Madeira (Day 3)

Saturday was a bit of a slower day. 

We started off with a walking city tour of Funchal.  The city was founded in 1421 by Portuguese explorer João Gonçalves Zarco, who first landed on Porto Santo before making his way to the larger Madeira Island.  Christopher Columbus was one of the early settlers and spent many years on Madeira.  The island was heavily treed when it was discovered, thus was named "Madeira" which is the Portuguese name for wood.  Funchal, probably named after the Portuguese word for fennel which is "funcho," is the capital city and has about 100,000 inhabitants today.  The climate, tropical but temperate even though it is fairly near the equator, is perfect for flowers and trees, and Madeira is nicknamed the Garden Island.   Sugar cane used to be a big business on the island, but now Madeira is best known for its famous fortified wine.  

We ended the day with a great dinner at Akua, a nouveau Portuguese restaurant in the old town.