Five hundred years of development of naval architecture. The vessel on the left is a (presumably full size) replica of the Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción which was the largest (!) of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492. It does half-day trips along the south coast

The old and the new - small fisherman and big ship

The upper part is a copy of this image which is linked to from this page about RMS Titanic. It has been scaled to match the Independence in size. Bear in mind that the red bits of the Titanic represent its 10.5 metre, below the water line draught. With a draught of only 8.8 metres and that towering superstructure the Independence seems awfully top-heavy.

looking east along the coast. Note how soon the cliffs begin.

looking east of Monte

looking east towards the fort

The famous fish market was finished for the day when we arrived and was being cleaned up

The courtyard, where flowers, fruit, leather and other goods are sold

The Independence of the Seas dwarfs the buildings in Funchal

Jacaranda trees and bougainvilla

Homenagem a Bordeira - statue outside the Embroidery Museum

bougainvillea grows out across the wires over the ribeiro

The Jacaranda trees contrast well with the yellow taxis

Note the woman at extreme right taking a photograph. She appears in the same posture on the left of the previous!

Statue of João Gonçalves da Câmara de Lobos first captain of Funchal (wikipic of same statue)

Toyota showroom with traditional azulejos

near the Marina shopping centre

the Independence of the Seas seemed to be visible at the end of every street

Elisabeth of Bavaria. The flowers in her hand are real

Farewell to the Independence of the Seas

In the old town restaurant area

looking down on the Cimentos Madeira cement factory in Ribeira dos Socorridos

the three chimneys on the right are on the Central Térmica da Vitória - the thermal power station with 16 diesel generators. Despite all that water (and a bit of wind power), this station generates 60% of the island's electricity

Looking up to Monte

Cacti are used to create a fence below the cars.

Inside the base station

Close up of the cactus fence

When I saw this telephérique, I said "I bet that was built by Austrians" and sure enough it was. See Rancho for another by Doppelmayr

Me at ease. Teleférico in the background

Looking to the harbour with AIDAaura moored there

Looking towards Monte

Scaffold monkeys?

In 2016 August there was an extensive wildfire here. Six weeks later Frank Ardley took this view from the telephérico. The hillside is totally bare. On the left we can see things like fridges scattered on the ground. Follow the maps link and look at Google StreetView to see the lush vegetation that was there before.

Looking down to Ribeira Quinta Grande

Teleférico down cliff

looking towards Funchal

espetada is meat on a long skewer. It is brought to your table on the skewer and hung up. In this restaurant they have holes in the table and in the tablecloth to take the stand. Also visible in this picture is another Madeiran speciality milho frito - fried cornmeal cubes

looking down to the villas. The location means that the HPB site may be cool and in cloud when it is sunny in Funchal

the view from our bedroom window. Stayed in this unlikely article for all of four days until some mean-minded person said image removed - not in the UK, this article doesn't need photographs anyway.

from the clubhouse

HPB have created a path with an artificially tidy levada passing through the site. The real Levada do Norte runs nearby.

These tiny lizards scuttle over all the baclonies

HPB site at Encosta Cabo Girao

Japanese garden

Lilies grow in profusion beneath these dramatic tree ferns

top of Japanese garden

Chinese warriors

Is this the Budai

Stepping stones

Roger in silhouette

Roger in the style of Caravaggio

Looking down through the garden towards Funchal

Nymphs in alcoves

azulheos

The tallest vase in the world according to the 1992 Guinness Book of Records. 5345 mm high. Now beaten by a clay pot in Taiwan.

Aberdeen Sandra also went to Madeira see bottom of this page and other pages.

There seem to be very few dogs in Madeira and most of those we saw were asleep

Canna lilies

Spot the frogs! Who definitely knew the croaking chorus!

Crocosmia

Ancient olive tree and lavender

spare cars in the top station of the cable car

Cabo Girão from Monte

looking down from Foguete into the valley of Ribeira João Gomes with the harbour in the distance. (Image ripped off from 2867523635_f03a5bfd94.jpg found somewhere on the web.) Another view with location details

The farmer who tilled this field (by hand!) has done so within inches of a 500 metre sheer drop!

In this image (ripped off from Funchal_from_CabG.jpg found somewhere on the web) and taken at an earlier date, there seems to be some sort of edging to the field but in my pictures there is absolutely nothing!

looking to tunnel portal

looking east across the valley

See how the pine trees bend in the prevailing north east wind

Terracing up the mountainside

There is so little flat land that farmers terrace as far up the mountains as they can

pipe bringing Levada do Norte down

Wild gorse is common in the mountains. See Ulex Europaeus