Praia Formosa

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Rounding this point (Ponta da Cruz), says Frutuoso, they came upon a beautiful beach, which, for its beauty and its setting, the captain (Zargo) named Praya fermosa’ [the Beautiful Beach]. The commentator of the Saudades adds that it keeps this name ‘and, being sandy, it lies next to the charming panorama of the wide mouth and steep banks of the Ribeira dos Soccorridos’.

Madeirans, used to the sheer cliffs that line almost the entire coast of this island, look with a certain pride and pleasure on the relatively long stretch of this beach. It presents a delightful sight, above all to those travelling along the road that leads to the parish (freguesia) of Câmara de Lobos (‘seals’ den’).

It was on this beach that the French corsairs landed when, in 1566, they subjected this city to a terrible sack.

A distinguished Portuguese physician, who visited Funchal several times and for long periods, had the following to say about ‘Praia Formosa’ when referring to some of the beaches of mainland Portugal, and his words deserve to be transcribed: ‘Some of them are not even beaches in the proper sense of the word. Yet the truth is that they all fill up with people, because people bathe there, because everyone takes part in water sports, because everyone swims, because everyone wants to soak up the streaming sunlight. It is interesting to see those long boardwalks crowded with people sunbathing! The adults on one side, chatting pleasantly, and the children on the other, playing in the water, leaping, jumping, breathing life. So I ask: does Madeira, an essentially maritime land with a population bowed under the weight of ancestral defects, not make use of the sea? Does Funchal, already a city with modern characteristics, progressive and rich, not use the sea as a source of health? In fact, the present beach by the quay does not, and cannot, satisfy the demands of its inhabitants and of its middle class. But I ask again: why is Praia Formosa not used? Today the regular lorry services, and tomorrow motor buses, would solve the problem of transport at modest prices. That beach is delightful in every respect: seclusion, excellent exposure, a picturesque spot, and a stretch of more than a kilometre, only some 5 to 10 minutes from the centre.

The morning or evening walk itself would in its own right be extremely beneficial to muscle and nerve. It lacks means of access, I know, but that is easily remedied. Why should the Council, through its department of hygiene, not consider creating an easy and quick route to the seafront? I am sure that all the landowners would gladly contribute to it. Once this difficulty was resolved, Funchal would have a beach enviable for its position and the gentleness of its sea.

There everything would be provided for, from water sports to sunbathing. Yes, because today local authorities evidently have to face this and other problems aimed above all at improving the living conditions of their inhabitants, at establishing means that encourage the development of the young, creating for them a sound mind in a sound body.’