I think many of us first heard the name Madeira applied to a dessert wine; indeed, more than one person to whom I said I planned a holiday on the island of Madeira said “you mean it’s more than just a wine?”  Grape vines from which come the local vintages are squeezed onto slopes all around the island, including in this stunning steep cliffside of vineyards, waterfalls, coastal views and a lovely perspective on the village of Seixal. That’s a town you’ve seen in a previous post – in fact, if you check that post, you’ll see these cliffs as seen from the seawall which juts like a finger out into the ocean in the image above. And yes, there were posters all over the island for local elections when we were there. And yes, lots of the roads on Madeira are this curvy and vertiginous :-).