Madeira seen from above cloud-level

Here's a peek at the heights of Pico do Areeiro, the third-highest place in Madeira. (Get it? "Peek"?!) The view up here is breathtaking, and the island itself is wonderful. Apart from the mild, sunny climate, it's much greener, a bit cheaper, and not nearly as tourist-y as those Canary Islands. While, to be fair, I was here off-season, the place was nice and quiet, even in spite of a couple of events taking place in Funchal.

I did hear a lot about those fireworks shows I'm mentioning; apparently, tens of thousands of people flock to the island for those things. It also does sound like those would be worth watching, and I'm fairly confident I'll be back here sometime anyway. And apart from the above mentioned, the architecture is pretty, and modernization has been kept to a minimum.

Hell, even the music you hear in public places down here has less of that joyless, soulless Auto-Tune garbage that's being force-fed to mindless consumers these accursed days. It doesn't have any metal scene going on, though, but there does seem to be a weekly classic rock gig going on in Funchal.

Anyway, and in summing up, my warmest recommendations for Madeira!