Madeira as a mountainous island was first developed with roads which cut and contoured mountains and valleys. In the last 12 years new roads have been built reducing distances by tunnels and overpasses. These are very important for local people to easily access any part of Madeira but for tourists, the old roads are the ones which show the best landscapes of Madeira and its history.

If you are a tourist pay attention to signs when entering the old roads as some are getting dangerous due to rock and land falls. Specially in raining and windy days it is not advisable to take these roads.

Madeira is a volcanic island and so, naturally the only sand beach which existed before was Praínha, in Caniçal, but with black sand. Now one may find 2 yellow sand beaches in Madeira Island, one is in Calheta, on the southwestern side of the Island and the other in Machico, on the southeast of Madeira. These are artificial beaches which delight children and adults as well, specially during summer.

Sugar cane cultivation was once a key factor on the Island’s development. This fortunate species was introduced by Henry, the Prince who ordered it from Sicily. After planting it, first in Funchal in Prince’s lands and then throughout the island, sugar cane sugar soon became the white gold on the external trade.

Today sugar cane is mainly produced in Ponta do Sol and due to the geography of the soils it is still a hard man work as it is not possible to use machines in such small and steep terrains.

From the 9th of April 2007 on, the 5 sugar cane processing factories of all over the island shall put into operation their machines to process sugar canes.

The traditional process for the crushing of sugar cane may be seen by the visitor, who may thus come into contact with one of the oldest agricultural techniques on Madeira, which originated the production of rum and also the production of honey from sugar cane, usually known as molasses but much sweeter and tastier.

During this month, around 6 thousand tons of sugar will be developed into rum or sugar cane honey most of it in Ribeiro Seco, Funchal, processing factory. The cane crushing shall take place continuously, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. An interesting and important tourist attraction is the sugar cane mill in Calheta village which still makes use of the original crushing machines with about 200 years old and running on steam, which makes this factory the only one of its type in the country.

Levada is the Madeira name for the irrigation channels. The Levada do Norte (North Levada) is one of the most beautiful in Madeira Island but also the longest one and one of the most difficult levadas. Its construction started in 1947 and only 5 years later the water could run along its 50 km. It took hard work and much perseverance to build this long channel which crosses mountains and valleys.

The origin of Levada do Norte near the spring of Seixal river at 1025 meters of altitude. Between its origin and the point where this levada reaches the south of the Island it is 14 km from which 7,2 km are tunnels. If you are thinking about walking along this part of the levada be aware that it is not easy as these tunnels are low, narrow and some of them very wet. The tunnel which crosses Encumeada mountain from the North to the South has about 540 meters long and takes water on a depth of 200 meters from the top of the mountain. It then follows to the hydroelectric plant in Serra d’Água, where it falls down from 424 meters high. After helping to produce electricity the Levada do Norte goes again for the agriculture terrains of Ribeira Brava, Campanário, Quinta Grande and Estreito de Câmara de Lobos. This part of the levada is at a lower altitude of 550 meters and distances almost 35 km with 9 tunnels totalizing 3,3 km.