Madeira, Portugal

It is one of most beautiful islands I have ever visited. Great in food, superb on infrastructure, with nature which is beyond description. All that on only few kilometers of volcanic island near Portuguese shoreline. The island of Madeira is wet in the northwest, but dry in the southeast.

In the 16th century the Portuguese started building levadas or aqueducts to carry water to the agricultural regions in the south. Madeira is very mountainous, and building the levadas was difficult and often convicts or slaves were used. Many are cut into the sides of mountains, and it was also necessary to dig 25 miles (40 km) of tunnels, some of which are still accessible.