Afternoon Tea at Reid's Palace

I'm a huge fan of afternoon tea and if I'm honest, tea and cake in general. I'm always on the look out for new places around where I live and if I want a treat, afternoon tea would be my first choice. When I heard about the famous afternoon tea served at Belmond Reid Palace in Funchal, I booked Karl and I in straight away for our trip to Madeira. I was so excited to just see inside the famous hotel, which has had a string of famous guests, and let me tell you I wasn't disappointed. The pink building, the classic, luxury decor on the inside and the amazing staff made our visit one to remember. Crystal chandeliers hung in every room with fresh flowers on the tables, high ceilings with paintings on the walls, a beautiful garden with gates and flowers...it was an Instagrammer's dream for sure. And this was before we even got to the Afternoon Tea Terrace.

We were shown to the famous afternoon tea terrace and my oh my, we were not disappointed! The view is absolutely amazing and the photos cannot do it justice at all. You can see the coastline of Funchal for miles, as well as up the mountains and the hills with a beautiful view of the ocean too. The terrace is the perfect setting for a relaxed, indulgent afternoon and as our trip was in September, the weather was around 24 degrees and not too bright meaning it was the weather to have afternoon tea on a terrace. 

We were first served our tea and had a choice from a very extensive menu; I went for my usual afternoon tea choice of jasmine green tea and Karl, who notoriously hates tea (I know, how could he?!) went for a blackcurrant fruity tea and surprisingly, he actually loved it and drank the entire teapot! I've been telling him for years that tea is the greatest!

We sat on the beautiful terrace waiting for an afternoon tea and oh my gosh look at it. The sandwiches were cheese savoury, ham, salmon and cream cheese and more, we had so many beautiful cakes on the bottom (obvs the macaron was all for me) and once we'd finished our sandwiches, our waiter brought us our scones, one plain and one fruit. I go for fruit and have butter, jam and then cream but there's a bit of an issue here - do you have cream first and then jam or jam first and then the cream!? Oh help me solve one of life's greatest issues!

We absolutely love our afternoon tea at Reid's and although it is rather pricey with our bill coming to €70 for both of us, it was worth every penny. I think sometimes it's nice to splash out. We don't spend a lot of money ordinarily on things like this and don't eat in posh restaurants every night so we usually try and have one treat night during a break or a trip - after working so hard to actually get on holiday we all deserve it! Plus, the experience is great and isn't something you're going to do every time you go for afternoon tea! 

What's your favourite meal you've ever splashed out on?

Amy x