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On our last sightseeing day in Lisbon we decided to use the morning to check out a large nearby park, named after King Edward the VII of England. Why did the Portuguese name a park after a foreign king? I’m not sure. But Portugal and England have had deep political and economic ties for centuries, initially I suspect due to England’s conflicts with Spain and later because of English investment1. In any event, when the king visited Lisbon in the early 20th century, the city decided to rename the park after him.
The lowest end of the park starts at the statue of our old friend, the Marquês de Pombal, who was in charge of rebuilding Lisbon after the Great Earthquake of 1755.
Looking up the park, you can see, off in the distance, what’s billed as the largest Portuguese flag in Portugal. It was certainly the largest one we saw on our entire trip!
By the way, this was the only day during we encountered any rain…which is unusual for early to mid-October. We were later told by a restauranteur in Porto it was unusually warm and dry for this time of year.
The upper end of the park, besides hosting that giant flag, features a monument to the Carnation Revolution, when, in 1974, the Portuguese people liberated themselves from decades of authoritarian rule.
The monument was quite controversial when it was erected because many found its shape too phallic. I could see that, sort of, although I wouldn’t have perceived it that way unless I’d read about the issue first. And, in any event, a monument that implies “frack the authoritarians!” seems like a good idea to me :).
There were quite a few other, less controversial, statues throughout the park.
This neat building — featuring, of course, large tiled artworks! — was hosting an industry confab the day we were there.
I had to laugh at how every business in the world strives to slap “AI” on whatever they’re doing.
The park is also home to the Estufa Fria de Lisboa (“Lisbon Botanical Gardens”). Given the season, there wasn’t much in bloom. But plants themselves were quite impressive!
When we exited the greenhouse, we came across a number of these guys. Who look like geese…but not any kind of goose I’ve ever seen. We never did figure out what they are.
With that, it was back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and catch the high-speed train to Porto. Even though we’d gotten familiar with Lisbon’s mass transit, we chickened out and took a taxi to the train station. The prospect of rolling our suitcases over all those cobblestones was just too much :)!
The train itself was very nice…and the ride was very smooth, despite hitting speeds of 225 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour). Not at all like taking the Acela in the American northeast corridor, where there are times you think you’re going to be hurled off the tracks even though the top speed isn’t nearly as high.
We’d decided to splurge on our hotel in Porto…and it ended up being probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Beautifully decorated, centrally located and with a very helpful staff.
It also had a small pool…which I found too cold, the one time I got into it. But the pigeons loved it as a source of drinking water :).
There was also a very nice breakfast room.
While we’d spent a lot of the day in transit, we’ve both found traveling itself tires us out. So, we limited our initial walkabout of Porto to a quick hike to the Ponte LuÃs I (“Luis I Bridge”). It’s a famous tourist spot from where you can see most of downtown Porto and Gaia.
The two cities face each over across the Douro River2, with Porto being on the north. Porto was historically under the control of a bishop of the Catholic Church, while Gaia was under the control of the king…who offered the port wineries, when they got established, a much better deal on taxes. As a result, the product for which Porto is most well-known actually come from Gaia.
