December 27-29, 2023: Madeira, My Dear!

 " A man's culture is the sum of his memories." 

      ----- José Manuel Melim Mendes in Memories of Porto Santo and Madeira

     Madeira is an oddly unique geographical and cultural blip—a rich little universe of rough mountains and lush slopes slapped by Atlantic breakers owned by the Portuguese, but off the coast of Africa.  It's also the place that Paul and I are spending our 12th wedding anniversary. It's "his turn" this year and he made an excellent choice!

     We found out (too late) that there are direct flights from New York City, but we took a more circuitous route on December 25th via Atlanta, Boston, Lisboa, and then the main city of Funchal. We were en route to a hiking trip amongst the levadas and natural beauty of the island, and skipped Funchal completely (except for the airport), but will circle back to Funchal for the finish.

     The island of Madeira is about three times the size of Nantucket, twice the area of the British Isle of Wight and slightly larger than Singapore. Together with the islands of Porto Santo and Desertas and the Selvagens—Madeira forms an autonomous region of the country of Portugal. It sits 550 miles west of the Moroccan city of Casablanca—the same distance as from Sacramento to San Diego, or from Geneva to Berlin. The climate is semi-tropical.

    The Portuguese word madeira means wood, because forests coated the island when navigators first settled its shores in the 15th century. Safe, beautiful and with a balmy climate, this mountainous island is a joy to visit.

     Until recently, exploring the island was arduous. This mountainous land with rugged coasts had unsafe roads and few ports. Residents hiked over heinously steep and rocky mountain trails to visit neighbors in adjacent valleys. With significant influx of funding and safety standards from the EU, today the nation’s road network resembles that of Switzerland—with ample tunnels and elevated highways. This engineering allows rapid travel through—instead of over—peaks, and moving from the southern to the northern coast is now facile. The two longest road tunnels are each over 1.9 miles long. Our guide said the thiry-minute journey we took today across the northwest coast was once a 3-4 hour journey along narrow winding one-lane roads. Despite recent transportation engineering, mountain roads still criss-cross Madeira. Many such steep and twisted routes pass through lush landscapes with terraced agriculture—including sugar cane and sweet potato fields. Vistas include tropical greenery, blue skies and jagged coastal cliffs. Some hillside homes still lack driveways due to steepness of land on which they are sited. Irrigation channels known as levadas—originally dug to transport water from the rainy northwest to the drier southeast—are still used, and their banks serve as pathways for hikers. Created five million years ago from volcanic explosions, the island remained uninhabited by humans until Portuguese navigators started visiting in 1419. This was during the country’s era of exploration, when sea captains such as Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan sailed the world. 

     The island has few sandy beaches and ample laurel forests called laurisilva, which are protected from cutting down of trees. Flat regions are rare; when the Funchal airport runway was expanded, part of it had to be placed on elevated piers . Such topography, however, provides vistas—hence there are seven scenic cable cars on the island’s mountainsides. Typical views include misty serrated ridges cloaked in vegetation.

Terraced communities straggle up hillsides. Nearly every house has at least a small garden with some sort of potato, salad greens, herbs and sometimes fruit trees. 

The amazing views and sky from our first hike give a good estimation of what it is like to go around every corner. 

A view out to the Atlantic. This was our lunch spot on hiking day #1.

     Most visitors to Madeira are from the U.K., Germany and Scandinavia. Americans will increasingly be targeted now that a weekly eight-hour direct international flight from New York’s JFK airport to Funchal is scheduled.

     Our compadres from Explore Worldwide are mostly UK with a smattering of Americans and one Russian national who is living in London. Our guide, Beni, was born of Portuguese Madeiran parents living in South Africa but moved back when he was 10 years old. He is definitely pro-Madeira and has a lot of firsthand knowledge. 

     Our very first afternoon was spent in the Northern mountain village of Santana which is known for its unique thatched roof A-frame homes. We were in a hotel, so we didn't get to stay in one but we did visit the historical park and flower garden in Santana where they had examples to visit...and nice flowers. 

Typical thatch-roof house of Madeira in the Santana region.

Colorful hydrangeas abound

Paul contemplates the garden

Calla lilies grow wild. 

The botanical garden had a small farm area and this BIG bunny was there. 

And a bunch of very attractive chickens. 

     We got some dinner, some jet-lag defying rest and the next day set out on our hike in Machico.  We hiked about 8 miles of this long-distance linear trail with considerable altitudes along the route from Machico to Porto da Cruz. Along this path, we enjoy the beautiful viewpoints with breathtaking views. It was a chance to both explore nature and learn about the traditions and culture of the Madeiran people from our guide, Beni.

Most of us know Madeira for their wine culture, but they also grow sugar cane and produce rum. Some of it is very strong, but it is generally tasty. We also tasted local wines which are very primitive and basic and not exported.

Rum barrels

One stunning coastline after the next

Fallow grape vines.

Yep. Photos can't do it justice

Madeiran sky

Today, Day #2, we hiked the Vereda do Urzal along the levada. For nature lovers, walking alongside a levada is one of the most unique experiences to have while staying in Madeira. These are man-made channels created to carry water for irrigation of agricultural fields around the island. Madeira receives little rain, but there is plenty of fresh water in its mountains and daily humidity approaching 100%. Such watercourses are not unique to Madeira: what is unique is their accessibility and extent. You need only venture a little way off the main roads to begin to appreciate Madeira's myriad aqueducts - for their beauty, ingenuity of design and for the courage and determination needed to bring the concept to its present glory. Most of these structures which are critical to daily life of Madeirans were hewn out of the basalt rock by hand, sometimes by slave labor.   The island's irrigation system now comprises more than 200 levadas  with an impressive 1864 mile) of channels, including 25 miles of tunnels - and the work started centuries ago.

Ferns, laurel forest and flowers abound along the laurisilva and the levada

Appearance of the levada. The depth is anywhere from 1 to 3 feet and it snakes along the basalt mountain and gets distributed into the inhabited area by now computerized system once it reaches the distribution center.  What you can't see in the photo is that the path to left falls off rapidly into a deep ravine for almost the entire way. Not a good hike for people with vertigo. 

A gaze down below into the valley and toward the Atlantic Ocean. 

Waterfalls abound from the mountain where the water for the levada begins.

We literally walked along narrow ledges (most without a guardrail) along this levada for about 8 miles.

     Early settlers began cultivating the lower slopes in the south of the island, cutting out terraces (poios in Portuguese). They built the first small water channels, which carried water from springs higher up the mountainsides to irrigate their lands. These narrow watercourses plummet downhill, rushing and frothing with energy; their banks are often festooned with wild flowers. We still see flowers today, although in the winter they are less plentiful. 

By the early 1900s there were about 200 water channels meandering over 620 miles. Many were private and the undisciplined appropriation of water meant that the island's most valuable asset was often unfairly distributed. In fact, by the mid-1930s only two-thirds of the island's arable land was under cultivation - and just half of that was irrigated. Only the State had the money to implement a major building programme and the authority to enforce a more equitable system of distribution.

     Vereda do Urzal which follows the North levada is mostly flat hike (if you don't count the steep 0.75 mile ascent to get up there) and begins at Fajã dos Cardos, in Curral das Freiras.  As the walk progresses, there is natural vegetation and as well as many invasive species, such as chestnut trees, both high altitude and belonging to the indigenous Laurisilva forest, a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. Vereda do Urzal starts with a climb up to Boca das Torrinhas, This is a place with an admirable mountain landscape, where the imposing peaks surrounding the Curral das Freiras valley stand out.

Jagged sharks-tooth peaks and mists are a feature of every area along the levada when the dense forest thins out and you gave toward the ocean. 

     This was a lovely hike in great cool weather conditions and in addition to the natural beauty, you couldn't help marveling at the engineering feat these levadas are and how they provide drinking water and irrigation for the people of Madeira. 

     We ate a picnic lunch and at the end of the hike, they rewarded us by taking us to a madeira tasting. I actually knew little about it (and still do) other than it was a long-lasting sweet fortified wine.  We tasted the medium sweet, the sweet and the dry madeira and they were, not surprisingly, all very good.

Lunch on the porch of the water distribution station with our Explore fellow travellers. 

Cheers, y'all!

     We arrived at our hotel and surprise surprise----So far, no hotel has had climate control. In fact, we were somewhat cold in Santana. The town we are in tonight, Porto Moriz, seems a bit more temperate or at least we can hope.  Nearly every small village we pass is decorated for Christmas, a holiday they appear to take very seriously. 

A view across the moonlit small fishing village of Porto Moniz in full decked out Christmas decor. 

I wish it were possible, from this instance, to invent a method of embalming drowned persons in such a manner that they may be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to any ordinary death the being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine with a few friends till that time, to be then recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! — Benjamin Franklin

Paul's Ponderings:  Madeira is a super rugged island....a bit to our surprise, having been to the volcanic Canary Islands more than once.   We've had a couple of days of hiking here and it has been nice but in some places super steep uphill.   The views are spectacular and the food is pretty great....lots of fresh seafood and various meat dishes (a bit surprising), plus lots of good Portuguese wine and, of course, Madeira wine.   We've not yet seen the big city of Funchal, which comes at the end of the trip, but plenty of small villages and more mid-sized towns.   So far, the weather has ranged from cool to pleasant and the sea is visible pretty routinely.    Our week will continue with more hiking and in theory one of the biggest fireworks displays in the world in Funchal on New Year's Eve.