A Botanical Garden in the Sun

Not far from the Hotel Lisboa Plaza, is a botanical garden. I’m unclear if it is a stand-alone botanical garden or if it is part of a chain of many botanical gardens connected to Jardim Sao Paulo. In any case, it is lovely, and our dog Schpilker grew to love it more than any other place we took her.

When the sun shines on the fountain, it is almost transformative. (Photo by Sona Schmidt-Harris)

Idyllic scenes of children playing dogs running free (though I think this is technically against the rules), people sitting on benches contemplating, and others sitting together at a small outdoor café play out every day—at least when I was there.

There is also a free Wi-Fi signal which adds to its draw as a gathering place. When the sun shines on the fountain, it is almost transformative. I saw trees there that I have never seen before including one that dropped pink blossoms nearly continuously. The other tree of great interest has long, rope-like drapings that make it mysterious and a little eerie at dusk.

There is a tree that drops pink blossoms nearly continuously.

A tree of great interest has long, rope-like drapings that make it mysterious and a little eerie at dusk.

Some of my happiest moments in Lisbon were there. I spoke at some length with one of the baristas/waiters at the café. He said that Lisbon has grown very expensive and most workers without a college degree cannot afford to live there. There was a sadness in his eyes when he told me—like he felt rejected by the very city in which he worked. Overall, I noticed a sort of melancholy in many Lisboans.

An apartment building near the botanical garden has the benefit of the pink-blossomed tree.

Still, just the privilege of living and working there seems a grand thing. The apartment buildings encircling the park were either tiled or painted in bright colors.

When I return to Lisbon, I will go back to the botanical garden to visit “the old,” and also see the “new.”