Tuesday 15 January 2019, Botanic Gardens

View from the cable car

I had a bad night's sleep but I cheered up when I read about people in Switzerland getting snowed in. I got up at 8am and washed and dried my hair. We were a bit late for breakfast, and had the same as usual. The muesli cereal isn't very interesting but the other choices are good. Today we plan to go up the cable car to visit the Botanic Gardens with the colourful and iconic image.

We managed to catch the Tui rep and booked for the gourmet night on Thursday and also for this afternoon's wine tasting in the hotel. Then we took the bus to Centro and bought return tickets for the two stages of the cable car, which turned out to be Austrian-made.

The first car was shared between six people, and the second one was a four-seater. We ascended steeply with views over the steep cove and mountainside. Then on foot we descended to the colourful gardens, which had well-labelled plants and trees. We saw the iconic carpet of geometric shapes in citrus colours and took lots of photos.

The familiar pattern of the botanic gardens

Then we headed back up the steep path and stopped for a coffee and cake at a friendly cafe. Very welcome! Then we reversed our journey down the two cable cars and took a taxi back to the hotel for a short rest.



At 15.00 we went to the wine tasting organised by the hotel. Everyone else there seemed to know each other and were in a family group. We tasted three Portuguese wines - all pleasant.

They were:

• Casal Mendes rose - pleasant, light
• Alianca white - fresh and acidic
• Serras de Azeitao red - a blend of three grape types

Afterwards we sat at a table by the pool having a glass of red. Dinner at the buffet was as usual. I had chicken.