Camara do Lobos

Our last day and with one bus ride left on our Giro pass we took the bus as near as we could get to Camara do Lobos, a different bus line goes all the way.

We got off almost exactly where our old hotel from the ‘70s was so took a little look. One tower is still a hotel and the other is now apartments hence Duas Torres. We walked down to the promenade and came out at the Magic Tea House where we had coffee the other morning completely oblivious to the fact that the hotel we’d been seeking was right behind us!

We continued on to the beach walk at Praia Formosa which was busy being a Sunday and sat and enjoyed a coffee whilst people watching. 

We wanted to spend a bit more time here in Camara do Lobos and take in it’s transformation from all those years ago. In the ‘7Os it was truly a fishing village and not for tourists at all. In fact tourists weren’t welcome and it was a bit scary.
The ‘houses’ you can see along the harbour were the fishermen's stores, dark and cave like. They have been transformed into rooms as part of the recently developed Pousada (the Portuguese equivalent to a Spanish Parador).

It is called the Churchill Bay as it is where Churchill famously painted this place whilst staying on Madeira ( pat Reid’s I think)
I think they’ve done a good job as it doesn’t really stand out as hotel at all consisting of several smaller buildings and it has helped retain the village look.
I sat alongside his statue in the chair but being made of brass it was red hot so didn’t stay long.

The little building, bottom right, is an old fisherman’s chapel.

The boats are wonderfully colourful as you can and we had a drink and a wander around before getting the bus back.
A bit of a wait and then typically two came at once!

Sadly our last day, a week really does pass quickly and we envy Orchid99 her extra week.

We’ve had an early dinner and packed for an early-ish start tomorrow.

We’ve had excellent weather, better than we were expecting and it has been commented on by many of the people we have met here.

So glad we finally made it back to see the changes and revisit some of the old as well as explore the new and brilliant to have a blipmeet here too! Thanks for all your suggestions and recommendations Orchid 99 do enjoy your second week!