Funchal madeira portugal biography

Around 1000km from Lisbon and 700km from the Moroccan coast stands a green mountain that has risen from the sea. The Portuguese, the colonizers of this mountain, called it ‘Madeira’, meaning ‘wood’, because of the abundance of trees on the island.

Now, more than 600 years after it was inhabited by Portugal, it boasts a population of about 250,000 people, divided into 10 cities, among which stands the grandest of them, the capital Funchal.

Funchal, meaning ‘the place of fennel’ in Portuguese, has a population of around 111,000, making it the sixth-largest Portuguese city and the main center of Madeira.

With an amazing view to the Atlantic Ocean and built between cliffs and the mountain, the city is a great place to stay on the island, since it has the most things to do and see, and it’s well connected to the rest of this incredible island.

It also enjoys more hours of sunlight and a more temperate climate, since it is on the South coast of the island, allowing for a more r