Madeira, Portugal

Our trek from Mérida, Mexico started on the last day of April and took us to the Portuguese island of Madeira via the airports of Mexico City, Paris, and Lisbon. The trip was long and the jet lag lingered for several days, but we were happy to be back in Europe and to visit the island that is sometimes referred to as “the Hawaii of Europe”. We were there for two weeks and had a rental car for some wide ranging exploration. We enjoyed viewing the parade floats of the annual flower festival, did some Madeira wine tasting, and walked the Lido / Praia promenades along the coast from Funchal to Câmara de Lobos. We drove the entire perimeter of the island, rode a cable car up a mountain, and rode the Hop-on-Hop-off bus around the city. As we have done in other places we also met with a realtor to learn about the process to purchase a local property. We are traveling not only to see places we want to see, but to also scout for a place to eventually settle down. English is widely spoken and most signage is in Portuguese and English. Many words of the Portuguese language are very similar to Spanish, so we were pleasantly surprised at how much we could decipher when English was not available. We loved that it is clean, safe, and has a very well built and well maintained infrastructure.

The Air France Lounge at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris ended up being our home for several hours when our onward flight to Lisbon was delayed three hours. Then we had a hotel near the airport in Lisbon for about 30 hours before we continued on to Madeira.
Madeira is an island that is an autonomous region of the country of Portugal, in the Atlantic Ocean about 805 km (500 miles) southwest of mainland Portugal and off the coast of Africa. The island is roughly half the size of Oahu (Hawaii) and has a year round population of about 260,000 people, which is about half the population density of Oahu. Approximately 2 million visitors come to Madeira every year and the capital city is Funchal, located on the south coast.
Madeira has a mild, subtropical climate with warm summers and mild winters, often described as “eternal spring” due to its stable, temperate year-round weather. Average temperatures range from 15°C (59°F) in winter to 25°C (77°F) in summer. We greatly enjoyed the lush greenery and the many microclimates of the island.
The island is very mountainous. There are not many flat areas. This is a view over the capital city of Funchal, which is described as one of the more “flat areas” – but you can see it still climbs upslope from the water.
The eastern half of the runway at Madeira’s airport is built on these enormous columns – and the highway passes underneath it too. It is one of the more difficult airports in Europe to land at due to its acute approach angle and turbulent winds off of the approach terrain. The fact that they had to build the airport on stilts is testament to how little truly flat land exists on the island.
Many parts of the island have huge cliffs that plunge hundreds of meters. In this particular photo we are on the far west coast of the island.
The iconic limestone / basalt mosaic sidewalks of most cities in Portugal are also present on Madeira. In Funchal, the beautiful architecture, the overall cleanliness and the well maintained infrastructure make for a very pleasant experience walking around.
This is another random photo of what it is like in Funchal – clean streets, iconic mosaic sidewalks and attractive architecture.
Madeira has a lot of festivals and we were there during the Flower Festival. This is one of the parade floats – decked out in flowers.
Some rugged and gorgeous scenery at Arriero Peak, at an altitude of about 6,000 feet (1800 meters).
On our way down from Arriero Peak, we encountered some unusual traffic. Even at the higher altitudes in the interior of the island, the roads are in great condition.
The mountainous interior, and certain coastal areas, of the island are a hiker’s dream, with many world famous routes. The major trails are controlled by a reservation system that ensures the trails are not overwhelmed and are well taken care of. We hiked PR11.
Madeira has over 150 car tunnels. You can drive all the way around the island in three hours due to these well engineered marvels. They have good lighting, clear signage, and ample wide lanes.
The Funchal Cable Car (Portuguese: Teleférico do Funchal), or Madeira Cable Car, is a gondola lift that transports people from the lower section of Funchal, Madeira to the suburb of Monte. It takes you up 560 m (about 1800 feet) and the journey takes approximately 15 minutes.
At the top of the Funchal cable car ride, one of the attractions is the Monte Palace with huge gardens to roam around in. We were astonished to stumble across this stunning creature. We later learned that white peacocks, often mistaken for albinos, are apparently a notable attraction in Madeira. These birds are usually leucistic—a genetic mutation causing white feathers but keeping normal eye color—rather than true albinos.
Susan’s old world doors obsession continues. On Santa Maria St in Funchal, each resident does a unique painting on their front door.
A “garoto coffee” in Portugal is a small coffee drink consisting of an espresso shot with a small amount of warm milk added. Served in a small espresso cup, it is essentially a mini, creamy espresso, often called a “pingo” in northern Portugal. The term garoto means “little boy,” as it was historically served to children. Given that I can leap over tall buildings after I drink one, I can only ponder why you would want to give one of these to a child.
The island of Madeira is, not surprisingly, where Madeira wine comes from. It is grouped by its age and by its level of sweetness. In this picture we were sampling a flight of 5-year old Madeira wines from a popular brand. From left to right in the picture: dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet, and sweet.
Bacalhau, or dried and salted cod, is the iconic national dish of Portugal, with a cultural significance spanning centuries and a reputation for having over 365 recipes—one for every day of the year. Often called fiel amigo (faithful friend), it is a staple in Portuguese cuisine traditionally rehydrated before cooking. Displays like these can be seen all over Portugal, including Madeira.
In a nod to Portugal’s seafaring history, Madeira has a a faithful replica of the Santa Maria, one of Christopher Columbus’s three ships that he used to sail to the Americas in 1492. Although common history describes him as being from Genoa Italy, Christopher Columbus had strong ties to Madeira in the late 1470s and 1480s, where he lived, married, and studied navigation before his 1492 voyage. The replica Santa Maria ship does tourist sailings from Funchal to view the south coast of the island.
We visited several of Madeira’s small coastal towns. We liked the ones that had a walking promenade along the water, like this one in Machico.
Our Air BnB was very comfortable and had a garage parking space for our rental car – we had a good chuckle when we first saw it. Additionally the drive in access in front of the parking space was narrow. After a few days and several 9+ point turns to back into the space, we both finally got it down to a 3 point turn. We did, however, continue to always have one person act as a spotter, out of an abundance of caution.
About a 5-minute walk from our apartment was a little cliffside gem of a bar called “Capoeira Lounge”. It is tucked away behind a hotel and partway down a cliff that you access by elevator, so we would never have known about it if our AirBnB host had not recommended it. It has reasonably priced beverages and an incredible view.

Tomorrow we fly back to Lisbon where we will pick up a rental car and spend the next six weeks touring the west, south and east coasts of the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal – Spain). Check out “Our Schedule” link for more info.

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16 Comments

  1. Good morning Adam and Susan! I loved ready your commentary and the photos are awesome!

  4. Love the mosaic sidewalks and can understand your love for old doors, they are so alive with history!

    • Hi Christy. I am so pleased that you appreciate old world doors. Besides the history they represent, they are also very symbolic (to me) of opportunity.

  6. Great pictures, and commentary! That’s convenient that Portugese is similar to the spanish language. You guys are practically fluent now in Spanish, as I observed during our visit in San Miguel, Mexico.

    • Haha, thanks Sis. Not fluent but getting functional. We can’t wait to see how we do back in Spain at the end of the month. Thanks for following along.

  7. Loved your pictures and descriptions. Wished we were going there on our fall cruise. By then you’ll be off to Asia!

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