Anatoliy & Olga at Funchal Old Town & Lighthouse

Anatoliy and Olga flew in from Germany. We met in front of the Sé cathedral in the early evening, when the stone was still warm from the afternoon and the square had started to empty out. The tour groups are gone and the light is low.

Through the Old Town

The old town in Funchal is compact. You can cover the main streets in 20 minutes if you’re moving with purpose. We weren’t. We walked slowly, doubled back a few times, found corners that work well in photographs. The cobblestones, the painted walls, the narrow passages between buildings. None of it is staged.

Anatoliy and Olga were easy to work with.

We stopped at a cafe on the square. Marble table, two coffees, no particular plan to shoot anything. The cafe photos ended up being some of the strongest from the session.

Down to the Waterfront

From the cafe we walked toward the water. The harbor in Funchal is a working port with a stone breakwater and a small lighthouse at the end. The walk out along the pier gives you the whole city behind you and the Atlantic in front.

The light by then had dropped below the hills and gone soft. Good for portraits, harder for wide shots.

The lighthouse at the end of the pier is quiet in the evenings. We finished the session there. The whole thing took about two hours.

Funchal Old Town as a Location

The old town isn’t the first place people ask about when they come to Madeira. Most want cliffs, forests, or beaches. But for a couples session the city works well.

It’s accessible, it has variety within a small area, and the light in the late afternoon hits the stone facades. Add the waterfront and you have two different settings within a 15-minute walk of each other.

Funchal Old Town location details and Funchal Lighthouse