Clive Scorer's Photo Albums » Holidays » Madeira  (43 Slides)     [Page 1 of 2] :: Jump To  
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In April 2002 Karen and I spent a week on the island of Madeira.
Bird of Paradise flowers. One of the clearest memories of Madeira - they seemed to grow everywhere.
A typical Madeiran view. White painted buildings with tile roofs in front of terraced hills, with mountains behind. This is somewhere between Camacha and Canical.
Another typical view - this is somewhere between Canico and Pico Arieiro.
The first hotel we stayed in was the Quinta Splendida in Canico. The grounds were glorious, and they had cats!
This was the view from our room at Quinta Splendida. The rooms all had balconies, or as in our case, gardens.
   
   
   
   
   
In Madeira, where the rivers (Ribeiras) flow through the towns, they are often cut into channels like this to cope with the amount of water that can come from the high ground. In Santa Cruz, as in a lot of towns, these are covered by plants.
Santa Cruz is the town nearest to the Airport, and so is developing as a holiday destination (see the building on the hill). It has an attractive 'promenade', and a stony beach - in fact Maderia doesn't have any sandy beaches.
We tried to get to Pico Arieiro - the highest point on the island - but were prevented because too many cars ahead of us were sliding on the snow. It was very strange as we started our drive up (in bright sunshine) to meet cars coming down covered in snow.
Porto da Cruz. Typical rugged cliffs straight into the sea, a modern Church (again quite common), and an example of the type of tree that were fairly widespread.
A Lizard at Porto da Cruz. Very common - we once stopped for a picnic and there were hundreds of then skittering around us.
   
   
   
   
   
A very prominent landmark of the North coast is Eagle Rock. Here seen from Porto da Cruz.
Having left Porto da Cruz, we got this view of Eagle Rock from above on the way to Santana.
One of the 'trademarks' of Madeira is the triangular houses of Santana. They are suprisingly roomy inside.
We spent a day in Funchal, which started bright and sunny, as can be seen in this view of the town from the marina.
Funchal Central Market has a fish market, where you can get Black Scabbard fish (Espada - unique to Madeira) and Tuna amongst other fish. Notice the large knife which we later saw being used to delicately cut thin slices from the tuna.
   
   
   
   
   
Madeira was a riot of flowers, nowhere more than the market!
This is the central courtyard of the Funchal Central Market.
No visit to Madeira would be complete without a tour of Blandy's Wine Lodge. These are barrels of Madeira slowly maturing. The tasting at the end was rather enjoyable!
The inside of Funchal Cathedral (or Sé)
The Jesuit Church on the Town Square in Funchal
   
   
   
   
   
Funchal town hall - also on the Town Square.
Funchal now has a cable car linking it to Monte. This is the bottom (Funchal) end. As you can see, the weather has deteriorated since we arrived in Funchal!
One of the main reasons for going to Monte is the church. This is a view of it from the cable car.
Monte was once served by a cable railway from Funchall. This picture shows the viaduct on the left, and the old station (middle right).
The other main reason for visiting Monte is the toboggan ride back down. We didn't bother (after all, we had return tickets on the cable car!).
   
   
   
   
   
Album last updated on 25 November 2011
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