Waiting for the bus to Camara de Lobos
We had to decipher just where the bus stop for the next Yellow Bus was from their map. We had been told that the stop was ‘at the market’ but this was an extravagant use of the word ‘near’ as in reality we had to walk back down to the promenade and along to the coach stops. Once there we worked out that we now had another 30 minute wait.
Three Red Bus tour buses came to the bus stop while we waited. They were all quite full and didn’t have much room to pick the waiting passengers. The first Yellow Bus was not for our route we need the Blue Route) and we continued to stand and wait. In front of us was traffic chaos as cars and coaches all competed for space as they made the sharp left hand turn past all the parked coaches and busses.
On the bus finally
When our bus came it was empty on the upper deck and we could have our choice of where to sit. I chose to sit on the left side as this would give me views of the sea once we left Funchal.
The bus turned back through Funchal and ran parallel to the promenade and past through the busy streets. There are lots of hotels on the outskirts of Funchal and we passed by these hotels with only occasional glimpses of the sea until passed out of Funchal. This is when we started our journey along the twisty coast road.
The bus went past a small commercial dock, housing developments as well as rocky cliffs as it went up and down through hairpin bends before reaching Camara de Lobos. On the hillsides above us and below us were stepped fields full of banana trees.
As the bus approached the bay on the wall was a poster celebrating the famous artist who used to come her e to paint, Winston Churhill.
We left the bus at the first of the two stops above the village.There we declined the to take an additional scenic tour on another bus up to the highest point over the cliffs – maybe next visit?
