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Igreja de Marvila
Dating from the 12th century but with 16th-century additions, this endearing little church has a fine, twisted Manueline doorway, while the interior is completely awash in brilliant, dramatically patterned azulejos dating from the 17th century.
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Torre dos Clérigos
Get your bearings and bird’s-eye photographs from the vertigo-inducing Torre dos Clérigos. Italian-born baroque master Nicolau Nasoni designed the 76m-high tower in the mid-1700s. To reach the top you must scale its 225-step spiral staircase.
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Gare do Oriente
Designed by acclaimed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the space-age Gare do Oriente is an extraordinary vaulted structure, with slender columns fanning out into a concertina roof to create a kind of geometric, crystalline forest.
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Jardim de Santa Luzia
Created from an old sugar works – hence the huge chimney in the middle and old bits of machinery scattered around the place – this undervisited city-centre oasis has heaps of exotic plantlife, its own levada, a great playground and a cafe.
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Café Águias Douro
This stunning cafe – built in art-nouveau style between 1908 and 1909 – is worth seeing for both the interior and exterior. At the start of the 20th century it was where the local intelligencia gathered to share ideas and local gossip.
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Basílica Real
The 18th-century Royal Basilica features extraordinary gilded woodcarvings and a set of tiled panels depicting the Battle of Ourique. A small museum shows religious art. The highlight is the unique 13th-century silver head of Saint Fabian.
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Largo Luís de Camões
This is the administrative heart of the old town, a picturesque square lined with orange trees, with the câmara municipal at its western end. To reach the largo (small square), enter the old town and keep to the left at the fork in the road.
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Ribeira Brava
Busy, scenic and just a short drive from Funchal, Wild River is one of the nicest spots on Madeira. Leave the touristy seafront and head for the mesh of lanes behind containing old-fashioned shops and tiny cafes frequented by the locals.
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Museu dos Faróis
In the lighthouse complex at Cabo São Vicente, this small, but excellent, museum gives a good overview of Portugal’s maritime navigation history, displays replica folios of a 1561 atlas, and gives information on the history of the lighthouse.
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Praia da Calheta
Two well-protected artificial beaches (created with sand from western Sahara) face each other off on Calhetas seafront, one of the sunniest places on the island. A great place to swim on hot days and there are plenty of feeding spots nearby.
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Centro Cultural Vila Flor
CCVF kick started the city’s cultural revival when it opened in 2005 in a striking modern building added onto a converted 18th-century palace. Events at this culture powerhouse include movie screenings, cafe concerts, theatre and art exhibits.
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Torre da Cadeia Velha
Two crenellated towers (part of the fortifications made in the 14th century) face the river at the end of Rua Cardeal Saraiva. The Torre da Cadeia Velha now houses temporary art exhibitions, plus a host of pigeons on its window ledges.
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Lamas de Ôlo
Set in a wide, verdant valley some 1000m above sea level, somnolent Lamas de Ôlo is the park’s highest village, best known for its photogenic thatched roofs, as well as a nearby mill that was long driven by water from a crude aqueduct.
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Barroso Eco Museu
Next to the castle, this museum hosts exhibits that showcase regional history, rural traditions and folklore. There are also exhibits highlighting local flora and fauna, and a gallery rotating contemporary canvases from local artists.
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Arco da Vitória
Also known as the Arco da Rua Augusta, this triumphal arch was built in the wake of the 1755 earthquake. A lift whisks you to the top, where fine views of Praça do Comércio, the river and the castle await. Admission for kids under five is free.
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Mosteiro de Santa Clara
Peering down over the town centre and the Rio Ave, the imposing Mosteiro de Santa Clara, founded in 1318, still has a severe-looking Gothic chapel, though the main building is an 18th-century affair. Currently the entire complex is closed to visitors.
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Igreja de São Martinho
High above west Funchal rises the whitewashed spire of the Igreja de São Martinho, an big early-20th-century creation. The interior is highly decorative neoclassical in design and the grounds have great views over the west end of the Hotel Zone.
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Miradouro de Santa Catarina
Students bashing out rhythms, pot-smoking hippies, stroller-pushing parents and loved-up couples all meet at this precipitous viewpoint in boho Santa Catarina. The views are fantastic, stretching from the river to the Ponte 25 de Abril and Cristo Rei.
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Igreja de São Vicente
Romanesque in origin but rebuilt in the 17th century, this church may have played host to a chapter in Portugal’s favourite – and grisliest – love story. Tradition has it that the future Dom Pedro secretly married Inês de Castro here around 1354.
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Igreja de São Domingos
Hefty stone artefacts are dotted carelessly around the cloister of the adjacent 14th-century Igreja de São Domingos - look for the impressive pedras formosas (beautiful stones) thought to have adorned Celtiberian bathhouses in the surrounding region.
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