Madeira

So for two weeks in July I was on vacation and we spent a lot of time in Madeira, a small Portuguese island. It was really lovely! We were close to the city of Funchal without being directly in the middle of it and there was a great mix of nature and city. We tried to see Lisbon as well but between flight delays and things being closed on Mondays, there wasn’t much I saw or did. So I’ll have to head back there to check it out properly, but I feel like I can definitely talk about Madeira!

We got there and immediately I was struck by the beautiful flowers and insects. The area is tropical so I think pretty much everything grows and likes being there. It’s gorgeous! There are also banana trees everywhere, plus grapes for their wine and passionfruit and things like that. We figured out that there were so many monarch butterflies because there’s a population of monarchs that were blown there accidentally and just never left the island. So they have a slightly different wing shape since they don’t have to fly as high to migrate and everything. Also eating the fruit is amazing, there’s passionfruit in most things but everything is good.

We did a few hikes on the island, it’s pretty mountainous and really only half of the island gets rain. So they have a system of levants that are these canals to bring water to agriculture. And that creates these pretty level walking paths. People clearly use them, we ran into folks bringing groceries home while hiking which was pretty funny. And the views were incredible, I felt like we covered so much ground so quickly and got to see mountains from a few different angles and things like that.

We also spent a few days wandering around, there was one afternoon we went to a beach in town. It was essentially a very big pool, and there wasn’t any sand or rocks or anything, but you could also jump into the ocean. There were a couple floating platforms and rocks to jump off of, but no way to walk into the water. It was still really nice, but after a bit we wanted to be able to stand in the water haha. Still, it’s been forever since I’ve been in the ocean and that was lovely.

There was also one day we spent in town, we checked out the cathedral a little and the Museum of Sacred Art. The museum had more history of the island and how it was used for sugar cane production with the help of slavery until it was outcompeted, and that there was a lot of Flemish trade that brought in more art. Some of the objects in there were still used by the cathedral which was really neat as well. There are a few other museums but they were closed unfortunately. We did get to a food market to try some bananas and see the attached fish market as well, which was so cool! And we stopped at a wine place for a quick tasting on the way back.

Speaking of food, I already mentioned the fruit but the seafood was also very good as well! I really enjoyed the espetada I had, or beef skewer. It was super tender, very tasty. The scabbard fish with a fried banana and passionfruit sauce (of course, you need the passionfruit) was also amazing. I could have also had their grilled limpets all day, it reminded me of mussels but loaded with butter haha. The drinks were also so fun, I loved my nikita since it’s like an alcoholic milkshake and could not find it in enough places. And finally the Portugese custard tarts, pastel de natas, were my favorite snack, I could have eaten those all day. We also tried the Madeira honey cakes and queijadas (more like a cheesecake tart) but the custard tarts are still my favorite.

I do feel like we had a very good and just well-rounded experience of the island, but I would be so ready to go back for another vacation. It was beautiful and quiet and I could hang out on a beach with a nikita all day! Well worth the trip!