Have you ever heard of the Festa dos Fachos (torch festival) in Machico? It is one of the oldest traditions celebrated on the island. It originates back in the 16th Century when the Madeiran population used torches to warn the villages of attacks by pirates. We found a few good Read more…
Every year, two weeks after Easter, Madeira’s flower-festival comes alive on the main streets of Funchal’s centre with floats displaying a myriad of colourful flowers. This is one of the biggest celebrations in Madeira Island. On the Sunday a large parade of flower-decked cars get privileged use of the main Read more…
Madeira has various ‘Arraiais‘ all year round. Arraiais are traditional regional festivities that is celebrated with street processions, flower carpets, churches and street decorations with lights, colorful flags, music, traditional folklore, food and drink. Each town/parish has its own Arraial and they can differ one from another. To give you Read more…
Did you know that … Carnival was a foolish game of running around, which included water, flour, eggs and tomatoes battles that appeared before the serpentine battles? In Funchal there was a particularly lively area on Shrove Tuesday, where all this running took place: it was located right on the Read more…
The Atlantic Festival is an event organized by the Regional Secretariat of Culture, Tourism and Transport which combines entertainment and culture. This festival sets the beginning of the summer season in Madeira and includes a miscellaneous of initiatives which extend throughout the month of June: the Madeira Music Festival, the Read more…
With the arrival of spring, the city of Funchal turns into a inebriating floral stage filled with enchantment. The magic of this event starts on Saturday morning, with the Children’s Parade, on which, hundreds of children dressed for the occasion event to the Municipio Square where a beautiful flower mural Read more…
More than 30 Portuguese and Spanish artists participated, live and in public, in ON by Porto Bay, … a fusion art festival that took place in Funchal’s historic Old Town. Event organised by the Porto Bay Hotel Group designed to foster urban entertainment events in the city of Funchal, with Read more…
VINTAGE FILM MADEIRA – Private collection of Hugo Reis – Year: 1927 – 1975. Production: Hugo Reis (www.hugoreis.com) This film will be exhibited at the ISLANDS.DOC Festival Date & Time: Saturday 21 of May at 15h00 Location: Centro das Artes – Casas das Mudas, Calheta – Madeira. Click here to Read more…
The Columbus Festival was first held in 2000 with the aim of launching a quality cultural tourism offer on the island of Porto Santo. This year it will be held from 15th till 17th of September 2011. The event is based around the historical figure of Christopher Columbus, who had Read more…
The idea of the Festa da Anona (Cherimoya Feast) was born in 1990, through a group of producers of Faial, that wanted to promote their products (fruit) and thus to call the attention the madeirenses in general. The initial idea was a Regional Cherimoya Exhibition, nowadays also known as the Read more…
Soon the Carnival fever will start here on Madeira Island … see previous post Carnival – Mardi Gras – Carnaval But have you asked yourself … what does the word “Carnival” stand for? Wikipedia offers some answers: The Carnival Season is a holiday period during the two weeks before the Read more…
You can watch the famous Madeira New Year’s Fireworks show live ... via the following live stream : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/madeira The broadcast starts today at 23h30 (GMT). You want a sneak preview of what you can expect to see? Then check the following video of how the city of Funchal greeted the birth of the new year. Video made by Hugo Reis and Victor Freitas. Special thanks to Porto Bay Hotels & Resorts for publishing this video. (more…)
Beginning of September the grape harvest and wine making process starts on the island of Madeira, Estreito de Camara de Lobos. This is known as the Festa do Vinho da Madeira (Madeira Wine Festival) … Madeira’s oldest festival. The picking of the grapes, the Parade of the Pickers, treading the Read more…
A incredible and great effort is done by everyone to restore Funchal and the rest of the island back to what it was. However I think we should also focus our attention to all the victims and those who lost their lives. Since the authorities objective is to make sure Read more…
The VI Madeira Island Paragliding Meeting will take place next March, between the 17th (Wednesday) and 21st (Sunday). All pilots are welcome to this event. Click here for more information Parapente Funchal 500 Anos from Décio Abreu on Vimeo.
Check out the first serie of the Madeira 2010 Fireworks videos. These are the first of the collection videos that we found on the web and we will be displaying them here or placing the link to the video page. By the way ... Happy New Year! More videos .... (more…)
Noite do Mercado (Night of the Market) is a traditional celebration in Funchal that will take place tonight and will last all night long. The location of this event will take place in the famous Funchal market (Mercado dos Lavradores) and the streets surrounding the market. It will be crowded with joyful people creating a real festive happening .... with lots of singing Christmas carols, dancing, drinking and having fun. The bars in the area are opened all night and will be serving traditional drinks. Also the Christmas traditional carne vinho alhos (meat with wine and garlic) will go from hand to the mouth. Also present is a vast display of regional fruit and vegetable being sold ... handy for those who want to do a last minute grocery shopping. (more…)
This year (and also 1st day of 2010) Madeira expects to re-break the world record for the title of hosting the biggest firework display in the world. A title that was give to Funchal in 2006 by the Guiness Book of Records. The company Macedo Pyrotechnic, who will be directing the New Year Firework theatrical performance in Funchal, is making preparations for the 8 minutes exhibition ... using the Funchalense sky as a stage. There will be over a million protagonists namely lights and colors lighting up the black velvet sky (cross our fingers). The show is called ‘Ilhas Afortunadas’ (Fortunate Islands) and it consists of launching over 97,000 individual fireworks, ... which is a far superior number than the 67,000 that has burned the sky in 2006 and resulted in Madeira earning the Guiness Book of Records title then. There will be approx. 40 launching points with 17 tonnes of fireworks spread over various locations in Funchal. The island of Porto Santo will not be left behind and will also have its own firework show. (more…)
27th of September is World Tourism Day. The purpose of this day is to display awareness that tourism is vital to the international community (especially for the Madeira Islands) and to show how it affects the social, cultural, political and economic values. And that is why the island of Madeira Read more…
14th and 15th – Feast of Our Lady of Monte – Funchal This is considered to be the Region’s main feast concerning the people’s devotion, famous all over the world where emigrants from Madeira have settled. Great popular entertainment during the two festival days, transforms the picturesque and romantic parish Read more…