Why Madeira Island Is A World Apart

Why Madeira Island Is A World Apart

'A man's culture is essentially the sum of his memories,' wrote José Manuel Melim Mendes in his bilingual book Memories of Porto Santo and Madeira. If so, the collective mental culture of Madeira island is surely one of kaleidoscopic richness: aquamarine waves, violet hydrangea, emerald forests and purple cumulonimbus. Here be sounds of cracking shorelines, whale songs and wind whistled peaks. Madeira is an oddly unique geographical and cultural blip—a rich little universe of rough mountains and lush slopes slapped by Atlantic breakers off the coast of Africa. Locals revere their flower, organ, philharmonic and wine festivals; annually they parade a trove of impeccably kept family heirloom classic cars throughout the capital city. Their cuisine is generally healthy and rich; their local air is fresh, humid and sweet, and birdsong lights up their sky. Fishing boats at Câmara de Lobos on the south coast of Madeira The island of Madeira is about three times the size of the U. S. island of Nantucket, twice the area of the British Isle of Wight and slightly larger than Singapore island. Together with two other islands—Porto Santo and Desertas—Madeira forms an autonomous region of the country of Portugal. It sits 550 miles [870