There are tons of "We accept Bitcoin" stickers around. It was no trouble to find stores happy to take bitcoin. Way easier than in the states. 

 Oh, that's awesome! Respect for the local guys fostering it so well there. 🤝 

 there's a big gathering of bitcoiners in a couple months but the island has been a magnet for bitcoiners for about 3 years at least, i'm there, i moved here with another, i went to a meetup in november and there was 30 people there so i'd guess at least another 300 of us here since lurkers tend to outnumber those who speak 

 it's a bit of a "bitcoin state project" if you remember or know of the free state project that focused on libertarians converging on new hampshire

the president, Miguel Albaquerque has been part of a campaign to make the island a bitcoin haven and gather bitcoiners here and Andre Loja, the owner of a coworking space near the centre of funchal has also been very active promoting bitcoin to local vendors 

 I've been once. Camping through the mountains, enjoying the sun above the clouds. The nature is breathtaking there.

How is it with the taxation there, and independence on whatever nonsense the mainland government (Brussels) might come up with? 

 it was probably funchal and it's not a small town, i dunno what the proportion of population based around there but whole island is about 300k and i'd guess funchal's probably got 100k, and then another 100k spread out from east to west on the southern coast, and the other 100k scattered in the small towns around the coast and through the mountains