Our visit with Rob and Jan to Madeira was a slightly unexpected surprise….a lovely island miles away from almost anywhere in the Atlantic about 4 hours flying from the UK. It is part of Portugal, one of their last two remaining ex-colonies. It was uninhabited when discovered by sailors of Prince Henry the Navigator in the early 15th century, and its capital, Funchal, became in quite a short time the third richest city in Portugal due to its crops, sugar cane and timber (Madeira is Wood in Portuguese). It now survives mainly on bananas and tourism!
It has an extremely mountainous terrain and hair-raising roads which we bravely chugged around in our tiny Fiat Panda, and the property we stayed in was at Cabo da Girao which is atop the second highest sea cliff in the world – a spectacular setting. And the old town of Funchal is full of shabby wonderful character!
Our final day was spent on the eastern cliffs of the island where there were some dramatic rock formations that would put the 12 apostles to shame. Some pictures are posted here, more to sort out and post later…..
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