Thanks to Paul Tro man’s for highlighting this article in today’s Sunday Times.
Madeira is where my glamorous gran used to go on holiday!” a friend said. “My grandparents went on honeymoon there in the 1950s,” my partner told me — not exactly the endorsements I was hoping for before my trip to the island for some winter sun.
Whereas Lisbon and Porto have boomed as city-break destinations over the past few years, the Portuguese autonomous region of Madeira has been left in the cold, despite daytime temperatures rarely dropping much below 20C. Mention it and you’re likely to think of the fortified wine gathering dust at the back of your drinks cabinet rather than a place to visit.