Rua das Pretas
Rua das Pretas is located between Rua de São Pedro and Rua da Carreira and extends 180 metres in length.
For a long time, it was called Rua Câmara Pestana, in memory of the distinguished doctor, Dr Câmara Pestana. The current toponymy owes its name to the fact that in the past, it was common to regularly see the circulation of black house cleaners, who worked in the lordly residences and who, during their journeys, used to go down this street.
The beginning of this street is known for the location of the IA Saúde – Instituto de Administração da Saúde e Assuntos Sociais, and it is possible to contemplate the back of the beautiful hotel unit, Castanheiro Boutique Hotel. The result of an exquisite architectural restoration, which provided a renewed façade to several buildings on this street and displays to its visitors the entrance to its restaurant A Tipografia.
A little higher up, you will find the Madeira Optics Museum at no. 51, with its vast collection of an 18th-century telescope and hundreds of binoculars, film and photographic cameras.
Nowadays, Rua das Pretas has few houses and is focused more on business and services, keeping the manor houses, which are mostly closed, but seeks to recover the magnificence of other times, where several restoration projects are underway for this artery.
