1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

The Yineyards and Wines of Madeira.

172

On the north side of the island the largest quantity of wine is produced at Sei9al and Sao Vicente; while the best is ■certainly grown at Porta da Cruz, where Mr. Eobert Donald son owns a vineyard, of the excellent produce of which we shall have occasion to speak by-and-by. The excursion thither is best made from Santa Cruz, up the usual steep road, paved at the commencement with round pebbles or long narrow flat stones and afterwards passing over rocks and stones of varied size and shape. Instead of being inclosed by tall walls, the road is bor- •dei'ed by fuchsias, geraniums, and the tree-heath, thus afibrding views of the glistening, vapoury blue sea, and the long rocky peninsula at the eastern extremity of the island. Westward -of Porta da Cruz is the famous Penha d'Aquia, or Eagle's Rock, inaccessible on all sides but one, and joined to the mainland by ■a low-lying cultivated tract of ground.

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