The dressed flower sellers
Madeira's stripes at the threshold.
Luke H. Gordon — CC BY 2.0 · H. Zell — CC BY-SA 3.0 · H. Zell — CC BY-SA 3.0 · H. Zell — CC BY-SA 3.0
The Lavradores is Madeira's coloured stomach: a 1940 Art Deco market behind a blue azulejo gate — the fruit floor a festival unlike Europe's markets: custard apples, the island's small sweet bananas, passion fruit in ten kinds and the pineapple-banana fruit (monstera!) offered in generous pre-purchase tasting — the flower sellers in Madeira's striped folk dress its famous threshold, and the fish hall below the theatre of tuna and the black scabbardfish, terrible of face, delicious of plate. Its golden rule is local honesty: tasting is free and generous — prices frankly touristic at the big fruit stalls: buy your needs at the neighbouring groceries for half, once tasted and photographed here. Friday and Saturday mornings are its true peak with the village farmers — and it is literally the old town's gate: open your morning with it before the painted doors.
Madeira's stripes at the threshold.
Terrible of face, delicious of plate — the lower theatre.
Largo dos Lavradores, 9060-158 Funchal
Funchal Old Town & the Painted DoorsFunchal's old town is Madeira's beating heart: the Zona Velha fishermen's quarte2 minutes walk4.5
Casa da Luz Electricity MuseumFunchal's electricity museum, inside Madeira's first power station, preserved wi3 minutes walk4.5
Funchal Cathedral (the Sé)Funchal's Sé is the Age of Discoveries' oldest surviving daughter: a 1514 cathed4 minutes walk4.7
Photographia Museu VicentesA museum in a photographic studio that operated in Funchal continuously from 1865 minutes walk4.6
Henrique and Francisco Franco MuseumA museum devoted to two Madeiran brothers, the painter Henrique Franco and the s6 minutes walk4.3The obligatory five: custard apple (the island's winter cream), the small Madeiran banana, banana passion fruit (the sweetest), the strange monstera (pineapple-banana — eaten only fully ripe), and the cherry prickly pear. From below: black scabbardfish with banana — the island plate that defies its looks and wins.