Loved it! Thanks to everyone that gave me info and advice. It's a gorgeous island! The people (Portuguese) were very friendly and most everyone spoke English. The food was good; lots of fresh fish and tropical fruit. There are lots of great opportunities for hiking and walking there amidst the beautiful scenery. <BR> <BR>We stayed at the Eira do Serrado and loved it! (http://www.eiradoserrado.com/indexE.html) The staff there was very friendly and we only paid 10,000 escudos (about $45US) per night for a double. What a deal!! <BR>Also stayed at the Pousada dos Vinhaticos and liked it a lot, too. I booked it through a travel agency on the web (http://www.madeira-web.com/PagesUK/hotels-resorts.html) and that worked out fine. I had to pay it all in advance (about $60 per night) but they offered a better rate than I got by calling the hotel directly. The last hotel we stayed at was the Quinta Casa Branca in Funchal(http://www.quintacasabranca.pt/uk/index.html). What a wonderful hotel!! It's a 5* so was more expensive but worth it. We paid about $110 per night which was discounted from the regular rate because of construction on the premises, which we didn't notice at all. The service there was wonderful and we didn't want to leave! <BR>I'm by no means an expert on Madeira but if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to try to answer them. I give Madeira a big thumbs up! <BR> <BR>

I am really glad you enjoyed it. It is actually a beautiful island and I would like to come back some day to explore it a bit more.

Hey Pedro, thanks for all your help when I was planning our trip. I saw a post about the Azores and we've been thinking that might be our next destination. It sounds great, too!

if you go to the azores go to the terceira island or sao miguel in the terceira the summer is full of festival street bullfights,dancing it's great most people will speak english there is a american base there also if you like the ocean there caves you can go in and explore doing the summer there is lots to do i only been to sao miguel once but had fun they have one lake that half is blue and half is green and alot of steam holes that you can cook food by just putting everything in the pot and then put the pot inside these bags put it in the hole than cover it and wait it makes a wonderfull tasting meal,but like i said i was there only once and that's when i was younger but can ask about terceira after all it's my home land.

Hey Ursula! Here's the bit I wrote about our trip.

Thanks Paige. I guess I have to add Madeira to my "must-dos"-list which is getting longer and longer.