If there were to be an absolutist expression about the city of Funchal, Madeira’s capital, that just might be “All the cities in the world and all of the flowers in the world”. An arduous task would be to find a city like Funchal, with nature in it’s roots side to side to the trees that cleanse the air and make you breathe in and smile. How many cities allow you to enjoy the sand, sun and sea all day long, go out for a top gourmet meal, some high class shopping or just gathering some local goods and then enjoy the classy, entertaining, fashionable and enthusiastic nightlife?
Imagine a sunny warm day. You wake up and decide to enjoy a hot cappuccino. Nothing could be easier in Funchal with inumerous coffee shops and traditional cafes to basque yourself in almost around every corner. You think the wise thing to do after breakfast is enjoy the sunshine and go to the beach for a swim. As easy as it is to cross the street Funchal provides you with kilometers of beach and natural and artificial pools all across the shore.
Care for some shopping? Depending on your location a simple fifteen minute bus ride separates you from any of the five huge shopping centers that are scattered around Portugal’s cleanest city, not to count with the individual high end stores located in the commerce area of the town that embraces the sea. If you are seeking a more traditional and historical shopping spree just get yourself to the center of the city and enjoy the Mercado dos Lavradores, the one place where tradition stood the trial of time. The major supermarkets almost cannot compete with the energy, color and excitement that is buying fish, meat, spices at its freshest condition and the same way that the islands ancestors used to buy them.
Technology has helped us all enjoy Funchal a little better. The recently installed cable car can swoop you from the light metropolitan town and simply immerse you in the woods. The whole city is covered with a luscious and cool forest that you can freely explore the truly unbelievable sights that this ridged island has. Due to it’s mountainous geography and deep valleys, you will feel like a fairy tale has started and all the child like feelings will run wild in your mind. It is guaranteed you will feel giddy as a schoolchild and the moment you leave those green mountains, the trees that are as wise as time, you will know that there’s magic in those hills. You won’t be able to put your finger on it but you will feel it. This is the magic of this place. The contrast, the dichotomy that is so easy to achieve but blissful to discover. This is Funchal.
Funchal is undoubtedly a city that ties like no other the traditional feel and the modernity of the 21st century, it puts side to side the trees and traffic, the sea and the sky.
