IN SIZE, THE ISLANDS OF MADEIRA AND PORTO SANTO ARE A DROP IN THE IMMENSE ATLANTIC OCEAN. FROM VERTIGO-LIKE CLIFFS TO NATURAL POOLS, THE STUNNING FLORA AND THE SURPRISING VARIETY OF ITS FAUNA, THE EXCELLENCE OF THE HOTELS, RESTAURANTS AND GOLF COURSES OR THE RICHES OF CENTURIES OLD PATRIMONY, MADEIRA DOES NOT LACK A THING IN ORDER TO BE PERFECT.
Madeira is said to be a garden, the pearl of the Atlantic. And in fact measuring 54 km from east to west and some 23 from north to south the island is a drop in the ocean, with fully volcanic Porto Santo playing the part of the hidden tear. It’s an explosion of colours, a subtropical flora worthy of the best botanical garden, daring cliffs and vertiginous hills, natural pools and a varied and amazing offer of hotels and inns that invite all visitors to a long stay. You drink well (from the poncha to madeira wine) and you eat even better. You witness along the mountains the intensive planting and the fruitful harvests, enjoy the glories of the sea, the craftmanship of the embroideries and wonder if madeira is lacking anything. Most likely there’s nothing missing.
Numbers and statistics alike say that the majority of the visitors arrive in Madeira by air, landing on the International Airport also known as Cristiano Ronaldo Airport. On the way out they are smiled at by a bust of the famous football player inviting you for the very first picture. Yes, the first memory you will have from Madeira might well be a selfie… Unless your main destination is the small island of Porto Santo (there are daily flights and a regular ferry will take you by sea from Funchal, a 2:15-hour trip), it’s fair to say that the tourist will travel to Funchal, first city and capital of Madeira, an Autonomous Region of Portugal since 1976. And as in all things in life you won’t return to Madeira without having fresh memories of your inaugural visit. That’s the way to do it.
You tend to arrive at Funchal by car, a 10 to 15 minutes ride. A detail worth mentioning because due to the constant challenge of mountains, Madeira was made to travel by car all the time so you can stop when Nature calls (if you pardon our French…), bread the amazing air, fill eyes and soul with a beauty that turns anyone who never lived by the sea into a compulsive islander. In the last three decades, Madeira was ‘populated’ with tunnels and highways. There are no fees to be paid by the visitors, a fact that pleases continentals in more than one way, but the roads created under the mountains reinforce the strength and importance of the deeds of engineering: all you have to do is to drive slowly before a tunnel and notice a scary and thin roads on the right. The old trails of Madeira…
Across Madeira mountains, hills and cliffs happily repeat themselves in the landscape along with big and small plantations of banana and most of the fruits that prosper in the tropics. Whether Nature looks over the ocean or the sea flows parallel to the roads, Madeira is there to show that there’s a place for everyone. Even the huge offer of hotels of superior quality prove that you won’t miss a view. And it’s not only because tourism became the first and crucial industry on the Island: the people of Madeira know how to welcome visitors and never see them as rivals or enemies. They are also people of religious faith, following those rules in private or never missing a festivity. And Madeira has plenty of those, specially in the summer.
The cities, with Funchal on top of the list, try to take the best advantage of a cosmopolitan existence, and those benefits don’t necessarily have to be financial. In all districts and boroughs of Madeira you can notice the efforts of preservation, restoration and sustainability of History, via monuments or religious buildings, the beautiful handicraft, the varied cuisine with a strong use of local products and imaginative recipes, the gathering of people in the ‘cafés’, the crystal clear joy of friendship, the feeling a local insists on having that though he is an islander he does not live in isolation. A ‘madeirense’ knows that the real Madeira might not live in the city. The real wonder of the place demands long walks, strong legs, the gift of curiosity, recognizing the glamour of Nature, including the stunning ‘levadas’ (1400 km of irrigation channels), the untouched green and, last but not least, wearing bathing suits all year long…
Old navigation maps from genovese sailors show that by the 14th century Madeira and Porto Santo had already been found or at least spotted. Even if driven by dangerous and occasional winds or with a fearce purpose in mind Gonçalves Zarco decided to change the course of events and claim the islands for the Portuguese crown Then came the settlers, the planting, the crofts, the work of shaping places that even the gods thought were not created to be disturbed. The long and successful mission of turning Madeira into a pearl inside a luxurious garden amid an ocean. The saga of Madeira is, above all, that of convincing Nature to be on the side of the islanders, from the green trails sharpening the hills and made for farming (the ‘poios’),to the ‘levadas’ that avoid the land of being thirsty, all the way to the creation of industries that could provide the whole world with the best Madeira can give. And finally, as if at the end of a job well done it would only make sense to start over, the triumph of tourism.
It’s a story with a happy ending and with no end in sight. As long as there’s Christmas and the New Year seems to leave the world with no population for everyone is watching the fireworks in Funchal, as long as May brings the Flower Fest (Festa da Flor) and Fall allows for the celebration of chestnuts (Festa da Castanha) in Curral das Freiras. It’s a great time as long as the Atlantic offers the goods and leave all bad things beyond reach, friends drink the ‘ponchas’, tourists enjoy Madeira wine, food tastes like a dream and harvests take their own sweet time to succeed. Madeira will continue to be an amazing place to live and share the best things in life. And there’s no way things are about to change anytime sooner. It’s not the biggest secret of Madeira but it serves the Island well. Welcome!
DO NOT MISS
