Let’s just say there are so many noteworthy gardens in Madeira that I completely confused two of the more famous ones. I thought we were going to the Botanical Gardens when instead the friends we were meeting were visiting the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens — which we had just seen two days earlier.

No problem, they said. You can take a cable car to the Botanical Gardens from here and meet us later. And that’s what we did: had a quiet glide across a rocky ravine from one garden spot to another. 

And then… we were wandering beneath arbors groaning with wisteria, past pink and white camellias, strolling past cactus and bromeliads and ferns and a patchwork garden of reds and greens. 

In a way, the whole city is a garden, with bougainvillea pouring over walls, and potted plants on most terraces. And always in the background, the Atlantic Ocean.