On our last full day on the island of Madeira we took the cable car down from where we were staying Monte and spent the day roaming the streets of the capital, Funchal. Our first stop was the famous Mercado dos Lavradores (Farmer’s Market) which is in every guide book. While it was interesting to […]
Portugal
Madeira’s Gardens
When talking about Madeira, someone will inevitably say: oh, the island of flowers! It’s true that at any given time something is in bloom. In fact, Madeira was the first place I saw poinsettias growing in someone’s garden. Since then, I’ve seen poinsettias on the islands of La Palma and La Gomera, but that first […]
Madeira’s High Country
It may come as a surprise that Madeira has a high country, but Pico Ruivo is Portugal’s third highest peak at 1861 m (6,106 ft). There is a fantastic hike from Pico do Arieiro at 1,818 metres (5,965 ft), Madeira’s third and Portugal’s 5th highest peak. We drove up in complete darkness to witness the […]
Madeira’s Coast
As mentioned in my hiking post about Madeira, this is not a place to lie on the beach and there is a reason for it. For the most part, there are no beaches and even on the few beaches that exist the waves are crazy and you don’t want to go swimming there. We went […]
Hiking Levadas in Madeira
Apart from seeing all the flowers, the main reason to visit the Portuguese island of Madeira is to go hiking, particularly along levadas, i.e. irrigation channels which bring water from the wetter regions of the island to the drier. On our last trip to Madeira 8 years ago we didn’t see much of the island […]