Madeira, Portugal

After our tour of some of Madeira’s beautiful places (see below), we enjoyed having a very nice lunch in Funchal’s main square of the local Scabbard fish with a banana (see photo). The Scabbard fish is brought up from the sea sometimes over 4,000 feet below and the banana is grown on the island.

More about Madeira... Madeira is an Portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean known for its mild climate throughout the entire year. It is popular with tourists and Europeans escaping the heat of summer and cold of winter. Every year, about 500,000 tourists come to Madeira from cruise ships alone. Madeira has a permanent population of around 260,000 with almost half living in its capital city of Funchal.

Travel tip... From the dock that the cruise ships arrive at, you can arrange a memorable 3-hour tour of Madeira from Funchal for about $110 (80 Euro). Four people comfortably can share one of the nice taxis and more may be able to share a van. This makes the same $90+ cruise excursion cost you about $20/person or less. Do talk with the driver for a while to make sure they are friendly and will give you a nice tour. The roads in Madeira are wonderful with 35 miles of tunnels passing through this beautiful island.