Madeira

Beaches

May 30 through June 4, 2000

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Madeira is not a place to go if you want to sit on a beach and soak up rays. True, the little island of Porto Santo (a ferry ride away) has an incredible beach, but the main island itself has hardly any.  Most are rocky like the one below.

In the background you can see all the hotels, including ours.

The rocky point on the far right is actually kinda neat; there are tunnels through it, cut during WW-II as a gun emplacement to defend the island should anyone decide that Madeira (Portugal) was worth attacking.

The rocks are all smooth stones, not too bad really. Toward the water it becomes a dark sand. So, I actually tried to swim, but the water was cold and just under the surf were more of the rocks, churning in the surf, so it was actually rather unpleasant.