We no longer had a car, so we decided to catch the bus to the Valley of the Nun’s. We walked down the hills into Funchal.

We had planned to get the bus from the waterfront area, but there was a cycling race going on, and the road was closed to traffic. So we decided to watch the cyclists for a little while.

The guy below was the clear winner, he was way ahead of anyone else.

We realised that the race wasn’t finishing anytime soon. We used Google translate to read the printed notice on the bus stop, which told us the amended route and where to get the bus from.

On the way, we walked past the memorial to all healthcare professionals and others who faced the covid-19 pandemic.

We got on the bus by the old market, the weather was looking a bit grey.

The bus took us up several windy roads to the viewpoint above the valley. From the carpark, we walked up to the viewpoint, Eira do Serrado, where you could see a serrated ridge with 3 peaks: Pico do Cavalo, Pico do Serradinho and, the highest peak of Pico Grande.

Originally, it was thought that the valley, Curral das Freiras (translates as sisters’ farm) was a collapsed volcano, but the circular form is actually a result of millions of years of river and rain erosion.

As the next bus wasn’t due to arrive for a couple of hours, we decided to take the cobbled and stony and sandy footpath down to the village. This path allegedly has 52 bends.

It was actually really hot walking down, even though the weather forecast had suggested otherwise. The woods on the way down were a mixture of chestnut woods and natural laurel forest.

The hidden valley was used by the nuns of Santa Clara Convent whenever pirates attacked the island. They used to go to the valley with the treasures from the church during the attacks, particularly in 1566. At the time, there were no roads, just a footpath.

Once we got to the village, we went to visit the church, Igreja Matriz, which dates from the early 19th century.

The stained glass windows inside the church were beautiful.

There was also some nice street art outside the church.

We walked past one of the remaining nuns’ houses.

We got the bus, and it went a slightly different route home. The views, as always, were amazing.

When we got off the bus in Funchal, we walked past some more interesting artwork.

We also visited the Chapel of Santo Antonio da Mouraria. This used to be situated inside the former walls of custom house in Funchal and was ordered to be built in 1715 by the chief judge at the time, who is buried inside.

From here, we walked into the city centre and decided it was time for a cocktail, so we stopped at the Golden Gate Grand Cafe. The first drink we tried was a Bob Marley – it was a little bit too sweet.

Next, we had a cocktail we knew we both liked, a mojito.

The cafe had some delicious looking pastries and ice cream, and we were serenaded by a man playing his violin.

After going back to the hotel and freshening up, we caught the bus back into Funchal. We had booked to do some rum tasting in the Zona Velha.

We both had the premium tasting, which included different aged rums and some snacks to go with them. Our favourite was one of the 12 year old rums.

We hadn’t booked anywhere we went for dinner, so we literally walked scross the road to a Mexican restaurant. I had some mixed tacos, which were delicious.

We saw a cute dog on the way to the taxi rank.