Penha de França

Getting there Use the picture before you leave Funchal, and again when you are close. A calm Lido, or a flat bay in town, does not make this shore calm. If the sea is white on the stones, stay on the path or the terrace. Do not take the steps because the water inside a pool looks still. Pools cut into the rock shut when the sea comes over the wall, and this frame is not the ticket window. Shade matters on a black-sand or pebble beach under a cliff: the sun often leaves in the afternoon, and you can see that here before you drive the tunnels. The north coast and the west coast take a swell that the south does not. Park where the sign allows. A narrow lane with a car stopped in it blocks the village. The picture shows the water and the shore in front of it. It does not show the café kitchen, the changing room, or whether the gate has already closed. When you arrive, trust the water in front of you over the memory of the picture from an hour ago. A north swell builds through the morning. What was blue at breakfast can be white by the time you park. If you have children, the terrace is the plan until you have watched a few sets. The steps stay slippery after rain, and after any sea that reached them. There is rarely a sandy entry. You step off rock. A towel and a dry layer live in the car, because the wind on the north and west coasts does not feel like the marina. If the car park is full, the next village is a better idea than a car left in the lane. Come back to the picture in the afternoon if shade is the thing you cared about. The cliff takes the sun on its own clock. Look once before you leave Funchal and once more when you still have a choice. The island changes between the city and the place in the picture. A jacket in the car costs nothing. A car left in a narrow lane costs the village its road. If the picture and the sky over Funchal disagree, believe the picture. Ten minutes later is a fair second look. An hour later can be a different coast.