On the way into town, we stopped off at the statue of “Sisi” which stands near the Casino.
Sisi was the Princess Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. She came to Madeira in 1860, ostensibly for her health, but biographers speculate that she was in fact bored with court life and unhappy in her marriage, because she made a remarkable recovery, although she did die here. (Tom’s note – Now that’s what you really call a recovery.) She was the great aunt of Charles I who was the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, exiled to Madeira in 1921, and died here in 1922. He was the one beatified by the Pope in 2004 and whose tomb we saw in Monte church.Our first visit was to the Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas, where there is a tile museum, as well as the house which Senor de Freitas rented for 30 years and houses his collections. The tile museum was disappointing, because none of the signs was in any other language than Portuguese; there was no guide book and we were followed around by attendants as if we were about to pinch all the tiles, which were stuck to the walls or in glass cabinets anyway! The tiles themselves were pretty amazing, but it would have been more interesting if there were some information. No photography was allowed (which Tom accepted as a challenge) and there were CCTV cameras in all the rooms, however….
Tsk! tsk!
Casa de Calcada was Dr de Freitas’ abode until he died in 1978, when he left the contents of the house to the Municipal authorities. Showing amazing good sense, the said authorities bought the house so that they could display the contents in their original location.
Again, no photography was allowed and no guide books were available, although there was a very brief English description of each room, and I mean brief eg “Kitchen – this has an interesting wood-burning stove and a selection of copper utensils”. It’s a beautiful house and is exceptionally well looked after. The collections are varied and eclectic. There are some wonderful pieces of English furniture (Sheraton, Hepplewhite and Chippendale), French inlaid miniature chests, china from all over the world, and some exquisite pieces of carved ivory. The Mug room has a huge collection of mugs and jugs, ranging from priceless Meissen to “kiss-me-quick” seaside tat (bare breasted ladies whose bosoms form a perfect thumb rest while you drink!). The Library holds a fine collection of books,in Portuguese, French and English covering a wide variety of subjects. There’s a delightful, tiny Winter Garden inside with a glass roof and a door leading to the outside formal garden, for if the weather was more clement.Unlike our own stately homes open to the public, there are no barriers between you and the contents. Precious articles are within reach with just a few notices asking you not to touch, and small valuable items are wired. While we were there, a party of schoolchildren was being shown around by one of the curators. He was wearing gloves and items of particular interest would be picked up and demonstrated to them. He really had them enthralled, judging from the “wows” and “oohs” we could hear – they were certainly well-behaved and QUIET!
This time, Tom was NOT able to sneak any interior piccies as we had constant surveillance from the attendants. It seems odd that, not only can you not take photos, but there are no photographs or books for sale. I would love to have a good book about the house and its contents as it is so beautiful.
As we were leaving, Tom saw a leaflet advertising Holmes Place Health Club Funchal. Since Andy worked at, then managed HP in Chelsea and Islington for several years, we thought we’d pay it a visit. A very nice young man, speaking perfect English, showed us round, apologising for the fact that it’s the smallest HP club in the group, with no pool or sauna! It didn’t look very small to us and was fairly busy.
I was definitely flagging by then, so we stopped off at one of the coffee shops by the cathedral, where we were serenaded by a wandering accordion player – whether we wanted it or not! – and had to pay him off.
Then we wandered through the old town, down what was the first street in Funchal, Rua de Santa Maria, towards the Fortaleza de Sao Tiago (Fort of Santiago) where there are 2 museums – Military and Contemporary Art. You can guess which one Tom was interested in! It’s not exactly wide ranging, in fact, it’s just a small collection of guns! But still infinitely more interesting that “the bucket of poo” that comprises the Art collection. I’m sure some people would tell you that the “Large Bathtub” painting
and the “Hanging Rock”,
have deep meaning, but we failed to find it. (Tom says that the most interesting part of the “Hanging Rock ” was the rawl plug in the ceiling that the hook to hang it from was screwed into.)The Fort itself was worth a visit
and, although we found out as we were leaving that we should have paid to enter, nobody had stopped us and asked for money.The Capelo do Corpo Santo is highly recommended in our guide book and is just round the corner from the Fort.
Advertised as open from 3.00pm – 5.00pm, we couldn’t wait to see this “Baroque Jewel”, so on the dot of 3, we were hovering outside. The waitress in the café opposite said the man who opened up the Chapel, sometimes doesn’t appear until 20 past, so would we like a drink while we waited? This was a very good sales technique, so we sat and had a drink while we waited, and waited……..and waited. Then she said “oh, he sometimes doesn’t turn up at all”. Today was clearly one of those days!!By that time, it was after 4.00pm, the weather had not improved so we decided to call it a day and go back. Just as well, as no sooner were we in the coach than it started to rain! Dinner tonight is the rest of the Chinese from last night.
Tom’s just got to do the photos for today, then he can go and post the blog for all you avid readers. So, bye for now.
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