. We really loved Madeira. The weather was very nice (daytime temperatures near 70 degrees) and the island is just beautiful. An added bonus was that the hotel we stayed in, the Savoy Palace, was just extraordinary. Here are a few photos taken at the hotel:

Our first night, we took a fun tour in a vintage VW Beetle convertible to see the Christmas displays. Our driver said that in years past the displays were even more spectacular. They are still gearing back up post-pandemic.

The next day we took a tour of the west side of the island. It is very hilly and the views were just lovely.

We had a coffee stop in one little town. Will decided to take over Santa's throne. It was lucky that Santa didn't come back early and beat him up, We were traveling with our friends Aurelia and Rick Falero. Their dog sitters bailed at the last minute so they brought them. It almost got them kicked off the tour but they prevailed. I really liked that the local people decorated their hydrangeas with elves and little hats. That's a Christmas idea I might bring back to the USA.

The narrative and photos stop here. Will was very sick (cold, cough, not COVID) before we left, then felt a little better, then relapsed. I got sick the third day we were there. Aurelia got sick for the last two days. So, we really did very little those last two days.

We hope to return for a summer visit.

Pro tip: if you decide to visit Portugal, schedule a few days in Madeira. It is a quick flight from Lisbon.