Eucalyptus trees on Madiera

We were driving up the mountain one day, to reach Rabachal, when the most potent herbal smell entered the vehicle. I couldn’t put my finger on it, and at first I thought I smelled basil. That didn’t seem likely though, as there would have to be very large amounts of basil for the smell to be that strong (we didn’t even have our windows down). So I started to look around me and used Google to help me, and we found out that there was a large eucalyptus forest half-way up the mountain!

It’s an invasive species that thrives in fire, so it’s not native to Madeira, but still beautiful and the smell is intoxicating.