Madeira - Day 41 and 42 - Nic and Dave arrive

Friday I spent at home doing a little cleaning, organizing, moving myself into the room with the single beds to give Nic and Dave the double (with the view). Blanca and Joao insisted on coming over and doing a thorough cleaning as the house isn't stocked with all the cleaning supplies. I followed their progress on the Lisbon airport site. They were delayed in Toronto and therefor an hour and a half late getting in to Lisbon. They knew they then had a long wait for their scheduled flight to Madeira (and were unable to switch to an earlier flight) so they just hung out in an airport lounge and got their moneys worth. They arrived at the house (after a very fast cab ride) at about 9:30pm. Couple of glasses of wine, chat and off to bed.
This morning Madeira welcomed them with blue sky and we had breakfast and coffee on the terrace. Our only plan was for them to "get the lay of the land" by walking around a bit.

We walked down the hill and the first stop was the market. It was Saturday morning and the market was in full swing and crowded. This is a photo of another tile picture at the entrance.

We bought a huge bunch of Broccolini and then got out of the crowds and into the fish market. Metal tray of Scabbard Fish heads.

Not sure if this fish is gorgeous or hideous,

but this Moray Eel is definitely creepy.

Nicky waving from the restaurant we had coffee at and then we signed up for the Boa Morte lavada walk tomorrow. It's a nice easy one for them to start with.

We walked through the old section and up to the lookout beyond the fort.

We walked back down past the fort, checked out the places we could swim if we are so inclined and the weather stays as warm as it is today. Piles of tiles.

We stopped at a restaurant with this door (Dog, cat and a little mouse). Scabbard fish, fries and salad, coffee, and glass of wine. Dave had a bacon and egg sandwich and a beer.

We stopped at the grocery store, which I have always avoided on a Saturday, just like I would at home. Busy and hot, but we found a Chardonnay for Nicola (for less than 2 Euro, we will see how it is) and some more beer for Dave. We walked to the bus stop and on checking the schedule found that, even with 3 different options, a bus would not be along for at least an hour. We walked up the hill! Something Nicola had sworn she wouldn't be doing as we had gone down it this morning. We rewarded ourselves with a drink on the terrace in the lounge chairs.

Still full from lunch, we had Brie, fruit, olives, crackers, for supper. So now its chill time as Nic and Dave continue to get acclimatized to the time zone.