We made the mistake of getting the taxi to drop us at the main gate. This meant we had to walk all the down through the gardens (which like much of the island are on a steep slope), and then all the way back up again so that we could get the cable car to Monte. Les's knees felt the strain.

The gardens are really colourful, and well-maintained, with good views down over Funchal. There's a nice cafe at the cable car station, so we had a brief rest stop there. The cable car to Monte goes across a couple of very deep valleys.