Madeira: A Paradise of Nature and Culture
========================================================================(on a Portuguese archipelago) Breezy Madeira is an eponymous island in the Madeira Islands, a Portuguese archipelago. The capital city of Funchal was settled in the 15th century and is a colorful collection of gardens, religious sites, and tourist attractions like the thatched-roof Madeira Story Center. Hike to the summit of Pico Ruivo and you will feel like you have climbed through the clouds. Unwind over a glass of Madeira wine, an historic fortified beverage that’s musky and subtly sweet.
+ The Madeira Islands, an archipelago of volcanic origin in the North Atlantic Ocean belonging to Portugal, comprises two inhabited islands, Madeira and Porto Santo (and two uninhabited groups, the Desertas and the Selvagens.) The islands are the summits of mountains that have their bases on an ocean floor, that forms the autonomous region of Madeira.
+ Madeira Island, the largest of the group, is 34 miles (55 km) long, has a maximum width of 14 miles (22 km) and a coastline of about 90 miles (144 km), and rises to the Ruivo Peak (6,106 feet [1,861 meters] above sea level). The greater part of the interior above 3,000 feet (900 meters) is uninhabited and uncultivated; communities of scattered huts are usually built either at the mouths of ravines or upon slopes that descend from the mountains to the coast.
+ Porto Santo Island is about 26 miles (42 km) northeast of Madeira. Its main town, Vila de Porto Santo, is locally called the Vila. At each end of the island are hills, of which Facho Peak, the highest, reaches 1,696 feet (515 meters).
+ The Desertas lie about 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Madeira and consist of three islets: Chão, Bugio, and Deserta Grande, along with the Prego do Mor off the north end of Chão Island. (Rabbits and wild goats live on the poor pasture and attract occasional hunters to once-inhabited Deserta Grande.) The Selvagens, or Salvage Islands, are three uninhabited rocks located 156 miles (251 km) south of Madeira, between the latter and the Canary Islands. The largest has a circumference of about 3 miles (5 km).
+ Agriculture has long been the dominant activity of Madeira and Porto Santo islands. Crops historically grown on the islands include sweet potatoes; gourds of various kinds; kalo, or taro, introduced from the Pacific islands; most of the culinary vegetables of Europe; cereals; sugarcane; and various fruits, such as oranges, lemons, guavas, mangoes, loquats, custard apples, figs, pineapples, and bananas. Banana plantations and vineyards now predominate, and bananas and the Madeira wine are among the most important exports. Other economic activities include sugar processing, fishing, and handicrafts such as woodworking, wickerwork, and embroidery (the last of which was introduced to Madeira in the 1850s by Elizabeth Phelps, the daughter of an English wine shipper). By the early 21st century, tourism had made major inroads.
+ Dolphin & Whale Watching in Madeira:
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