See Madeira's dramatic landscapes, from sea pools to volcanic heights
A subtropical island in the Atlantic, Madeira has rugged volcanic mountains that rise above the clouds, natural swimming pools down at sea level and more than 1,900 miles of historic aqueducts tracing the landscapes in between.
Story and photographs byCeleste Noche
December 28, 2024
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
Four hundred miles off the north coast of Africa, Madeira is an island of lush terraced hills and winding hairpin roads, which transport visitors in minutes from mountaintop hiking trails to coastal villages serving local seafood such as limpets. The first known settlers of what’s now an autonomous region of Portugal arrived in the early 15th century.
They found an unihabited land overgrown with prehistoric laurel forest (the remaining habitat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site today) and extreme changes of elevation.
Photograph by Celeste Noche
To bring water from the wet north west to the drier agricultural regions in the south, the Portuguese built levadas (aqueducts).
Photograph by Celeste Noche
Many of these narrow canals have become walking routes but they’re still used to irrigate farmland, such as Susana Ornellas’s banana orchard in Câmara de Lobos, run by her family for over a century.
Photograph by Celeste Noche (Top) (Left) and Photograph by Celeste Noche (Bottom) (Right)
While Madeira might be best known for its sweet fortified wine, which became popular in Britain in the 18th century, it has other products and crafts it’s working to preserve, including wicker-weaving. The tradition dates back to 1850 in Camacha in the south, where wicker plants grew in abundance.
Photograph by Celeste Noche
Around the same time, wicker ‘Monte sledges’ were used as public transport by locals. Today, visitors can ride the handmade toboggans down steep streets behind two carreiros (drivers), who use their rubber-soled boots as brakes.
Photograph by Celeste Noche
Elsewhere in Madeira, cooled lava has formed natural swimming pools at the sea’s edge. Porto Moniz in the north, which is surrounded by craggy volcanic rock, is one of the best known. A constant flow of sea water means the pools are refreshed with the tides.
Photograph by Celeste Noche
Curral das Freiras sits in a deep valley in central Madeira. Surrounded by mountains, it can only be accessed by a single road. It owes its name, meaning ‘nun’s valley’, to the sisters who sought refuge here from pirates attacking nearby Funchal in the 16th century.
Photograph by Celeste Noche
The village is home to Manuel de Jesus Ferreira, who’s been weaving wicker for around 60 years, operating out of a workshop at his house. He started at 10 years old, leaving school so he could help his father.
Photograph by Celeste Noche
His family has been involved in the tradition for more than a century but Manuel has no one to pass his skills onto and is one of only two wicker-weavers left in the village. Still, he works with the dedication of a man who knows and loves his craft, gently weaving and shaping baskets as islanders here have done for so long.
Photograph by Celeste Noche
Published in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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