Parque das Nações: Day 7
After more morning laundry to prep for our trip to Porto tomorrow, we decided to visit Parque das Nações (Park of Nations), site of the 1998 World Exposition, and now a modern upscale neighborhood with a riverside promenade, shopping, and high-rise apartment buildings. It has a totally different atmosphere from the rest of Lisboa.
We took the metro to Oriente station and walked through the Vasco da Gama mall. Shopping malls are popular and lively thoughout Lisboa, and the busy food courts have better food than American malls. Across the boulevard, we saw the large, dramatic Iberian lynx sculpture by Bordalo II. We walked along the tree-lined promenade on the riverfront.
Tower views and a gondola ride
We bought tickets to take the elevator to the bar at the top of the Vasco da Gama tower, which is connected to a fancy Bond-villian-style hotel, Hotel Myriad. The views were great, the DJ music was too loud, and I bet the drinks were expensive.
Afterward, we took the gondola ride along the shore, which was more interesting than the tower.
Oceanário de Lisboa
Then we visited the Oceanario, one of the largest in Europe. There were separate rooms around the big tank devoted to different ecosystems – North Atlantic, west coast of South America, Indian Ocean, California coast – with birds as well as fish and mammals like otters. We got to see puffins again! (Over the years, we’ve traveled to Iceland, and Canada several times, to see puffins.)
We had dinner nearby at Honest Greens (this chain is all over Lisboa).
