When I was doing my research looking for things to do in Lisbon, the one place that consistently received top billing was the Oceanarium.
Oceanariums aren’t typically top of my to-do-list (castles usually are), but this one had such great reviews I was keen to experience it for myself. And so, on my first full day in the Portuguese capital, I decided to pay it a visit.
The Oceanarium is situated in the Parque das Nações or Park of Nations on the banks of the Tejo River in the north-east of the city.
The park was built as part of the Expo 98 exhibition and is a modern, clean space with interesting artworks and quirky design features, as well as a row of flags representing nations from around the world.
There’s also an enormous cable car that runs alongside the river to give visitors a bird’s eye view of the site.
To get to the park, I caught the metro to Oriente station, and from there, headed down towards the waterfront.
I had a great time walking around the Parque das Nações, seeing all there was to see and I particularly liked the unusual artworks, such as the statue above, and the multi-coloured striped benches, as well as the beautiful views across the river.
Having spent 40 minutes walking around the park and taking lots of photos, I made my way towards the Oceanarium.
The Oceanarium is based in a huge modern square building that seems to float in the middle of the park’s Olivais Dock. There’s also a fun plastic figurine of a diver whose head bobs above the surface of the water just outside it (above), which made me smile.
The Oceanarium opened in 1998 as part of the Expo. Split over two floors, it features a variety of marine creatures from cold water, tropical and temperate environments.
The main attraction, and the one that captured my attention almost as soon as I walked in, is the enormous tank in the centre of the Oceanarium that traverses both floors.
It’s a huge space and is home to lots of different marine creatures including sharks (my favourites), sunfish and rays.
The tank dominates the attraction and as I made my way through the site, I was repeatedly drawn to it.
It was fascinating and I’d find myself mesmerised as I watched the creatures gliding through the water and interacting with each other, never quite sure what was going to appear next.
Aside from the enormous central tank, the Oceanarium has numerous tanks devoted to particular types of marine creatures, such as jellyfish and sea insects, as well as tanks featuring creatures from specific parts of the world.
I enjoyed looking at the weird and wonderful creatures that call our oceans home and finding out more about them.
There are some incredible species living in our waters that unless you’re a deep sea diver you rarely get a chance to see up close.
There’s also a series of rock pools home to creatures such as star fish and sea anemones, as well as birds such as puffins and penguins.
I wasn’t expecting this element to the Oceanarium and it was great to see the wildlife in a different environment.
I really like penguins, so I spent quite a bit of time watching them waddling about on the rocks and playfully swimming in the water.
Every so often, a human being in a wetsuit would appear in the pools and tanks, staff from the Oceanarium who were tending to the marine life.
I enjoyed watching them at work and I was quite envious of them getting to swim with the animals. I’d have loved to have been able to get in with them.
I really enjoyed my visit to the Oceanarium and was glad I’d made the decision to go. I now understand why it’s so highly rated as a visitor attraction as it’s one of the best aquariums I’ve been to.
It was fascinating to see so many marine creatures from all over the world together in one place and the marine life seemed to be well cared for, the staff were very attentive towards them. If you’re in Lisbon, it’s well worth visiting.
Little Old World 