Madeira - Day 10 - coastal promenade

According to maps there is a coastal path West of the marina and I decided to try and find it today. I walked down to the ocean front and found the bus stop for the 02 Route. Got on it and stayed on until the end. The route took me through a mass of hotels and apartments. The bus had stopped before turning around and I asked the bus driver how to find the coastal walk. Well actually I showed him the map and made inquiring noises. I assumed he had understood me as he pointed me to a small street that headed down towards the ocean.

I guess I didn't get the nuances of my question across because, after going down endless steep steps,

I ended up at this stone beach. There were indicators that, at some time in the past, there might have been a path along the back of it but it had, long ago, been washed away.

There were a few people sunbathing but I didn't even go onto the beach as the large, round pebbles would have been difficult to negotiate in my sandals.

There were 3 large, sprawling hotels along the back of the beach and I wandered through hoping to find a better way up the hill again. No luck.

When I got up to the road, walked along and then took another street towards the ocean again, I got to the other end of the beach and this sign. The route to the beach was closed

but the path down to this complex was open. I would see a number of these today, public areas (with a fee) to sunbath and swim. Sometimes they were like this one with pools that were filled with sea water at high tide and others were traditional swimming pools.

I had found the Coastal Promenade.

and this statue of Joao Zarco, looking off to the West.

 João Gonçalves Zarco (c. 1390 – 21 November 1471)^[1] was a Portuguese explorer who established settlements and recognition of the Madeira Islands, and was appointed first captain of Funchal by Henry the Navigator. 
from Wikipedia.

The path was wide and brick and had some lovely views of the coast on one side

and a mass of hotels, apartments, restaurants and shopping centres on the other.

A "promenade" sounds like it would be flat but, oh no, not in Madeira, nothing is flat.

I indulged in a gelato (orange with chocolate), sat and watched this guy sunning himself

and this one curled in the shade of a palm tree.

Another one of those public pools.

The harbour had 2 cruise ships in and was crowded with people from the ships and people "hawking"to them.

I have been reading "Dead Wake; Last voyage of the Lusitania" (recommended by Sue and Heather as their book club had enjoyed it) and took a really good look at the lifeboats. After the Titanic sank new regulations were put in place that the big liners had to have enough life boats for all their passengers and crew, novel idea, but many of Lusitania's life boats were folded up and had to be "constructed" to use them. You can imagine how well that went in the emergency.

They were washing the windows.

Right next to the cruise port is the CR7 Museum. All about Christiano Ronaldo who is from Funchal.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro ^{[3] [4]} GOIH • ComM (Funchal, 5 of February of 1985) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a left winger or striker. He currently plays for Juventus and the Portuguese Selection.
Often regarded as one of the best and most complete players in the world^[5] and of all time^{[6][7] [8][9][10]}, Ronaldo was voted the best player in the world by FIFA and France Football getting the Ballon d'Or Award for a period went on to be called the FIFA Ballon d'Or, a total of 5 times in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 ^{[11] [12]} It is also the highest goalscorer in the history of Real Madrid, where is one of the biggest idols, with 450 goals and Portugal with 85 goals.
From Wikipedia (translated from Portuguese)

There were plenty of soccer fans around paying homage.

Caught the bus home having walked 18,000 steps according to my fitbit. I didn't feel like cooking so just made an omelette but I did take last night pitangas and cooked them up with some honey and red wine until they made a thick sauce. It was great on the eggs.