The Workers' Market is the most alive place in Funchal. A covered market on three floors opening onto a square near the waterfront, it fills every morning with stalls selling Madeira's extraordinary tropical produce: custard apples, papayas, passion fruit, tamarillos, and small sweet bananas quite unlike anything sold in a supermarket.
The basement is given entirely to fish, and the centrepiece is the espada — the black scabbard fish, a deep-sea species found almost exclusively in Madeiran waters. It looks prehistoric: jet black, long-toothed, with enormous eyes adapted for the abyss. A vendor will fillet it in front of you. Upstairs, the flower market sells birds of paradise and ornamental flowers that grow wild in the valleys above the city. Come before noon; the energy drops considerably after.