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Unforgettable

Ago 21
Love0

A backstage trip to the theatre

By Unforgettable 3.859 Comments

When, on October 24th 1884 João Sauvair da Camara, mayor of Funchal, set the first stone of the teatro D. Maria Pia he was far from imagining that, 130 years and four names later the building designed by Porto architect Tomas Augusto Soler would be what it is today.

Even if the present Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias is a building that may even go unnoticed in an increasingly busy city, the truth is that its (also) increasingly busy agenda has taken hundreds of people to its shows, plays, exhibits or conferences.

The theatre has had a new course set for it. And a dynamic that, more than showing the more visible facet of the charismatic hall, shows what we don’t see every day, and what we didn’t even imagine being able to see, like the back screens that can be risen and lowered onto the stage, with paintings signed by artists like Danilo Gouveia. Or the indescribable catacombs, with its stone walls under the stage, allow for its magnificent acoustics. Walking around there takes me back to a difficult to imagine 19th century…

I breathed history while walking through the theatre stories. I imagined its first spectators, on March 11th 1888, all dressed up for its first show, the zarzuela “Las Dos Princesas”, by the Spanish company of Jose Zamorano, from the Canaries.

I walked around the dressing rooms, by the one that now carries the name of Eunice Munoz, where we find the honour book signed by all the great names that went through it more recently. I have read wall – walls – where those that have passed through it through decades have left their names, I went up narrow wooden stairs, and I made it to the net.

This is a round room surrounding the structure from which the magnificent chandelier hangs on the theatre main hall. There are windows though which the sunlight flows in from all sides, a game of light that disturbs me when I return to the place where the back screens seem to patiently await the next time they will descend.

I continue the visit. Without getting the coincidence, I find that the stalls closest to the stage are reserved, in some shows, to blind people and one escort, so they can feel the music being played. A symbol and homage – as Baltazar Dias, a poet and playwright, was blind.

I want to come here more often, to feel the history and breathe culture. Take the time – it’s worth it – and go visit the most iconic of our show rooms. Every Tuesday at 10h00.

Ago 01
Love0

Ice cream to cry for

By Unforgettable 1.678 Comments

If you happen to be west bound, heading for one of the beaches, stop in the Ponta do Sol sea front and try one of the artisanal ice creams at the Baloo bicycle.

I was there this week, and got lost amongst the home made tastes that João Gomes presents those that pass and don’t resist stopping at his tempting stall. Berries, Fajã dos Padres mango, Calheta passion fruit, they are all reasons to succumb to temptation, whether in a cup or a biscuit cone.

João is a natural-born ambassador of the ilsnad’s fruits, and can explain«n the origin of all the fruits there to the insistenet and undecided clients that approach the Hotel da Vila front – after he was invited to leave the other end of the sea front.

João spreads chairs around for his clients to feel well, and he sits and chats, serving history and culture in the shape of words accompanying his cream, made with more than 65 percent of fruit. And it’s worth it. Some go there on purpose to enjoy the ice cream.

Tasty bits of the island. Not to be missed!

Jul 26
Love1

The new Golden Gate

By Unforgettable 4.501 Comments

About a week ago Funchal got back the corner of the world. More than a terrace – one more terrace – the Golden Gate is an historic reference, and its return to the city daily life is that small difference the city needed.

The offer is amazing. Starting by the pastry – made here – and an ice cream parlour that is to cry for. With different tastes to the ones we are used to see in the summer offerings, and tasty proposals that make us stop and lean our heads of the glass behind which all these enticing colours are to be found.

More than seeing the Golden Gate from the front, Madeira In & Out went to study its backstage, the place where everything starts. That and, of course, the concept. Or the concepts…

Starting by the production of its own cakes, pastries and ice cream, the new corner of the world is different. The basement houses the pastry kitchen and the ice cream factory, where a Venezuelan chef mixes all the ingredients, secretly, to make profiteroles, pastries…, where the sweet scents pervade, with people going in and out, with trays, pans and the like. It isn’t difficult to understand how one quickly reached the amazing number of seventy coworkers.

We go up. On the ground floor there’s a kitchen that just serves the terrace. Sandwiches, toasts and little else. It is from here that the cakes and scones that accompany juice, tea or coffee come from, and the pompous ice cream, to be eaten in the chairs that spread in the avenue, under the wide sun screens.

We go one level up. The last – and the one offering the best views over the avenue, very close to the trees that keep the upper balcony cool.

But before that, a new look onto the new kitchen of the restaurant, which doesn’t require too much effort as this is an open space and can be seen by all who venture on the upper floor. We first stop at the shellfish counter, at the top of the stairs, and it is from here that we first look onto the posh and comfortable dining room, where one can lunch or dine, mainly Italian cuisine.

The concept of the new Golden is based on the restaurants run by the same owners in Venezuela. Pasta and the Italian offerings are a different proposal, even because this menu finds no parallel in the city centre. There is also Portuguese food in the menu, and this can be had both for lunch and for dinner. Actually, it is also possible just to enjoy a tea or coffee break in the upper balcony, especially if you want to tread on that fantastic pavement that reminds us of old kitchens and patios.

Enjoy the summer of the return of Golden. Go and try out the new venue in town, and enjoy the pieces of history spread on its walls, the balcony, or the corner that came back into our lives. With a touch of class.

Jul 26
Love0

Navy’s oldest patrol boat retired

By Unforgettable 3.113 Comments

Madeira will never see Cacine again. The oldest of all Portuguese patrol boats will never again moor in Funchal bay, and will never again sail the seas between Madeira and the Desertas and the Selvagens.

NRP Cacine, designed to navigate the African rivers, just like its nine younger brothers, was struck from the navy list last Thursday. For the statistics, there are still Cuanza and Zaire, as the last resistants of this almost fifty years long odyssey, since on May 6th 1969 NRP Cacine hoisted its national pennant for the first time.

It was involved in many missions, with special emphasis for the accident with the Aragon, in Porto Santo, in 1990, with the islands coast being covered in black oil, and a few years later, in 2002, in a fuel containment mission within the Porto Santo harbour. He was also there when the Prestige sunk. There are also strong connections to Madeira, like the 1977 airplane accident at Madeira’s airport, the storm of October 1993 and the unforgettable 20th of February 2010, the biggest flood registered in Madeira. More recently, it was from this ship that an Air Force helicopter evacuated Francis Zino from, when he needed to be hospitalized.

NRP Cacine, with number P 1140, will never return to Madeira, unless it is chosen to become one of the artificial reefs to be placed on the south side of the islands. If so, it will be welcome, but more than that, he will be warmly remembered by all those who served on it, who boarded it, of just saw it, so many times, in the Funchal harbour.

In the service of the Navy and Portugal, it navigated for more than 18 thousand hours, completing the equivalent to 14 trips around the world.

Jul 15
Love0

From Ribeiro Frio to Portela

By Unforgettable 1.557 Comments

A few days ago a group asked me for a suggestion of a levada. After finding out what they wanted (urban or rural, forest or city, long or short?), I suggested Levada da Serra do Faial, in the part comprised between Ribeiro frio and Portela, also known as the levada do Furado.

The route is some 10 km long, simple and comfortable while proceeding along the levada, but ending in a long descent, with many steps, on arriving at Portela. There’s the (very occasional) chance of vertigo, but these small stretches are invariably protected by railings.

The route starts in Ribeiro Frio (on the right, when going down, just after Victor’s Bar), and finished right next to the Portela viewpoint. The first part (some nine kilometer) is just a matter of keeping close to the levada, and from that point, after the big reservoir into which the water flows, it’s a matter of following arrows or the small water channel that keeps the water singing next to the trail all the way to the end.

Until the reservoir, there are mainly native laurisilva species, after that many exotics. In terms of flowers, the pride of Madeira (echium candicans) and hydrangea, with more fragile species along the levada. Consequence – or virtue – of the foliage, the track runs mainly in the shade, which is definitely a plus in this time of the year.

 

Jul 01
Love0

Take a glimpse at the new Golden

By Unforgettable, Vídeos 2.613 Comments

The new Golden open its doors tomorrow, and will hence receive the town’s inhabitants as well as the tourists that visit us ffom Sunday onwards.

The video Madeira In & Out shows you is just a scent of things to come, of how the spot once described by writer Ferreira de Castro as “the corner of the world” is to be like.

Acquired by a Portuguese-Venezuelan entrepreneur after an auction that took place last year, the Golden Gate will lend the city some of its glamour and class.

See the video, and learn what it’s going to be like from Sunday onwards.

Funchal already deserved the return of a cafe like this one…

 

Mai 28
Love0

Have you been to the new Levada dos Cedros viewpoint?

By Unforgettable 12 Comments

Today we have a fascinating walk along the levada dos Cedros, a breathtaking route. Not because of the ups and downs of the path, but because of the beauty of the landscape you will find, bend after bend. Even if you don’t see beyond the tree foliage above your head.

The levada runs in the middle of the laurisilva, our very own enchanted forest (UNESCO world heritage), charming all the was along the path and the many water sources one keeps finding along the way.

Start the walk in Fanal, where the tree heather – typical mountain forest – will welcome you, and from there follows the marked and safe path, walking down the wooden steps on the Seixal valley. After that, the route enters the civil parish of Ribeira da Janela, and here, where you find the channel, you have two options: turn left and head towards the source of the levada, or right, heading down, with the tree heather eventually giving way to the other, more common, laurisilva trees.

The cherry on top of the cake is the recent viewpoint, at the end of a path, recently cleared as part of a makeover of the levada, where one can rest while taking in the landscape all around us.

Go back on the track and you’ll find, on wider or narrower stretches, and always on particularly enchanting scenery, wooden bridges, viewpoints, stone seats to rest and a green blanket spreading over the whole of the route. Don’t forget to take all the waste with you. The path ends next to a flight of steps that takes you back to the street.

Mai 28
Love0

Unveiling of the monument to former combatants

By Unforgettable 771 Comments

It was an emotive day for many former combatants of Porto Moniz and elsewhere. The images show the movement around the unveiling of the monument to the former combatant, setup in Santa.

These images were registered, and are shown here, moments of a day in which Porto Moniz received the men who fought for their motherland overseas and their families.