Jardim da Estrela

Just opposite the Basílica da Estrela you will find a shadowy and lush garden called Jardim da Estrela. It's also named Jardim Guerra Junqueiro but it is very rare to hear someone call it that. This garden is the perfect spot to either enjoy the greenery mid winter or to hide in the shade during those warmest summer days. Take your kids with you, the park has a designated area for children to play, enjoy the duck pond, have an ice cream or a nice cuppa coffee in the middle of this calm scenery. If you want to just have some peace and quiet the park is big enough to just find a park bench where you can sit and read a book hidden away from the city bustle. Don't forget to look up at the trees, you might have the luck to catch a glimpse of the free flying parakeets who have made their home in the park.

 The construction of the park began in 1842 during the reign of queen Maria II but due to political unrest it wasn't inaugurated officially until 1852. The lovely green band stand in the middle of the park made out of wrought-iron stands out and back then there would also have been several quiosques, a Chinese Pavilion as well as a real lion who lived there permanently which seemed to have amused people back in the day. During those times, it had become very popular to go for walks in the gardens if you were living in the city.

The garden is planned in the English garden style, which allows for a more unsymmetrical, natural environment than French gardens although it is of course highly planned to look the way it does, it just feels more haphazardly to the visitor. The original gardeners who laid out the plan for the park where Jean Bonnard and João Francisco. Today you might enjoy several exotic botanical species growing in the park as well as all the statues.

The park is open between 7:00 am until midnight every day, free entrance. Just north of the gardens you can find the English cemetery, in case you would want to pay your respects to Henry Fielding, the British writer, who is buried there. Catch either the tram nr 25 or 28 from the Praça do Comércio to get to the garden, basilica and cemetery.





Location: Jardim da Estrela, Praça da Estrela n°12, 1200-694 Lisboa, Portugal

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Serpa - City of the Serpent/Dragon

Image
Dragon and Medieval lovers, there is a town for you out there in the Portuguese Alentejo region. It has charm, ruins, great food as well as a rich history and kind people. This is a small city of about 15.000 inhabitants and it lies in a very fertile landscape where they grow olive trees, vines, wheat and loads of sheep graze quietly under the sun. You can't miss the Medieval remains all around town. The castle, the houses, the outline of the city... I for one love the city heraldry which is showing a castle with a dragon or big serpent guarding it on several places around town. This is not the first time Portugal or a city is connected to serpents, they probably really existed in a huge amount of numbers in ancient times and where mentioned living in this territory by Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans for example. The Greek name for Portugal was Ophiusa which literally means Land of Serpents. The Dragon figure can also be connected in Christian terms to São Jorge and the dragon...
Read more

Taberna do Lis

Image
This restaurant lies in the Baixa district of Lisbon, on the Rua dos Douradores, in a corner of a building and in connection to a 4 star hotel called Hotel Lis. It is newly renovated and decorated with wine boxes, tiles and bottles on the shelves. Excellent wine glasses, fine dinner plates and enough quiet for you to be able to talk to whomever you go there with. Perfect restaurant for bringing your spouse or a friend with you for a tête à tête. The prices are affordable and you get good quality food and wine for your money. We asked what they have to offer and ordered something that was not on the menu (do try this at all the restaurants you go to, sometimes you might miss a daily special if you just look at the menu). The main dish we ordered was linguini with scampi in a tomato/vegetable stock and wine sauce. To accompany that dish we ordered a bottle of white  vinho verde  which is a dry and crisp Portuguese wine from the Northwestern parts of the country with some ...
Read more

MAAT - the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology

Image
By the riverside in Lisbon you can nowadays discern a white modern building that seems to fit in perfectly with it's older surroundings. I am usually not a fan of modern architecture, I almost never swoon over something younger than Art Noveau, but in this case I shall admit that they have managed to do something beautiful with modern building techniques. The building is the new museum called MAAT. A museum with temporary exhibitions regarding art, architecture and technology. It was built by the EDP Foundation (Energias de Portugal) in 2016. The architect firm responsible for the building was AL_A (Amanda Levete Architects) from London and the exterior landscape project by the Lebanese architect Vladimir Djurovic. The MAAT lies in the Belém area of Lisbon, just by the riverside, close to where the Tejo river meets the sea. The view from there is breathtaking, especially during sunsets or if you want to catch a photo of the 25th of April bridge which looks almost like the Golde...
Read more