Funchal, Madeira
The brochure extols…
The Island of Madeira
Six carefree days of sampling the delights of transatlantic sailing and then “Land Ho!” What a wonderful
land is your first port of call - Madeira, beautiful isle of pure blue skies, warm seas and exhaustless greenery.
Rising out of this greenery, white and shining, is Funchal - the flower-decked capital. Her warm and hospitable people will welcome you - you'll see groups of pretty young girls dressed in their delightful native costumes, scattered throughout the ancient cobbled streets, selling the flowers and fruits of the island and you'll be invited to sample some of Madeira's fine wines in the quaint bodegas.
[Photo: © Peter Stevens 1966]
Mediterranean Pageant
Sheridan H. Garth's book “Pageant of the Mediterranean” tells us…
Picture a lovely island only 37 miles long and 12 miles broad, which rises precipitously out of the warm Atlantic to a
peak 6,150 feet above the sea. Being the top of an extinct volcano, its soil is rich, its vegetation is a profuse green,
and some of its beaches are jet-black volcanic sand.
Its nearest mainland neighbour is the Moroccan coast of Africa 340 miles away to the east, but its principal commerce is with the mother country, Portugal, whose capital city of Lisbon is 535 miles North Eastward. In relation to America, Madeira rises from the ocean 2,760 miles east by south of New York.
Madeira's holiday atmosphere and flowery mild winters make it invariably a port of call on Mediterranean cruises operating from New York in the winter months. Travellers approaching it by sea find its rugged scenery magnificent. During the middle of winter, they can espy the rare treat of crisp snow tipping the higher peaks, even though the aroma of spring flowers can be sniffed from the lower reaches of the slopes.
On coming closer they can sense the appeal of the balmy climate and see the quaint tiled roofs and the tinted fronts of the houses of Funchal, the chief city, rising up the steep sides of the island as if to form an amphitheatre around the small, deep bay that is the island's only harbour.
Madeira has almost 200,000 people, of whom over 80,000 live in Funchal (in 1951), which is a semitropical edition of Lisbon in its general appearance. It has the same mosaic-patterned sidewalks, gaily coloured buildings, avenues of palms or jacaranda trees, and flowery displays as those of the mother city on the mainland.
The island has been famed throughout its history for the famous Madeira wine produced from the vineyards that line the terraces scooped out of the steep slopes of the mountain sides. Aged in casks stored in Funchal's warehouses or “bodegas” it can be sampled or bought by all visitors.
