This view of Funchal was taken in the middle afternoon. The wind had changed and fog was moving in.

I have never seen eucalyptus trees, they are all over the island. I took lots and lots of photos of flora, most of which I did not know the names (I really want to put âÂÂofâ at the end of that sentence, but that would really disturb a lot of pendantics).

This post was edited by Jim-1 on Sat, Dec 6, 14 at 15:35

Their national flower is the âÂÂfiery aloeâÂÂ, I have something in my back yard from the same family and the common name is red hot poker.

One of the best bird of paradise photos ever taken (by anyone).

This is the private courtyard that I discovered on one of my wanderings. Anthurium and Croton cultivated here make a pleasing-to-the-eye entrance.

We saw many banana trees. Most need bracing to keep them from falling over due to the weight. That is the flower in the lower right-center of the photo.
I cannot determine whether they are exported on a large scale or not. However, most of the small growers (6 to 8 trees in their yards) are members of co-ops and they take their crop to the co-op and that is it; no other merchandising is necessary.

The blue bags deter critters. They donâÂÂt stop the critters, just deter them. We saw this in Costa Rica, also.

Madeira is volcanic and the peaks reach 3000 feet. Much of the lower land is devoted to agriculture with bananas (along with sweet potatoes) being the prominent crops. Thus, many banana trees on the slopes of the island.

Wonderful photos, Jim - plants instead of buildings, pleasing to the eye. That picture of the Bird of Paradise is exceptional.
I have (had) red hot pokers, the drought wiped them out, maybe the heavy rains will bring them back to life?

I agree, the bird of paradies is wonderful. Did you get any ripe bananas to eat? There is no comparison between bananas ripe from the tree and what we get here.