Madeira Day 2: Monte Palace Gardens and more

Monday
We enjoyed a wonderful day today. We took the cable car up to Monte, well known for the Palace Gardens, with its gorgeous views over the Bay of Funchal, and the Church of Nossa Senhora do Monte, built in honour of the Patron Saint of Madeira. We took the cable car up to Monte, but unfortunately we had chosen a bad day, as there were three cruise ships in town today, one of them a large German one, so the line for the cable car was extremely long. We eventually made it up (see extra) and spent several hours exploring the amazing gardens. Then we continued on to the church at the top of a long flight of steps (see extra collage. We returned to Funchal about mid afternoon, and then visited Blandy’s wine lodge for a guided tour, followed by a wine tasting. On our way back to our hotel we passed the cathedral, and noticed the doors were open, so we went inside to see the interior (see extra collage).