Funchal paving

While getting to know Funchal, we kept noticing the eye-catching paving in streets and squares. I started expecting it around every corner and enjoyed spotting each new one. Later I learned that this is traditional Portuguese mosaic paving, called calçada portuguesa.

It is made of small, more or less regular pieces of stone arranged in black-and-light-brown patterns of various shapes, such as waves, fans, crescent moons, squares or spirals. Some patterns even include an image, such as a ship, compass rose, or flowery design. These looked especially impressive, and I admired the skill it took to put them together.

Some paving on smaller paths is made only of black pebbles laid at changing angles. Those patterns are neither as noticeable nor as elegant, but as I understand, the pebbles help to strengthen the path, and I liked that something so practical was also decorative.

On the last day of our stay, before leaving Madeira, we spent several hours strolling through the city one last time, and I focused on photographing as many of the designs as I could, to remember them. We even found some alleys we hadn’t discovered yet, and there is surely more.