The 9 km very fine golden sand beach of Porto Santo is the main attraction of Porto Santo, not only for people of Madeira but also for foreigners. It is known not only for its clear and calm waters but also by the medicinal properties of its sand.

The soft sand of Porto Santo, due to its quality minerals, can help on recovery from specific diseases like paralysis, rheumatism, osteomalacia, rachitis, varicose, etc.

Google Earth, available for free on the Internet, provides high quality and detailed three-dimensional satellite photography of the earth.

Not long ago, Madeira Archipelago could only be visualized on Google Earth in low definition and static images. But now the program has updated its photography of this area and anyone can make a detailed virtual visit to Madeira and Porto Santo islands. Have a look at www.earth.google.com

Source: Madeira Tourism Board - July Newsletter

580 meters above the Atlantic Ocean, Cabo Girão is the second highest cape in the world. The marine abrasion has opened caves on it, has built the so called Fajãs (terraces) over the sea and provoked falling lands.

Though the hard morphology of this site, the agriculture man has somehow managed to exploit these steep lands, in such a way that one can consider it art. Here the violence of nature resources contrasts with the sensitivity of the human marks.

From this view point one can admire a vast landscape, from Câmara de Lobos to Garajau.

Photos by Catarina Fagundes

From the top of Pico Castelo (Castle Peak), 437 meters above sea level, the extensive view of the landscape let us understand the morphology of Porto Santo Island: two distinct volcanic levations with a lower part, where the airport is situated, dividing them.

The volcanism in this island has started in the Tertiary and has last until the Quaternary period. Now, the volcanic activity in Porto Santo is completely extinct.

Pico Castelo belongs to the main volcanic system unit that occupy the Northeast and East of Porto Santo. Though this is the oldest volcanic set of Porto Santo, one can still observe here the highest altitudes and the deepest valleys of the island.

Photos by Catarina Fagundes

The North of Madeira Island has a peculiar landscape where spectacular precipices that fall on a vortex to the sea mixes with the green of the forest or with terraces cut by man on the mountain.

Photo by Catarina Fagundes

Varying with the typical, old, Madeira architecture houses, some new American style houses, distance from tradition, are signs of the economic prosperity of those who once migrated to far countries.

Photo by Catarina Fagundes