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Mrs. Bell Pepper, Philadelphia Age and Occupation: 28, Resident Physician Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Resident Physician Engagement Date: May 30, 2006 Wedding Date: June 2007 Venue: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts About Me: I love whimsical details and design, everything that *sparkles*, sipping on hazelnut lattes, pugs, shopping for antiques and second-hand goods, scenic photography, delicate flowers, and checking out new restaurants in the city with my fianc??. We are planning our wedding at a unique city venue for about 75 close family members and friends. I have a lot of DIY ideas and I like to blog about ways to save money on your wedding.
About Mrs. Bell Pepper

Yesterday I had my last call of the month and I’m sooo exhausted.. I told Mr. BP that I really need something to look forward to so I can keep truckin’ along for the rest of the year. I did a bit of research online for the entire month and I think I found the perfect cure for my intern blues:

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Madeira is the ideal place to relax and restore the balance of mind and body that you need to face the stress of daily life.”

This future destination sounds so perfect. Our honeymoon in Paris was a lot of fun, we got to see a lot of interesting places and dine at romantic bistros. Although it was such a wonderful city to visit, I have to say we were overwhelmed by how much there was to see and how crowded the city was with all the tourists. Instead of doing a lot of sightseeing, for our next trip we would like to take our time to relax more and enjoy the view.  

z111597 Madeira is a small island situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal and Africa. “A Floating Garden” best describes the island -t’s abundant with exotic flowers and there are numerous botanical gardens all over the city of Funchal.

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There is a tropical feel to the island yet being close to Portugal, the city of Funchal is very Eropean and has a lot of historic sites to check out.

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I love fresh fruits and vegetables, so I can’t wait to check out the fruit markets in the center of Funchal.

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Madeira is also famous for its levadas, man-made water channels created all over the island to bring water from the highlands to the fertile lower regions. If you love to hike, the levadas might be of interest.

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There’s a lot of beautiful hotel spas around Funchal, here’s one of my favorites

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I like the hotel and spa packages, but the cons for this hotel is that it is located outside of the main city Funchal. I’m leaning more towards finding a hotel near the coast - there’s a bunch lining the coast and they mostly offer pretty good rates.

Here’s my 2nd favorite: this hotel’s location is perfect and tripadvisor has pretty good reviews about the services and rooms. The rooms don’t have a modern style compared the first hotel.

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Here’s a hotel tied in place with the 2nd one. It’s also in an ideal location, close to the coast and the city. The cons about this hotel is that the rooms and the hotel in general has a very sterile appearance, perhaps not as romantic as I would like. Although the pool are does look impressive!

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It’s so difficult to decide just based on what I see online! I wish I could check out the rooms before we make our final decision! Anyways, I think I’ll decide on a hotel by the end of this week. In the meantime, please tell me what you think looks best out of the three hotels I featured. Thanks!

13 Responses to “Our Next Destination: The Floating Garden”

1.
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Miss Magnolia says:

Yay! Madeira!

Mr. Magnolia and I spent a day in Funchal last fall during a cruise, and it was just beautiful!

Personally, I think I would go for hotel #3, for the pool area alone…it’s gorgeous!

2.
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Mrs. Emerald says:

Dumb question: where is Madeira? hehe

3.
LM says:

Hotel #3!

4.
Emily says:

wow, beautiful

5.
Sarita says:

We considered Madeira for our HM but were concerned about lack of beaches…we’re sand people…but these pictures are making me reconsider!

6.
Jennifer says:

That looks ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I want to go right now!

7.
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Miss Dahlia says:

We actually looked at some of the hotels in your post in our never ending quest to find the perfect honeymoon locale. I would pick either 1 or 3- or you could split your time between them :-)

8.
Lara says:

Thank you for posting! My hubby & I are looking for something off the beaten European path. This is right up our alley!

9.
tmcconne says:

#3 for sure! What hotel is that? We are considering Madeira for our honeymoon and I would love to look into that hotel.

10.
Leesuh1 says:

#3! oh wow…Madeira is GORGEOUS. maybe i will decide on lounging by the water instead of going tour crazy in europe.

*drool*

11.
Thea T says:

i just love the look of #1! and MADEIRA… i’ve been dying to go there. went around mainland Portugal two years ago and it was amazing. Maybe if you’re lucky Cristiano Ronaldo will off from playing with Man United and you can see him… mmm!

12.
Vanessa says:

Since you chose The Cliff Bay as the first pic I suggest you take a look at this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/portobay/sets/72057594065894272/

13.
One Year Ago.. » Weddingbee » The Wedding Blog says:

[...] there was quite wonderful and so different from our honeymoon in Paris, and many thanks to all of our weddingbee readers, we chose the ultimate resort hotel to stay at during our trip. I’ll post about all the [...]


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Mrs. Bell Pepper Mrs. Bell Pepper, Philadelphia Age and Occupation: 28, Resident Physician Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Resident Physician Engagement Date: May 30, 2006 Wedding Date: June 2007 Venue: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts About Me: I love whimsical details and design, everything that *sparkles*, sipping on hazelnut lattes, pugs, shopping for antiques and second-hand goods, scenic photography, delicate flowers, and checking out new restaurants in the city with my fianc??. We are planning our wedding at a unique city venue for about 75 close family members and friends. I have a lot of DIY ideas and I like to blog about ways to save money on your wedding.