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My travel in Europe:
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Day IV, Western Coast of Funchal:The fourth day we decided to take a city bus as far we could go to the Western Coast of Funchal and then walk back. Google Map over today visits:Other than the visit to the park, most walks nearby our hotel. |
Funchal:
At the map of the city buses we found that bus number 1 goes all the way to Ponta da Laranjeira. This bus and most other have a station close to the harbor. Ponta da Laranjeira:
15 minutes later we stand her at the end station Ponta da Laranjeira, nice view, or? 
This place looks to be an industry area. Maybe a power plant and a cement factory. Not very much for tourist to look at, we decided to take the bus back a couple stations. We got of the bus at station Praia Formosa. Start walking the street Estrada Monumental towards Funchal. 
We have just passed a roundabout where they placed a beautiful statue in the middle. In front of us here we have a glimpse of the ocean. We where not sure if we go down the street to find another street back up to this road and it was very steep down there. We continue to follow the big street. 
A banana plantation in the middle of the modern houses. A friend told us that when she was here at the 1980s it was none of these big houses here, only the small fincas we could see here. The people who lived here at that time looked to be very poor. 
A beautiful view back to from where we started our walk. 
A bit thirsty we took something at a small restaurant to drink before we continue our walk. Here is Ponta da Cruz. Jardim Panoramico:
This passage gave us a lot of views between the hotels and houses over the ocean. |
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Pico da Cruz:
A hill with name Pico da Cruz. I think we see this hill from the center of Funchal also. 
Lot of beautiful houses to look at as we walk by. 
A house with a shape of a big Atlantic Cruiser. 
Largo da Paz:
It's more vegetation and flowers here, because here has one of the rivers from the mountains its outflow. |
The bridge over the river, can't find any name of it. Parque de Santa Catarina:
Now we are back to the center of Funchal. We have already visited this park and we know where we are. To here from where we started to walk it took us almost 4 hours, but it was a slow walk with a lot of rests and views. 
Walked down to the harbor to have a look at all the boats. 
This is a replica of Columbus ship Santa Maria that took him to America. We will see this ship out on the ocean later, they had dolphin tours. More to read about Columbus Santa Maria ship at Wikipedia:
A bit exhausted after the walk we get back to the hotel for a rest. 
When we sleept we wakeup of a smell of smoke. Looking out through the windows we see a big fire has started not far away. |
Shall we evacuate the hotel? No it's not that nearby. But you see many small sparks go away in the wind and the fire can spread quickly. 
We understand that the fire was close to the harbor, we took a walk around to see what's happening. We find the source of the fire, a big old white house close to the ruins we had looked at earlier. A lot of fire trucks fight the fire and the whole block had evacuated the gas thanks out on the streets. 
Later back on the hotel we see that the fire was under control, a lot of steam coming up from the water they used to fight the fire with. We could smell the smoke several days afterwards. More to read about the fire in Funchal:
This fourth day ended dramatically so to speak.
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