- designer: Jóse Berado, Eleuterio Soares
- owner: Jóse Berado Foundation
- garden style: Portuguese-Oriental
- size: 21 aces [8.5 ha]
- climate: mediterranean
- location: funchal madiera
[source: 1001 gardens you must see before you die]
It is very unusual for me, possibly, to go on holidays and then – for a break of sorts – to visit gardens…? It’s not really.
The island of Madiera is quite an intriguing place when one sees what is happening to the land on this small island [i believe we in Ireland had a similar situation some time ago]; Planning aside, horticulturally this entire island is a dream-land for the plant lover, botanist and garden enthusiast.
But, my review is of The Monte Palace Gardens or The ‘Jardim Tropical da Quinta do Monte Palácio’ and aside from the slightly touristy, yet worth it, cable car journey up and the timber sleigh down, they are absolutely stunning, breathtakingly beautiful and so worthwhile visiting.
The gardens themselves date back to the 18th century but the works on turning the ‘land’ into gardens of merit actually only started in 1987. If you do visit, I would suggest going twice as every path splits into two or three different directions and so one doesn’t ‘really’ get to see everything.
For the plants person there are over 100,000 plant species; For the architect, the buildings are simply amazing; For the garden lover it is paradise and if you ever wanted an oriental themed garden – this is were you should look for inspiration. If you’re not an uber-garden lover then it is simply relaxation in it’s finest form. My pictures probably don’t do it justice enough.
I try to visit a garden in every county and country I visit. Not all of them appear here. These gardens however would be up there with the very best of them.
