Easy come, easy go

Most visitors to Madeira head straight to the beach, bypassing the island’s capital, Funchal. But on its 500th anniversary, Adrian Mourby argues the case for stopping over, even for just a day

Most people arrive at Funchal airport and simply speed off to resorts across the island. There’s even a fast motorway that whisks you west and bypasses the city entirely. But they are missing a gem.

Five hundred years ago, the Portuguese king made a scruffy port called Funchal the capital of Madeira. In those days it wasn’t much to look at. It was even less attractive when Christopher Columbus stopped there in 1478. He moved to neighbouring Porto Santo to marry the daughter of its governor. There’s a statue of the great explorer sitting pensively outside a tiny chapel in the capital’s Santa Catarina park. It is one of Madeira’s oldest buildings and is the ideal place to get a snapshot of Funchal today. Below, you can see the whole city crammed between the mountains and the sea, with its three canary-yellow fortresses and its harbour wall like some great arm fending off the shining Atlantic.

One of the delights of the old city is the Blandy Wine Lodge on Avenida Arriaga. It’s housed in what used to be the Monastery of Sao Francisco. In 1811, John Blandy, a British army quartermaster, set up a wine-exporting company here. Inside, you can take a tour and see the huge dusty oak barrels in which the various kinds of Madeira (the wine named after the island) – Sercial, Verdelho, Malmsey and Tinta Negra – are left to fortify. As old bookshops seem to retain the character of all the people who’ve read in them, so this place feels haunted by the ghosts of all those who have drunk here and come away feeling happier with life. Napoleon called in here on his way into exile and bought a case of Madeira. Unfortunately, in the rush to St Helena it got left behind. Over 100 years later, Winston Churchill sampled the wines and was formally presented with Napoleon’s case, which was still drinkable, something he proved to his own satisfaction over several evenings.

Further down Avenida Arriaga sits the low, menacing Palace of Sao Laurenco, the largest fort on the island, built to ward off pirates. Opposite, there’s another Madeiran institution, the Golden Gate Grand Café (tel. +352 291 234 383), which has live music at night and Coral, the local beer, by day. Built in 1841, there’s a definite touch of the colonial era about the Gate, with its wicker chairs and slow ceiling fans. This is Funchal’s gossip central. Another favourite of music fans is the Funchal Flower Festival, which takes place every April, bringing with it parades, live music and dance displays.

Foodies should head for the busy Mercado dos Lavradores (workers’ market) on Rua Dr Fernao Ornelas. This fine Art Deco marketplace has a scruffy little espresso bar and two floors of produce. There’s also a lower level, where fish traders gut and sell their fish and argue with each other, while tourists inspect the night’s catch: massive tuna and truly fearsome espada preta. This long black streak of malevolence was discovered in the 1800s off Madeira and has since become a staple of the island’s diet. Its eyes are huge because it lives at such depth. To catch the espada locals have developed a special 2,500-feet-long line.

There are two things you absolutely must not miss when visiting Funchal: the Monte Toboggan and tea at Reid’s. The first requires a €10 (£7) cable-car ride from the Teleféricos station on Almirante Reis. After floating over the red-roofed city, you arrive at the Monte Palace Tropical Garden, (€10 entry fee), built by Charles Murray, England’s consul to Madeira in the 18th century. The garden tumbles down a hillside and is full of exotic plants, lakes and statues. It’s a real refuge away from the city, 1,500 feet below. Birds twitter overhead and the lakes teem with flame-red koi. In 1987, the Madeiran entrepreneur José Manuel Rodrigues Berardo bought the estate and opened it to the public. Berardo, one of the 10 wealthiest men in Portugal, made his fortune mining diamonds and gold in South Africa. He also has a fascinating collection of African art, displayed in a modern building that has been cleverly tucked into the hillside. You can easily spend a whole afternoon here, but part of the fun in coming up to Monte is the going down.

The Monte Toboggan is a wickerwork basket on runners. You pick it up not far from the garden exit. Here on the roadside, men in boaters and white flannels loiter like gondolieri. These are the toboggan drivers (called carreiros), who steer – and brake – your basket as it plummets noisily down the mountainside. A descent down the narrow roads costs €12 (£9) per person and can be hair–raising, especially if you encounter a car coming the other way. Ernest Hemingway apparently proclaimed it “one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life”. The old ride used to go all the way down back into town, but nowadays it stops halfway down for safety’s sake, and the carreiros then have to drag their sleds back up again.

After that mad dash, a soothing visit to Reid’s Palace is definitely in order. Reid’s sits at the western edge of Funchal, overlooking the sea. This was the first purpose-built hotel on the island, constructed by a former cabin boy called William Reid, who arrived from England in 1836 with £5 to his name. Making a fortune in the wine trade, Reid laid plans for a luxury hotel with lush subtropical gardens, which finally opened in 1891 (four years after his death). The hotel has since become world famous and a magnet for any politico and celeb passing by Madeira, including Captain Scott on his way to the Antarctic, Edward VIII, en route to Africa, and Rita Hayworth, who holed up here in 1949 after her marriage to Aly Khan, son of the Aga Khan.

Two things are particularly famous at Reid’s: the Saturday dinner dance and the daily Champagne tea. The hotel employs a dancing instructor for anyone who wants to brush up their foxtrot (George Bernard Shaw claimed the only person who ever taught him anything was the dance master at Reid’s). The Champagne tea is so popular that even hotel residents have to book in advance. It’s a perfect place to end a day in Funchal.

Beyond Funchal: Other Madeira highlights

Câmara de Lobos (1): The colourful fishing village on the south coast, 14km west of Funchal.

Pico Ruivo (2): An extinct volcano and the tallest mountain on Madeira, with tremendous views over to Porto Santo.

Santana (3): Northerly village famous for its palheiros (left), the colourful triangular houses that are unique to Madeira.

Boca da Encumeada (4): The highest point in the picturesque pass that divides Madeira in two. On a clear day you can see both the north and south coasts.

Curral des Freitas (5): Remotest village on the island that lies at the top of 52 hairpin bends. Not for the faint-hearted.

Other easy-to-miss destinations

Funchal is not the only holiday gem waiting to be discovered. Don’t miss these cities when next you fly in

Palma, Majorca The chic and steeped-in-history medieval capital is worth sacrificing a beach day for. Check out the great shopping and fascinating architecture of the Bellver Castle, the churches of St Francesco and St Domingo, the Palace of Almudaina and La Seu and the great Gothic cathedral of Majorca.

Innsbruck, Austria Skiing in the Austrian Tyrol? You’ll probably fly in to Innsbruck, one of the great royal cities of the Hapsburg Empire. Mozart stayed here at the Goldener Adler Hotel.

Sanford, USA Anyone going to Disney World knows Sanford International Airport, but not the quaint old town whose oak trees are hung with Spanish moss. Sanford’s charm has made it a setting for movies, including My Girl, Rosewood and Monster.

Heraklion, Crete A Venetian port in the Middle Ages and built very close to the ruins of Knossos, the city in which Theseus defeated the Minotaur. Spend an afternoon here before you leave Crete.

Rimini, Italy With its 13th-century cathedral, Arch of Augustus and Tiberius Bridge (both built in the early days of the Roman Empire), not to mention its recent raft of boutique hotels, Rimini is becoming much more than a gateway to the popular Amalfi coast.