AROUND MADEIRA - Top 10 Madeira - page 61

£ Cathedral Quarter When Christopher Columbus

came to stay with his friend João
Esmeraldo in 1498, the cathedral
(see pp8-9) and the Alfândega
(Customs House) (see p42) were
still being built. Esmeraldo's
home has since been trans-
formed into the City of Sugar
Museum (see p38) , and the Cus-
toms House, a short step away
from the sociable pavement
cafés surrounding the cathedral,
has become Madeira's regional
parliament building. d Map P3
$ Around the Town Hall

Rua Santa Maria, Zona Velha

! Zona Velha Funchal was the first city

since Roman times to be built by
Europeans outside of Europe,
and the Zona Velha (Old Town) is
where it began. The original set-
tlement was protected by the
Fortaleza de São Tiago, now the
Museum of Contemporary Art
(see p68) . Today, restaurants
cluster around the Capela do
Corpo Santo (see p43) , where
fishermen and shipbuilders
once had their homes. A
seafront promenade and park
link the Old Town to the
Monte cable car station (see
p52) and the covered market
(see pp18-19) . d Map P5
@ Carmo Quarter

Chic clothing shops line the
narrow pedestrian streets that
stretch up in a grid from the
cathedral to the city's one and
only open square, with its foun-
tain, its flower sellers, and its
fish-scale-patterned paving.
Framing the square is the grace-
ful Baroque Câmara Municipal
(Town Hall) (see p42) and the
pretty, arcaded Bishop's Palace,
now the Museu de Arte Sacra
(Museum of Sacred Art)
(see pp10-11) . d Map P3
% University Quarter Animated saints dance

and gesticulate from niches
in the façade of the marvel-
lous Igreja do Colégio (see
p40) , the huge and
ornately decorated
Jesuit church whose
ancient school build-
ings have recently
been restored to form
the main campus of
Madeira University (see p43) .
Exploring the six city blocks to
the north and on either side of
the campus, you will find old-
fashioned bookshops, cobbled
wine lodges (see p58) , and some
of Funchal's oldest and most
ornate tower houses. d Map N2

The Carmo Quarter lies
between two of the
three rivers that flow
from mountain to sea
through Funchal. As they
pass through the city,
their deep channels are
overhung with purple
and red bougainvillea. Linking
the 17th-century Carmo Church,
the Franco Museum (see p39)
and IBTAM (see p68) is a warren
of narrow streets, with fine
buildings like the House of the
Consuls (see p42) . d Map N4

Leda and the Swan,
outside Town Hall

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