Mountain trail in Madeira Portugal

Mountain trail in Madeira Portugal

Madeira Island, the land rises, reminding hikers that this Portuguese island is the tip of a shield volcano rising up from the ocean floor. Trails allow passage up into these higher elevations, including paths created from the island’s old (and still functioning) aqueduct system. Some of the retired channels, called levadas, have been repurposed as hiking trails.

During the Age of Discovery, the Madeira archipelago was often a last stop for ships before heading to the New World. Unsold casks of wine returned to the island had been exposed to heat on the long journey, which changed the character of the wine. Now Madeira wine, a signature island export, is heated as it ages, to replicate that distinctive flavour.

The way up to Pico do Areeiro, Madeira