Some sights in Lisbon

On our last day in Lisbon, we decided to visit the Lisbon Oceanarium. I'd read that it was the largest aquarium in Europe, and worth a look. The aquarium is part of the Parque das Nacoes, an area along the waterfront developed for Expo '98.

The Grand Esplanade (Rossio dos Olivais) lined by 155 flags,
representing every country that participated in Expo '98

The weather was sunny and pleasant, and our walk through the park took us past the newer buildings of the city, instead of the historical areas we'd been visiting. There was lots of fun and creative design to be seen in the architecture, which interested me as the mother of an architect!

Looking back toward Vasco da Gama Mall from the  esplanade

We all enjoyed the aquarium, and its exhibits of underwater and shoreline environments. On the way out to the buildings housing the aquarium, we could see the Vasco da Gama bridge, which was built to allow easier access to the Expo, and is Europe's longest bridge at 10.7 miles.

Vasco da Gama Bridge, seen from up the coast in Belem

Modern buildings evocative of ships

The open penguin habitat was COLD

A seahorse

A very exotic seahorse

A very modern tile mural in the lobby of the Oceanarium

A conical fountain in the area

Very modern sinks at the Oceanarium

From the aquarium, we headed back toward the Vasco da Gama Mall to find lunch. Actually, we hoped to have another meal at The Butchers restaurant near there, but discovered that it wasn't open yet.

I wanted to see what the casino was like, and none of their restaurants were open for lunch. The others weren't interested in gambling, so we agreed to meet at the mall after I checked out the casino.

I found security at the casino to be a bit more stringent here than at our casinos in Washington state. No one could go through the turnstile until their ID had been checked and noted at the desk at the entrance. After spending a few minutes getting cleared for entry, I scoped out the slot machines. They didn't seem to have anything I recognized, but I tried my hand at one machine, and came out 15 Euros ahead. I figured that had paid for my lunch, at least! I would have liked to take some photos, but I'm sure that was forbidden!

I met the others at the food court at the mall, where we all got different things for lunch. We headed back to our apartment, not relishing packing for our departure tomorrow. Gail wanted to buy some chocolate bars to take home, so she needed one more visit to Pingo Doce.

I needed a few souvenirs for the grandkids, and found a little shop near our apartment that had some cute things. Have I mentioned all of the cork items made for the tourist trade? Super thin layers of cork are somehow adhered to fabric and fashioned into a myriad of things to buy. Cork hats, purses, covered books, belts and shoes, among other items, are everywhere in Portugal, and at all range of prices. I bought some cork coin purses and cork covered pens to take home. Somehow I can't imagine hats or purses of cork being very durable, so I didn't spring for those kinds of things.

That evening we ate leftovers augmented with a few things from the grocery store, and drank what we could of the leftover wine at the apartment.