Madeira and Canary Islands Cruise

This may be covered over several posts. Just a warning!

David and I decided upon going on the cruise after celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary last year.  Then we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon which was freezing cold and discovered a heavy overnight snowfall on the second day we were there.  We had to go somewhere warmer this year.  We were married on 10th December and we've always had to share our anniversary with Christmas celebrations so we did know there would be a Christmassy theme to the cruise. We were informed on our itinerary that Embarkation day we'd be wearing Christmas jumpers!

 The ship wasn't listing that was me taking a dodgy photo!

And and even dodgier selfies.

Where the ship (Oceana) was docked at Southampton it was near a container ship that was discharging its cargo and it was fascinating watching the cranes do the unloading and moving the containers.  The cranes and dockside were lit up and I was surprised by this photo that I took from our cabin balcony. - it actually looks quite good

We had 3 sea days before reaching Madeira and the sea and weather were calm and getting steadily warmer.  Among the events taking place was a crafting group (there was actually no crafting involved) followed by knit and natter but both merged into a knit and natter group and it was growing in number daily!  The group also ran on the sea days between Lanzarote and Lisbon then back home.

We had an excursion booked in Madeira to visit the Farmers' Market in Funchal then onto the Botanical Gardens on the island.  The market was bustling with traders and customers.

 Look at all those varieties of chillies

 Looking down into the square from the balcony above

The lovely tiled entrance to the market

Then onto the Botanical Gardens up a windy road around the mountainside but what a place it was - the following are my photos but David took many more.

That's just a few of the pics.  After going back into the town of Funchal we enjoyed a walk around and seeing the Christmas  decorations in a park near the drop off point.

 The gnomes look a little bit worried - I wonder what Santa has in store for them.  I loved the little houses.

 The photo doesn't do these lovely angels justice.  They are lit at night and must look really lovely but we were leaving before it got dark so had no chance to see

 This gloriously tall Christmas tree by the sea front

And just to prove we were there - another dodgy selfie pic!

Here's a link to Madeira's Christmas Lights.

So that was our Madeira visit, we then went onto the first of the Canary Islands - Tenerife.  I will post about that next time.