Madeira Dolphins Faja dos Padres cable car
Kevin Markham visits
Madeira, a destination
increasingly popular
for golf. Madeira is located 1500 miles to the south
west of Portugal. The main island is 55km
by 22km and it has acquired the enchanting
name of ‘The Islands of Eternal Spring’. It is
an accurate description and little surprise,
therefore, that Madeira has been named the
‘World’s Leading Island Destination’ at the
World Travel Awards for the past five years.
It is an uplifting experience… and when I say
‘up’ I mean it. The island has a shiny new
infrastructure of motorways and tunnels but
once you are off these roads your journeys
get very steep, very quickly. We discovered
this within 15 minutes of leaving the airport
as we drove up into the hills above Funchal,
towards the Palheiro Nature Estate.
It is not often that I return from a golf holiday
and the first thing I talk about is dolphin
watching followed by the almost vertical
descent in a cable car to a restaurant at the
foot of 600 metre sea cliffs. But then Madeira
isn’t your typical golf destination.
The island archipelago was recently voted
‘World’s Best Emerging Golf Destination 2019’
at the World Golf Awards, so that tells you
something. And I can tell you that the golf is
of the adventurous variety so you won’t be
disappointed… it’s just that dolphin watching
has been on my bucket list for years and a
600 metre cable car descent terrifies the life
out of me.
28
Destination Golf .TRAVEL
It was an exhilarating trip and, once we
reached Palheiro’s clubhouse at the top
we were greeted with stunning views over
Madeira’s capital city below. The sun was
setting and the Atlantic Ocean had turned
to gold. This was the beginning of a new golf