Go up to the railing. Straight ahead, across the Baixa valley, rises the castle hill, and to its right Graça and São Vicente de Fora climb in tiers. It is one of the most complete views of Lisbon.

1From rubbish dump to garden

The spot has a rather unromantic past. In the eighteenth century a large reservoir was planned here to extend the Águas Livres aqueduct, but the 1755 earthquake changed priorities and the site ended up as a dump. Around 1830 the police guard stationed nearby turned it into a vegetable plot, and soon afterwards the city council made it a public garden. It has two levels: the upper one, with the view, and a quieter lower one.

2The newspaperman and the ardina

Find the monument to Eduardo Coelho, who founded the Diário de Notícias in 1864. It is the work of the sculptor Costa Motta and was unveiled in 1904. At his feet, an ardina, a newspaper boy, recalls the kids who once shouted the headlines in the streets.

By the railing, a tiled map helps you put a name to everything you can see.

3What to look out for

  • São Jorge Castle, straight ahead, with the cathedral a little lower down.
  • The tiled map, to get your bearings.
  • The Elevador da Glória, the yellow funicular that arrives a few steps away from Avenida da Liberdade.

Documented

The garden was laid out in the nineteenth century on a site left unused after 1755, and Costa Motta's monument to Eduardo Coelho dates from 1904.

Sources and credits

Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Jardim de São Pedro de Alcântara; Visit Lisboa, miradouros; Carris, Ascensor da Glória.

Photos:

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