Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Reid's Hotel
Top 10 Famous
Visitors
!
Robert Machin
Once the Napoleonic Wars
were over, Madeira became a
popular winter holiday destination
for those wealthy enough to
afford to escape from northern
Europe. Symbolic of the era is
Reid's Hotel, founded by William
Reid, who arrived a poor sailor in
1836 and made a fortune renting
houses to aristocratic visitors.
(
Autonomy
This shipwrecked sailor
and his lover Anne of Hertford
died on Madeira in the 1370s.
@
King Ladislaw III
Having lost the Battle of
Varna in 1414, the former king
of Poland was one of Madei-
ra's first settlers.
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Columbus
Columbus came as a
sugar merchant in 1478-9,
and returned in 1498 on his
way to the New World for the
last time.
Madeira escaped the worst
effects of the two World Wars,
but by 1974, the year of Portu-
gal's Carnation Revolution, it had
become Europe's poorest region.
In that year, Portugal's dictator-
ship was toppled in a coup by
army officers. Later, celebrating
soldiers had carnations stuck in
their gun barrels by joyous civil-
ians. In 1976, Madeira became
autonomous, except for tax, for-
eign policy and defence.
)
Investment
$
Captain Kidd
Nobody has ever found
the treasure that the pirate
Captain Kidd is said to have
buried on Ilhas Desertas in
the 1690s.
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Captain James Cook
The explorer called in at
Madeira on his ship, the
Endeavour
, in 1768.
^
Napoleon
Funchal is nearing its 500th
anniversary as the capital of an
increasingly prosperous island.
New harbours and roads have
boosted tourism, as well as
improving the transport of fresh
produce. Its forests are protected
as a UNESCO World Natural Heri-
tage Site, and whales and dolphins
have returned to its waters.
The vanquished French
emperor bought wine at Fun-
chal on his way to exile on St
Helena in 1815.
&
Emperor Charles I
The last Austro-Hungarian
emperor died in exile on
Madeira in 1922
(see p27)
.
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George Bernard Shaw
Visiting in 1927, the Irish
playwright praised his dancing
instructor as “the only man
who ever taught me anything .
(
Winston Churchill
Churchill wrote
The Hinge
of Fate
(volume 4 of his mem-
oirs) while staying at Reid's
Hotel in 1949.
)
Margaret Thatcher
The future British prime
minister, Margaret Thatcher,
spent her honeymoon at the
Savoy Hotel in 1951.
Catherine of Braganza
37
