
Forte de São Tiago
Yellow seventeenth-century seafront fortress with bastions, ramparts and wide Atlantic views.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Fortress of São Tiago in Funchal, Madeira, goes back to October 1566, when French corsairs led by Pierre Bertrand de Montluc came ashore on a beach west of the old town. It follows a local pilot accused of guiding them, the sixteen days the town spent in foreign hands, and the long wait before anyone built walls like these. Best heard on the ramparts, facing the sea.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Palácio de São Lourenço
Sixteenth-century seafront fortress turned governor's palace, with a Manueline tower and military museum.
Praia Formosa
Long public beach of black sand and rounded pebbles, with a seafront promenade and cliff views.
Curral das Freiras
Mountain village in a deep volcanic hollow ringed by peaks, where convent nuns once hid from corsairs.
Convent of Santa Clara
Late-medieval convent of Poor Clare nuns with a tiled nave and a Gothic tomb at its entrance.