Madeira Island
Do you like
spring? What would you say about living on an island
where spring is an entire year? Let me introduce Madeira – the land of
eternal spring.
Basic information
Madeira is a
Portuguese territory located on the Atlantic
Ocean about 400 kilometers from the Canary Islands. The total
area of island is pretty small: 801 km2. The capital city is Funchal (Cristiano
Ronaldo’s place of birth). The average temperature is 19 degrees in winter and
24 degrees in summer.
 |
| Picture 1 - Madeira (source: mapy.google.pl) |
 |
| Picture 2 - Madeira Island (source: itaka.pl) |
Levadas
Levadas are
small irrigation canals that bring water from the north springs to the south side of the
island. There
are over 2,170 km of levadas and nowadays they provide a remarkable network of
walking paths.
 |
| Picture 3 - Levada (source: visitmadeira.pt) |
 |
| Picture 4 - Risco Waterfall (Copyright to Me) |
 |
| Picture 5 - 25 Fontes (Copyright to Me) |
You can see
wet stones and a cliff on the left. On the right,
there is a levada
canal itself. The water is clean and very tasty.
Cabo Girão
Cabo Girão
is the 6th highest cliff in Europe with the height of 580 meters. The Cliff became famous in 2012 when in October
special glass-floored viewing platform was installed. The height is a little
scary especially for those who have acrophobia.
Forgive me
for not sharing with you my own photos… but… I
was too scared to take
one because of the height.
 |
| Picture 6 - Cabo Girao Cliff (source: turystyka.wp.pl) |
 |
| Picture 7 - Cabo Girao Platform (source: turystyka.wp.pl) |
Airport
A few words
about the airport. Madeira has only one airport
in Santa Cruz. It’s one of the most interesting and dangerous airports in the world. In order to extend the runway in 2010
it was released over the Atlantic Ocean on 180 columns with a height of
approximately 70 meters each. One year ago when I was flying to Madeira the pilot told us that in Poland there are
only two pilots who have qualifications to land at that airport.
 |
| Picture 8 - Madeira Airport (source: google graphics) |
 |
| Picture 9 - Madeira Airport (source: google graphics) |
Summary
For the
time being Madeira is my favorite place which I have ever visited. It’s one of
those which make you think of moving there. Favorable
climate, a lot of green areas, ocean, fresh seafood
and very tasty wine.
What is
worth mentioning, in 2014 Madeira won for the
second time a prestigious
title of “Europe's Leading Island
Destination 2014” by World Travel Awards.
Motto of
Madeira: Of all islands, the most
beautiful and free
Sources
http://www.walkmeguide.com/en/madeira/trail/26/rabacal-levada-das-25-fontes-e-risco-pr6
http://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-europes-leading-island-destination-2014
http://www.visitmadeira.pt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira
http://www.itaka.pl/nasze-kierunki/madera.html
http://www.madera.org.pl/
http://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-europes-leading-island-destination-2014
http://www.visitmadeira.pt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira
http://www.itaka.pl/nasze-kierunki/madera.html
http://www.madera.org.pl/
What can I say? I'm a big fan of traveling. I really like Portugal, even though language is a bit hard. In my opinion portugese pronunciation is a bit weird, a lot of "sz", of course I'm comparing it to spanish.
ReplyDeleteMadera Isle is beautiful, I admit. I would like to visit it in the near future, despite that I don't like spring that much.
Your photos are nice, but resolution is not.
Anyway, thanks for sharing , in which hotel have you slept? Any thoughts about accommodation ?
For me Portuguese sounds like German speaking Spanish
DeleteFor me Portuguese sounds like German speaking Spanish
DeleteI was in "Melia Madeira Mare Resort & SPA". I can recommend this hotel. Very convenient localization: close to market, car-rent and bus station.
DeleteWell, very nice presentation.
ReplyDeleteMadeira looks really great. And I think I will go there someday.
Is it better on spring or on summer?
How to fly there from Warsaw?
How about prices?
I guess it doesn't matter. In summer there are certainly more tourists.
DeleteI used travel agency (Itaka) to go there. Sometimes there are free places on board and you can buy only flight by travel agency and the rest is on your own.
Well... it depends. For sure fruits are cheaper and sea food also. Madeira is more expensive than Poland but not so much (especially if you life in Warsaw)
I must admit that it's an interesting article :) I have learnt something new. For how long have you been on Madeira? I like your pictures. When was it taken? At spring right? I can see that the island is full of colors - Levadas is pretty nice :)
ReplyDeletePictures were took in July. I have been there for a week. But I will definitely go there once more, but this time on my own (I mean accommodation). I guess it is very nice way of spending time there... You rent a car for a week and you can travel every day through the entire island.
DeleteAfter reading your article the first thing I did was to check itaka.pl site for last-minute offers. So I must say that not only you had my curiosity, but you had my attention as well. The „land of eternal spring” sounds like a paradise for me, but I have some questions (some of them were already asked):
ReplyDelete1. Which part of the island is better?
2. Where did you stay or which hotels would you recommend?
3. Any particular places/bars/interesting spots would you particularly recommend?
4. How expensive was your trip? What about the prices on the island?
5. And last but not least – what was the most delicious thing you ate there?
I was near the Funchal (3 km) in the Lido district it's south side of the island - Melia Madeira Mare Resort & SPA. It is said that south side is more sunny. Lido is hotel district so prices are higher than elsewhere.
DeleteIt's hard to say which part is better because every part has something special (on the west you can surf, on the east you can sunbathing, on the south is warmer, on the north views are amazing).
Must go:
- Levadas
- Cabo Girão
- Porto Moniz - natural lava pools - type in google to see photos... incredible.
I spent over 3 000 złotych (accommodation, flight and expenses on island - rent a car, shopping, restaurants)
For me the best restaurant where I was is called Casa des Espetadas but I must say hotel where I was spending my vacation is very good and has wonderful kitchen.
I was amazed by passionfruits! It was the best flavour experience!
Till now I haven't known that such fruit even exists! And what a fabulous name it has in polish! Thank you for your response, I will definitely go there!
DeleteBeautiful place and I hope some time I will arrive there. Very interesting way to build a runway on airport but it closely connected with characteristic landscape. I really like to degustate some local meal when I somewhere but I haven’t found this case in your presentation (maybe the last sentence of presentation). If you like to eat like me too look at those links (http://www.madeira-restaurants.com/eating-out-in-madeira http://www.madeira-web.com/PagesUK/food-uk.html http://www.food.com/about/madeira-710?pn=4). There are more information about local drinks, meat and fish dishes. If I plan the next holidays I will remember about Madeira.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. To be honest it's very hard to go every day to restaurants when you have all-inc. in your hotel. In the case of my hotel it was even harder because of the quality of serving food. Fishes, fruits, champagne on breakfast, rabbit on dinner... deal with that ;)
DeleteCool presentation! I have been wondering where I will go on my holiday and maybe now it will be a little bit easier for me :D I would like to see this cliff and I promise that I will show you my photo ;) According to the airport, I am a little confused if really there are in Poland only two pilots who have qualifications to land at this airport – we have in Poland good pilots. Do you have any additional information about it?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I don't. It's only an information from the pilot during the flight. I was trying to find something but with fail :/
DeleteI wish to live in place like that, green and worm! I hate cold and the best minimum temperature for me is around 20 degrees. I have never been on Madeira but after seeing this presentation I think I'm going to change that. I really like this observation deck on Cabo Girao Cliff. It looks a bit scary, but the view must be amazing. Also like pictures of levadas and waterfalls. It is incredible that theese levadas paths are so long. I've heard about Madeira botanical gardens and the unusual airport, you mantioned. Although, I didn't know that pilots need special qualifications to land at that airport.
ReplyDeleteIt seems, that the biggest downside of this island are the tickets prices. I checked that they are within the limits of 1500 pln.
Have you checked flights to Lisbon first? Maybe this "connection" is cheaper than direct flight.
DeleteNice pictures mate! Risco waterfall looks absolutely amazing.
ReplyDeleteWe have been actually toying with the idea of going to Madeira for the last two years.
It was always somewhere on the list of candidates. I’ve done only a profanatory research on the place so in my mind I had this image off a small island with a lot of trees. Now looking at your pictures, it hit me how large the island is! I’m definitely going to revisit the idea of going there next year.
My favourite island I’ve been to so far is Santorini. I know, not very original but It truly is beautiful. Because of the architecture for me it was the closest I felt in Europe to being in a different culture. Not many green things there though so comparing it to Madeira is like apples and extremely sun scorched oranges.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY !!! :) Spring whole year is something i'm looking for. Thanks for describing this beautiful place. It looks very interesting. I want to go there and see it. Seriously. I'm not joking
ReplyDeleteSo, go for it! :)
DeleteThank you for nice presentation. This island looks like a great place to visit. Maybe i will spend next vacation there :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome :)
DeleteNever been there. I was considering that destination for a vacation couple times but I've heard that there is a little bit windy - and I don't like it. Probably beacuse of all that mess at midle east many tourists will choose that place that summer. But to be honest I prefer Greek islands...
ReplyDeleteJust when I saw first picture I thought: is Cristiano Ronaldo was born somewhere there? Yeah, I was right. Madeira island… It seems like you have found the perfect place to live. There is nice climate – there is never too cold and never too hot and the air is well wetted. How about a culture there? What people are like? Do you know something about it? The views are really impressive. Great to hear you’ve been there. By the way in CN Tower in Toronto has glass floor too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower#/media/File:CN_Tower_Glass_Floor_Walk.jpg – source en.wikipedia.org). I used to land on this airport in Flight Simulator :D.
ReplyDeleteWell that place goes to my list of visit worthy for sure ;) The airport construction looks really impressive. And I love these Levadas! I am curious too, what people live there? Are there many job places? :D
ReplyDeleteI have never been to Medeira Island, however few years ago I have visited islands located a more south – Canary Islands. Similar to Madeira Island Canary Islands are called land of enternal spring too. I was amazed that despite the fact is was November and he middle of the Atlantic Ocean the weather was calm and worm like Polish April or early May. I guess people who live there must be very happy. No cold winter, no hot summer just constant worm spring. But to be honest I can’t imagine winter break or Christmas without the snow. They don’t know what they miss.
ReplyDelete