Arte de Portas Abertas

The Arte de Portas Abertas geocache (GC3D4F9) runs along the most colourful street in Madeira. Around 2010, the rua de Santa Maria, in the old town of Funchal, was nothing but a row of abandoned houses and shuttered shops. Artists then put an idea to the town hall: paint the doors. The first was signed in August 2010 by Martinho Mendes; those of the rua de Santa Maria followed in April 2011. A hundred or so artists have since painted more than two hundred doors, and the street has become an open-air gallery where the cafés have reopened.

In February 2012 luisftas placed a multi-cache there that is something of a guided tour. Six doors, identified by their numbers, each ask a question about what they show: the colour of a face's eyes, the name of a cat, what some lions are looking at. The answers give the missing digits of the final coordinates, and force you to really look at the paintings. The container is tiny and the street very busy: discretion is part of the exercise.

Geocaching HQ made it its geocache of the week in January 2023, then took it up again in its selection of the year. It is still active and much appreciated.