Shopping for Madeira Wines, Linens and Ceramics

Quality Products from a Favourite Trans-Atlantic Cruise Destination

Apr 23, 2009

The beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira has been a safe haven for ships since Christopher Columbus was a lad. Now it welcomes cruise shoppers in search of the best.

Columbus himself married the daughter of one the island’s founders and was a sugar trader here years before he set out on his famous 1492 voyage of discovery. In pre-Suez Canal days, Madeira's capital, Funchal, became a re-provisioning and souvenir-buying port for the South Africa-India route, and the island has always been a popular destination for Trans-Atlantic cruise shoppers.

Why Shopping in Madeira is a Quality Experience

The ambience is ‘Mediterranean port meets historic/colonial market town’.
Shopping outlets are mainly specialist, boutique-style and family-run.
Dedicated shoppers appreciate the authenticity and expertise that are the hallmarks of Madeira’s best known products.
Handicrafts mean just that – hand-made locally – so each item has its own character and is made to be treasured.
The goods truly reflect Madeira’s geography, history and culture.
English, as well as Portuguese, is widely spoken.
There is no ‘hard sell’, even in the clean and friendly markets such as the Mercado dos Lavradores, where women in traditional dress sell flowers, fruit and handicrafts.
The currency is the Euro, with many quality items also marked in US dollars.

Madeira Wines

Portuguese settlers brought vines that flourished on the island’s sunny slopes. It was noticed that wine sold to passing ships kept better on voyages to hot climates if sugarcane spirit was added. When a consignment of wine came back to Funchal by mistake, the taste had changed because the mature barrels had been rolled around at sea and subjected to high temperatures. People liked the new taste and winemakers decided to replicate the effect on land – and so a new range of Madeira wines was born, like no other in the world.

Madeira wine is noted for being long lived and robust, and keeps well even when opened.
It is worth ‘laying down’ for the next generation – 100-year old Madeira wine can sell to connoisseurs at auction.
Thomas Jefferson toasted the Declaration of Independence in Madeira wine, and George Washington loved it, which makes it popular with American visitors.
Experts at traditional wine lodges will help non-experts to choose wisely.

Madeira Linens – Fine Lace and Embroidery

Over 4,500 local embroiderers keep up the high standards previously set by Portuguese noblewomen, nuns and peasant women.
The work is done on finest imported Irish linen and Swiss cotton, and the choice of styles, shapes and sizes, from dainty handkerchiefs to banqueting tablecloths is amazing.
Recognized as ‘heirloom quality’ world-wide, it is often given as wedding or christening gifts.

Madeira Ceramics and Tile Work

Highly decorative Portuguese/Mediterranean styles predominate, with blues, greens and yellows as the main colours. The range is from egg cups and exquisite single tiles to huge decorative urns and multi-tile murals.

Madeira Wickerwork

Willows trees, pollarded to encourage the right kind of growth for basket making, came with the settlers, and thrived in Madeira’s warm, damp valleys. Baskets were needed for exporting fresh produce, and for all kinds of domestic use, from wine-bottle holders to cradles and other furniture – even sledges for tobogganing down steep slopes. Camacha, north-east of Funchal, is the main producing area.

Taking home quality Madeira products is a way of buying into the island’s fascinating history and culture. Madeira wines and fine linens in particular can be investments as well as treasured souvenirs.