Machico, Madeira of Santana and west-southwest of Porto Santo in the extreme eastern portion of the island of Madeira. It is linked by road from Funchal (the regional capital), to the Santana and the villages of Ribeira Seca and Caniçal. To the existence of mountains on the western coast, it is sandwiched along the coast from the rest of the islands' settlements, while forests lie towards the interior and grasslands cover the north-eastern corner of the municipality. Geomorphologically, the municipality is dominated by steeped and inclined topography, except in the Machico valley (where slopes are gentle), formed by two mountain ranges: in
Carnival of Madeira Carnival of Madeira The Carnival of Madeira (Carnaval in Portuguese) is an annual festival held forty days before Easter, that ends on Shrove Tuesday (called Fat Tuesday in Madeira - Terça-feira Gorda in Portuguese) the day before Ash Wednesday (first day of Lent). On certain days of Lent, Roman Catholics traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival," from "carnelevare", "to remove (literally, "raise") meat." One of the first major festivals of the year in Madeira, apart from the Dia dos Reis, the Madeira carnival is known as one of the best in Europe. Traditionally,