During the last of my last weekends as a volunteer in Madeira, I decided to finally visit the Madeiran Botanical Garden that is located in Funchal. My and my friends woke up early on Saturday (which means it was already midday) and we packed our lunch boxes ready to discover that marvellous place.

It is very easy to get to the garden. The city bus number 31 goes directly from the promenade to the destination. So we caught a bus and we arrived in approximately 20 minutes.

The Garden was opened to the public in 1960. Initially, it belonged to the affluent Reid´s family, who is also an owner of one of the most exclusive hotels in Madeira. The area covers over 80,000 square meters.

A single adult ticket to the Garden costs 6 euros. In front of the entrance, there is a map so we could see what is ahead of us. First of all, we went to the Museum of Natural History. There is an exhibition of various rocks and soil that can be found in fossils, minerals, insects, embalmed vertebrates and invertebrates, endemic species complementing the garden with typical species of island flowers.

Then we took a walk in that marvellous garden. The garden is divided into six areas:

● Madeiran indigenous and endemic species.
● arboretum (collection of trees and shrubs).
● succulent plants.
● aggro-industrial plants.
● medicinal and aromatic plants.
● palm trees.

One of the attractions of the Garden is so-called the lover’s cave. From the cave, there is a beautiful view of Funchal.

Further, one of the parts of the garden is very recognizable. It can be easily found on postcards and souvenirs. It says “jardim botânico da madeira fng. Rui Vieira 1960-2021”.

After almost 2 hours of admiring nature, we decided to rest for a moment and eat our lunch. We chose to chill a bit in a cafe which also has a very nice panorama of the city. We had a great company of cats in the garden that kept following us.

Agnieska
Volunteer from Poland, at the Colégio dos Jesuítas in Funchal, part of MADEIRAN HERITAGE program.