Parque Eduardo VII

Parque Eduardo VII is a large park located north of the Praça Marques de Pombal, a broad and very busy traffic circle. It's a fairly modern creation, rising uphill from the statue of Pombal in the center of the circle. The main, central area of the park is grass with low-lying bushes laid out in some kind of pattern - wasted space if you ask me. There are two broad, shaded sidewalks running up and down the length of the park, occupied by people strolling, young lovers making out on the benches, and often people just using the park as a shortcut. On the periphery of the park are a variety of diversions - a shady, wooded area with a pond, tennis courts, a petting zoo, a swimming pool, and an amphitheater. If you're curious, the park is actually named after a British monarch, King Edward VII.

This is looking up the length of the park from the bottom. The Praça Marques de Pombal is located behind me from this perspective, with sundry parking lots, kiosks, and metro entrances in between.

At the north end of the park, also the top of the hill, is this esplanade/viewpoint. Is esplanade the right word? Perhaps my esteemed readers can suggest a better alternative...

Hey, just like that you have now been transported all the way to the top of the park, to the aforementioned esplanade/viewpoint. From here is a beautiful view of the center of Lisbon (the sky is pinkish because there was sort of a sunset happening when I took this). OK, quick Lisbon geography lesson: if you proceeded straight ahead, you would head south down Avenida da Liberdade, home of many offices, posh shopping, and most of Lisbon's best hotels (oh yeah, and the Portuguese Communist Party. Juxtapositions!) Continuing in that direction you'd cross through the plazas of the Rossio into the Baixa, eventually hitting the Rio Tejo. The hill to the left (east) is the Alfama, crowned by the Castelo de São Jorge. Behind that is the boho Graça district. The hill on the right (west) is the Bairro Alto. So, now you know. Don't say I didn't teach you anything on this blog!

Here's a close up of the Praça Marques de Pombal. What's majestic about this statue is that he stands atop the towering pillar, gazing out upon the modern city of Lisbon which he basically re-created after the 1755 earthquake. The funny part about this statue is that he's got a rather bulbous rear end, which you can kind of see from this picture's vantage point. (Also, eagle-eyed viewers may note the presence of the Elevador da Santa Justa on the right - it looks like the top of a castle turret sticking up).

Just because it's almost obligatory at this point, here's a close-up of the Castelo de São Jorge. It is pretty with the sun set glowig off of it, isn't it?

This fountain and reflecting pool occupy the center of the viewpoint at the top of the park. The fountain was installed to commemorate the 1974 Carnation Revolution. (I'm gonna go ahead and say it - it's also really, really phallic).

Here's a side view of the fountain. The large pillar behind it is one of a pair, which date from the Salazar era. Their architectural style just screams "mid-20th century dictatorship" to me. The rough, disorganized jumble of the fountain is a nice contrast, I think.

Finally, just in case there was any doubt about when this particular set of pictures was taken, here's a giant hint: