Europe, 2013: June 2014

This was a wonder. Madeira is a small island in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco, north of the Canary Islands and south of Cape Verde Islands. It is an an autonomous region of Portugal, the population is about 250,000 year round and it is lovely! First off, it's mountainous. Really mountainous! The whole island is vertical so one will have to deal with hills everywhere.

I think it's Europe's Hawaii. Northern Europeans flock here for the winter months and it sounds as if the climate is similar to Hawaii's. (I've since discovered that high temps can be in the 50's in the winter, so that is un-Hawaiian.) Warm every day. But the mountains and the gardens! Everything is terraced and every home has extensive gardens. And they grow everything! Sugar cane, lots of bananas, mangoes, artichokes, avocados, passion fruit. It is never ending. And the flowers are awesome (this was written Dec 6!).

Diane on the walkway overlooking the Atlantic...

Our tour included a trip to the top of
the second highest seaside cliff on earth. It's 2000 ft in elevation and it drops straight to the Atlantic.

...and the view down!

Everything here is clean and new looking. The capital city of Funchal is modern and beautiful, with tiled streets and sidewalks and beautiful garden parks. This is a place that will require further investigation. I am really high on Madeira at the moment and hope to return.

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When we departed Madeira, we were leaving Europe for good. If not Europe the continent, for we departed Civitivecchia 3 days prior, at least European culture. For Madeira, in truth, lies closer to Africa then to Portugal or Spain. As we left Madeira behind it's lights and vertical inclination made a ribbon of gold bisecting a black sea and sky. It was quite beautiful and reflective for me as I watched it fade into the distance.