Yesterday was a good day to hang out in Funchal between the levada walk of the day before and the upcoming golf.  As has become our habit, we took our time getting going but eventually started on a series of errands fortunately all more or less in the same direction and happily along the Estrada Monumental.  First up was a slight change to our ferry reservation for Saturday.  As part of the deal they pick us up near the apartment and take us down to the ferry dock.  We had inadvertently signed up for the wrong bus stop so we corrected that.  Next Phyllis is beginning to feel the need for a haircut and, after consulting with our host, settled on one.  Our next stop was to go by the salon to make sure it seemed like a good choice.  It looked OK but by this time it was lunch and no one was there to talk to.

On to errand three, which was lunch at FugaCidade, by reputation a craft beer emporium.  It turns out the reputation is well deserved and Fuga had an excellent selection on tap and an incredible collection in cans and bottles.  We ordered a light lunch and beer after beer.  FugaCidade is one of those places that charges proportionately for different sizes of beer so we were able to sample several without that feeling of getting ripped off just because you are ordering less than a pint.  The final errand was to check out the farmer's market.  This market is very old (built by the Blandys in fact) and exists in a building rather than open air.  As such it did not really feel like the kind of market we are used to but more like a retail mall that happened to focus on fruits and vegetable.  A bit of a disappointment (but no doubt much better for the farmers who could sell their produce sheltered from the frequent rain showers) but we were able to find some dried fruits and bananas that were actually yellow.  Up to now the only bananas we had seen were a bright shade of green and did not appear likely to be edible during the course of our stay.  The final efficiency was that the market was right at the point where the bus route begins for the bus that stops right at our apartment.  We hopped on and called it a day.

Today was all golf, this time at Clube de Golf Santo da Serra.  Like Palheira, Santo da Serra is located up on a hill but much more on a plateau so that while there are some significant up-and-down hill holes, they are much more gradual.  Although we passed through rain on the 30-minute drive to the course, it was sunny by the time we got there and stayed pretty nice all day.  The course starts with a bit of drama.  While the first hole is a standard downhill dogleg, the next three meander along the side of the plateau and each involves a significant carry off the tee over a ravine.  Oddly we did not lose any balls to whatever creatures inhabit those thickets.  The round was slow and after a couple of holes a nice German twosome caught up with us and we played the rest of the front nine with them.  They bailed after nine and we finished the round with just the two of us.  All in all we played pretty well, had fun and did not lose a single ball, a significant feat given the ravine and other such curiosities such as a pond created with steep walled sides all around, much like a pot bunker but much bigger and wetter.  After wine and beer on the club terrace we drove back with hopes for an early evening.  Our plans tomorrow, weather permitting, include an early start for a nine-mile hike which is going to be painful in several ways.