I loved reading recently a book that portrays the visit of a British tourist with her husband to Madeira in 1853. José Henrique de Franca, her husband, 51years old, was born in Covent Garden, London and was a descendant of a Madeiran emigrant. Isabella de Franca, the writer, 58 years old, came to Madeira to visit the land of her father in-law, throughout a honeymoon of adventures that made her share by written and trough her own paintings such inspiration. Their stay in Madeira lasted about one year and the journey that was made by boat, the Eclipse, departured from London and lasted about 15 days. They were staying in a hotel in Rua da Carreira, at the time one of the main streets of Funchal, where there used to be several hotels, including this one, in front of the English Church, run by Jacinto de Freitas. She talks about trips to: Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro Quinta Calaca (Clube Naval do Funchal) English Church Quinta do Monte Quinta da Achada in Camacha Caniço “Quinta da …

The Secrets of Madeira embroidery – Workshop The Madeira embroidery has always been part of my life. It accompanied me through the curiosity of my childhood, in search of hidden treasures in the house cabinets of my parents, in the bed sheets offered as a wedding gift, in the baptism suits of my children and in the table cloths of my home, whenever we celebrate special days. I never set out to understand the value that is hidden in a piece of Madeira embroidery. Not that I did not like manual labour, but only because Madeira embroidery was considered difficult, time consuming and inaccessible to my inexperienced hands. And so I decided it was time to learn by participating in a workshop of Madeira embroidery. Bordal organizes workshops of Madeira embroidery every week and in one of these thursdays, I joined a group of ladies with the same purpose: to learn to Madeira embroider. Bordal was founded in 1962. There is, in store, a historic route that leads us through the manufacturing process side by …