A few collected observations about Madeira.
Madeirans seem to enjoy a higher standard of living than the mainlanders, from what I can see. Houses seem to be better maintained and the variety of goods in the stores is impressive. Or perhaps I am only seeing the holiday homes. Tourism is the main industry now. In the beginning it was sugar, until Brazil proved more productive, then it was wine. Madeira still supplies Europe with bananas.
Recycling is big here and bins for various recyclables are all over. I think they have no choice as landfill would consume valuable land on the island. Also, Madeirans are conscious of energy and water use.
Road tunnels are everywhere and are essential on what is a volcanic island some 15 million years old with steep slopes, though somewhat reduced in height by erosion. I can see by comparing the roadside volcanic rocks with much more recent ones that I have seen on Lanzarote, an island in the Canary group, that they have had their jagged edges worn down. Recent volcanic rocks must be the most ugly forms in the world. I can't find words to describe them, they are not even fractal, they are every whichever shape the solidification of the lava gave them.
Not surprisingly, roads are steep and narrow. Vehicles often have to pass each other with a hairbreadth of space to spare. This is not helped when some are parked on the side of the road. Sometimes one vehicle has to reverse to let another through. Somehow the Madeirans muddle through.
Eating out in Madeira is quite affordable. (I'm not looking forward to the price shock when I get back to mainland Europe.) I had a nice lunch of grilled cuttlefish, boiled potatoes and salad for 10 € at a well-recommended place, Café Londres.
But other days I had dinner (lunch was picnic food due to the outings) at the Pingo Doce cafeteria, which is a por quilo place. There you pay by the weight of the food on your plate. It's a concept quite familiar in Brazil but less so in Europe. You fill your plate to your heart's desire with salads, cooked vegetables, rice, potatoes, and mains, which at Pingo Doce, was a selection of several meat and fish dishes. (Starters, deserts and drinks are separately charged though.) Your dish is weighed on an electronic scale that has been tared with an empty dish. Pingo Doce charged 10 € per kilo. Depending on how hungry I was, I paid between 4 and 6 € for dinner.
Madeirans seem to enjoy a higher standard of living than the mainlanders, from what I can see. Houses seem to be better maintained and the variety of goods in the stores is impressive. Or perhaps I am only seeing the holiday homes. Tourism is the main industry now. In the beginning it was sugar, until Brazil proved more productive, then it was wine. Madeira still supplies Europe with bananas.
Recycling is big here and bins for various recyclables are all over. I think they have no choice as landfill would consume valuable land on the island. Also, Madeirans are conscious of energy and water use.
Not surprisingly, roads are steep and narrow. Vehicles often have to pass each other with a hairbreadth of space to spare. This is not helped when some are parked on the side of the road. Sometimes one vehicle has to reverse to let another through. Somehow the Madeirans muddle through.
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