Lisbon Aquarium

Today was going to be a bit of a rainy day, so we headed for the nearest Metro station and rode it down to the waterfront. This area is known as Parque das Nacoes. It is a revitalized district along the banks of the Tejos River. This revitalization came from careful planning for the World Exposition in 1998. Lisbon's officials wisely kept in mind the immediate needs of the event, but also the future needs of the city.

Great sculpture on the waterfront

 The waterfront had several of these fountains (right) with a wave pool on each side.

Striped benches everywhere

The centerpiece of the Parque is the Oceanario de Lisboa, an aquarium built for the expo. 



The Oceanario de Lisboa has over 25,000 fish, seabirds and mammals. It is Europe's largest aquarium and is the first ever to incorporate several ocean habitats - North Atlantic, Pacific, Antartic and Indian Oceans.



Brandon is starting to hesitate when we ask him to pose for pictures like this. He's still willing, but it won't be long until he won't like it anymore.

This sculpture is made of thousands of aluminum cans.

Fun at the aquarium

Puffin fun

These two otters were a lot of fun to watch

What are you lookin at?

One last shot from the aquarium. Brandon gives it a thumbs up.

We were hungry, so we had lunch on the waterfront.  The restaurant we chose was interesting.  I cannot remember the name though.  They served a buffet of salads and pastas, along with grilled meat.  The meat was brought to the table on long skewers.  The waiters would ask if you wanted whatever type they were carrying, then they would slice off a piece.  They also offered sausages.  This was a great lunch, but we left the restaurant very full.

After lunch, we decided to head into the old downtown of Lisbon. We had to ride the Metro to get there. 

We passed through a shopping mall on the way to the Metro station. They had these walkways that reminded us of the footsteps on Harry Potter's magical Hogwart's map. We took a few pictures until we got in trouble by the mall security.

Once we arrived in the old city area, Brandon spotted the street trolley and wanted to ride them. We hopped on #28 and rode it through the narrow streets, down steep hills and back up again. We reached the end of the line and had to get off to catch another one the opposite direction. Katrina thought we should walk back, so we did.

Up and down the steep hills of Lisbon

Lisbon has many buildings decorated with beautiful tiles.

Government building

This is a funiculare that runs down to the waterfront. It is electric and is pulled by a cable.

Some of the lights in the pedestrian zone.

It was getting dark and we were tired, so we rode the Metro back to our room to hang out, read, and watch TV.  It didn't rain like the forecast had predicted.  There were a few showers while we were inside the aquarium, but that was it. 
 
Tomorrow we will take the train to Cascais