Today we visited the market at Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Called the Mercado dos Lavradores, it is a typical semi-tropical market, with an incredible variety of tropical and sub-tropical fruit, as well as fruit from the colder areas of the world. The colors of the flowers and the fruit were exquisite! Quite a bit of basketry was seen as well.
In this view we can see fruit of the temperate areas of Europe: apples and pears; oranges and tangerines from Asia, bananas from Polynesia, tree tomatoes from South America, custard apples or cherimolas from Tropical America, the giant gooseberries of China, domesticated in New Zealand, also called kiwis, chestnuts from the Mediterranean, passion fruit of at least three varieties from South America, and Mexican breadfruit or Philodendron. There were a few stalls where medicinal plants were sold, huge piles of many different species of grasses, dried flowers, seeds and leaves, to ease your pains and diseases away!
Other parts of the market had sugar-cane to chew (a grass from the W. Himalayas), avocados from Mexico, and dozens of seeds and bulbs and corms of a great variety of tulips, amaryllis and other exotic plants. Off to one side of the market was the fish section, where we were able to see great numbers of sword-fish (unrelated to the pelagic swordfish we know from the Pacific of North America), considered one of the most delicious fish in the waters surrounding the island.
Some vendors had lovely sweaters and the typical Madeiran pointy, multi-colored caps.
