Arte de portas abertas The arT of oPEn doORs
Arte de portas abertas The arT of oPEn doORs is a project with huge impact on the city, important for Funchal, local people and interesting for the tourists. The project started in 2010 as the brain child of Jose (Zyberchema) Maria Montero, a photogrpaher and arts enthusiast.
The spark for the project was the idea of giving new life to a degraded and neglected area of the city of Funchal through artistic interventions on its degraded doors, to
"energize the area by bringing Art to the street and create artistic spaces. Bring Art to the people."www.artmadeira.org
This is the Old Quarter and it dates back to the early 1400's, and some of the buildings certainly show that, you wonder how they are still standing!
Rua Santa Maria is an artery for the heart of Zona Velha, the old quarter of the city. For most of us tourists the street starts at Rua Brigadeiro Oudinot which runs down one side of the Mercado dos Lavradores, and extends all the way to the Forte Sao Tiago.
The street is lined with bars, cafes, and restaurants of low to mid-priced value. There is no fine dining here as such, but there are plenty of good places to eat and drink. The atmosphere is lively shall we say? When you get to the fort at the end of the road that is where you will find the more relaxed and pricier places to eat. Google maps estimate it takes about 15 minutes to walk along but it is more likely to take longer; for one thing each each eating place is going to try and entice you in, and for another, it is so crowded in the evening you have to stop to let people by before you can move on.