Meet the faces behind ‘Our year in Madeira’

“Why Madeira?” That’s the question we’ve heard most often since we decided to pack our bags and move our family to this floating botanical garden in the Atlantic.

We are Marieke & Rembrandt, and we didn’t just want to visit Madeira for a week; we wanted to breathe it. We wanted to know which levada is best when it rains, which ‘tasca’ serves the most authentic Espetada, and where the sun actually shines when Funchal is covered in clouds.

Our Mission

After a year of living in Madeira many friends asked us for travel tips. Living here for a full year changed everything how we looked to the island. It allowed us to peel back the layers of the “standard” tourist experience.

On this site, we share:

• Real Lessons: The logistics of moving and living on an island.
• Curated Nature: Hikes and viewpoints we’ve tested with our own feet (and sometimes with kids in tow).
• Local Soul: The places and people that make Madeira more than just a holiday destination.

Why You Can Trust Our Tips

We don’t do “sponsored stays” or “top 10” lists based on Google searches. Everything you read here is based on our own footsteps. We’ve driven the steepest roads on the island, spent countless hours walking levadas, and tasted more Bolo do Caco than we’d like to admit.

Our goal is simple: to help you fall in love with Madeira just as deeply as we did—but with the headstart that only a year of local living can provide.