Santa Cruz (pron. IPA: ['sɐ̃tɐ kɾuʃ], Portuguese meaning Holy Cross) is a municipality, a parish and a city in the eastern part of Madeira. Much of the municipality is mountainous, while farmlands cover the remainder of the land including a couple of cherry fields. Santa Cruz is linked with Madeira's only superhighway.It is the third largest major parish in population after Funchal and Câmara de Lobos. Its parish population is 16,842- and the municipality (borough) is 29,721. The municipality is one of the smallest on the island. Its area is 81.52 km²/8,152 ha. Its density is 354.59/km² thus ranking the second most densest in Madeira. It is located SE of Santana, SW of Machico, NE of Funchal. It is linked with a road linking Funchal and Machico while part of the parish is passed with a road linking to Santana. The urban sprawl of the city of Funchal lies westward, while in the East of the municipality is the international Funchal/Madeira Airport (FNC), the gateway to Madeira. The main source of industry are agriculture and fishing while a number of businesses are in the downtown area(in the city of Santa Cruz).
Santa Cruz has a few schools, a few lyceums, a gymnasium, banks, a post office, a small port, beaches and squares or plazas (praças). ParishesThe 5 parishes of Santa Cruz include:
External linksPhotography
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