Jardim do Torel

Around the corner from the amazing Campo dos Mártires da Pátria lies the possibly even more spectacular Jardim do Torel. Both are on the top of Sant’Ana, one of Lisbon’s seven hills. And both are on our regular walking routes, being a mere five minute and four minute walk away, respectively.

In the late 1800s, Manuel de Castro Guimarães had a small palace built with a garden situated on the hill. In 1927 the home was sold to Portugal, and the garden was then ceded to the Lisbon City Council. Portugal needed to appease the Council in order to add on to the building so it could be used by the Criminal Investigation Police. It now houses the directorate for prison and reintigration services. Don’t know about you, but when faced with the question of Prison, we first think: Palace!

Jardim do Torel is notable for a few reasons - its outstanding views and its unusual shape.

The blue star is our building. The green park in the upper right is Campo dos Mártires da Pátria. The street of little palaces is Rua Julio de Andrade.

Let’s start our tour on the lowest point of the garden: the entrance on Rua do Telhal. At this point we are 29.8 meters/98 feet above sea level. We’ll climb until we’re at the top, 63 meters/207 feet above sea level.

At the top of these switchback stairs we enter the yard outside Escola Básica de São José, a local elementary school. The lucky students have a whole park as their playground.

The school is to the right. This expanse of grass is a favorite of Josie’s. The little palace at the top is a cultural center: Xuventude de Galicia - Centro Galego de Lisboa.

After a few more sets of switchback stairs, we come to the middle level, home of the playground, an extremely popular fountain, and a large area that overlooks the city.

An overhead view of the children’s playground. The stairs to enter this level are between the bank of yellow flowers and the playground.

Opposite the playground (directly under where the photo above was taken) is the extremely popular Fonte do Jardim do Torel. It is common to find masses of people (teens on their school lunch break and adults and kids at other times) soaking in the fountain. In fact, it’s often listed as a pool, and in the past they’ve even placed sand around the fountain to create a beach.

The stairs to the next level start on either side of the fountain.

From here we ascend to the main level of the garden. It is one of the miradouros that top the hills of Lisbon. This miradouro is unique in that it provides a lovely, grassy knoll from which to enjoy the view.

Especially at sunset the area is filled with locals enjoying the view, sipping on glasses of wine. The Tagus River - Lisbon’s enormous port - is on the far left.

Just a smidgen more of a climb and we come to the top and the plaza with its fountain with Estátua "A Egípcia."

The main entrance to the park is off of the street of little palaces that were built in the 19th century.

The little palaces of Rua Julia Andrade

That’s all for now.

Love from Lisbon,

Amy