Funchal

Funchal clings to a bowl of green hills that drops straight into the Atlantic, with banana trees growing in the gardens of the town itself. The Monte Palace Tropical Garden stacks tree ferns, old azulejo panels and koi ponds above the bay. From Monte, the way down is a wicker basket on wooden runners, pushed along by two men in straw hats. The whole island is walking country: the irrigation channels of the PR6 Levada das 25 Fontes run along the cliff faces, and the Fanal Forest holds ancient laurels with twisted trunks. The Pico do Arieiro viewpoint stands over the ridges at eighteen hundred metres. On the north coast, the Porto Moniz Natural Swimming Pools are black lava basins that the waves refill. Cabo Girão hangs almost six hundred metres above the ocean, with a glass-floored platform. Poncha is drunk with cane rum, Madeira wine comes by the glass, and espetada is grilled on a laurel branch.