Madeira 2011, part three, the carnival.

We took a slow walk back after our light lunch at O Tapassol. Sue found this 'friend' to pose for a picture with. I'm wondering where his other hand is?

The view from the beach cafes used to look out to sea, but since the flooding, the silt etc was dumped on the beach, and now blocks the view, and it's at least a couple of metres high, and about 2 football fields in area. They had to put it somewhere, but it seems very unfair to block out the cafe views.

We passed this superb example of 'class tin' on the way home.

Immaculate Mercedes.

So, we got home, freshened up, and decided to walk North, a part of Funchal we hadn't explored. Also, we wanted to find the location of a restaurant I'd sussed out. I'd seen the rave reviews on Trip Advisor ( see http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189167-d1630519-Reviews-Marisqueira_O_Barqueiro-Funchal_Madeira_Madeira_Islands.html )

We walked in to be greeted by this HUGE display of fresh fish. Well, although we weren't really hungry after our sardines, we decided to have a drink, and then share a 'small' fish platter for 15 Euros.

We took our seats, right next to the lobster/crab/oyster tank.

There are some HUGE specimens in there.

This was the 'small' fish platter we shared. It came with a big bowl of rice.

And some well-cooked (slightly al dente) veg.

We were given, and accepted, the chance to pose with some of the menu!

After the meal, we immediately booked to come again on Saturday night, intending to make sure we were REALLY hungry this time. To walk off the meal, we went down to the front to watch the local fishermen trying their luck. As with most Madeirans, they were very friendly, and explained what they were after, and how 'lucky' they had been on previous trips.

Some 'leftovers' from the carnival were chilling out, still in a very happy mood. I'll do a separate carnival picture section, as there were lots of shots.

Instead of catching the bus, it was a lovely, balmy evening so we decided to walk the three miles or so back to the hotel. It was gorgeous, and we ambled along, taking in the warm night air. Tomorrow, we had a dream trip planned to the North of the island, Porto Moniz, where the sea comes in rough!