Madeira Apartments Madeira Self Catering
Villa Echium history
The story of this self catering accommodation in Madeira starts long ago in the village Waidthofen an der Ybbs, Austria in 1912.
A baby girl Theresia was born to Josef and Josefa Wachauer.
Again Austerreich – Madeira or the Austria Madeira connection.
Who have not heard about the beautiful Empress Sissi and her stay in Madeira Island on several occasions, and later of the last of the Habsburgs Emperors, Charles I,(Karl Franz Joseph Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Marie von Habsburg-Lothringen), who had to flee Austria and Hungary and move Madeira, Portugal
In Monte, Funchal, Madeira he died in 1922 where his body still rests. Charles has been solemnly declared "Blessed" in the ceremony of beatification by the Roman Catholic Church in 2004.
Let us get back to Theresia. Her father sent her to a nun’s boarding school in Reims. Being a good looking and quick witted girl she here felled in love with a German boy.
Telling this to her father was a difficult task. She went to his farm and when he was chopping wood she told him that she wanted to marry a German boy and even a Lutheran. The axe just passed her head in the air. She left her family and Austria forever and moved with her fiancée to Berlin, Germany.
The Second World War started, and Theresia was working in the small hotel belonging to the aunt of her fiancée. This hotel was placed on the beautiful street Unter den Linden. One day, soon before her wedding, her boyfriend had to take a trip to Switzerland. He was trading in meat. His car was bombed and he died. Later the hotel was bombed as well and Theresia was living in misery until the end of the war.
After the war, Theresia had the choice to be sent back to Austria or get a job in Sweden. She opted for the last and 34 years old she arrived Gothenburg where she worked as a cook for many years. She later married in Sweden and there she lived until 1975.
This year her husband and Theresia went on a holiday to Madeira. They fell in love with the island, and they bought a villa in Garajau, Santa Cruz. Their home had fruit garden, flowers all the year Happiness smiled to Theresia until her husband got ill and died.
I got to know Theresia some years later. I was living in a quinta in tghe hotel area of Funchal. We had the same person, Salvador, working as our gardener. Theresia phoned me deeply unhappy to tell that her dog had died and Salvador had to come and burry it. I felt so sorry for her, and told her that I would bring her a new puppy immediately. I had my self some giant dogs, Filas Brasileiro, and they had puppies ready to find new homes. I brought her Claudia, a light brown female, and it was love between the lady and the puppy from the first moment. Few dogs have been so spoilt. Theresia was an excellent cook, and sometimes I was invited to taste the dog food. Lucky dog.
More information about Villa Echium in Caniço
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