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Observatories that I have visited (or almost):
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A visit to Lisbon, PortugalAfter we had come back to Sweden from Crete we got a bit depressed, too dark and too cold. We immediately started looking for a new short visit to a warmer place. To Lisbon we found a last minute five days trip and we booked it right away. There are for sure a lot of old culture to look at, but how about astronomy? After some search I found an observatory, the Observatorio Astronomico de Lisboa. Perfect, only 6 km away from our stay. More to read about the observatory at Museus da Universidade de Lisboa (in Portuguese):
The Google map overview of the surroundings to the observatory: ISCSP University:
We took the bus no 742 from the Marine Museum up the hill to ISCSP University. Behind the corner of the University building there is a view over the Atlantic ocean, or the bay of it. 
From the bus stop there is just a short walk, 1 km to the observatory. This is the street R. Joaquim Fiadeiro that lead to a park, the Jardim da Rainha. We have seen at the maps that we has to walk through the park to come to the observatory. 
From the street R. do ao Casalinho Ajuda we got our first glimpse of the observatory behind a house. Tapada da Ajuda:
Now we just have to find the entrance to the park. At the end of the street we saw a gate. We walked down to the gate, but hey, it's closed! 
This was not in our plan. 
The walk path behind the gate, the one to the right is the one that lead to the observatory. 
We walked along the street R. Fonseca Benevides to see if there were more gates where we could get through and into the park. |
From here we got a better view of the observatory, but still far away. 
Even farther down the street we come so close that we could see that the observatory buildings was in a bad condition. 
What we see is the Western wing in front of the observatory building itself. Have a better bird eye view from the Google map below: 
The purpose of the openings in the roof we don't know about, but for sure they had some kind of instruments in the openings. The observatory was built in the early 19th century and they did advanced sidereal astronomy observations here. More to read about the observatory and its exiting history at Wikipedia:
From this angle we see the Eastern wing of the observatory. There are guided tours at this observatory, but you must book them at least two weeks before. See the Portuguese site at top of this page. We was short of time and couldn't investigate the other gates to see if we could enter the park through them. Now you at least have some hints about this observatory and where to find it. Ponte 25 de Abril:
From this hill we also have a view over the suspension bridge, The Ponte 25 Abril, earlier it had the name Salazar Bridge. It got the new name after the revolution 1974. 
Left to the bridge tower you see another tower, that is the Christ the Redeemer statue. At Wikipedia you can read more about the bridge, revolution and the statue:
You have the full Lisbon travel report here:
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