Lisbon is in my opinion a complete and authentic city. It is that type of city which meets everybody’s wishes, from beautiful sights, amazing landscapes and a special architecture to delicious traditional food, an interesting culture and welcoming people. No matter how you choose to spend your time in Lisbon make sure you add the amazing Ocenarium on your list.
Situated in the Park of the Nations, in Lisbon, Portugal, the Ocenarium is actually the largest indoor aquarium in Europe. It is located near the Tejo River and a wing of the building is actually built on water, giving you the impression that it floats.
This aquarium shelters about 450 different species and about 16000 living creatures. It will definitely be a pleasant experience to admire the diversity of the marine life: sharks, seahorses, crustaceans, corals, penguins, sea anemones, tropical fish, octopuses, jellyfish, marine plants and so on.
All these species gathered in only one place will give you the opportunity to learn a lot of things about the amazing underwater world. My advice is to give the Ocenarium a few hours of your time because you won’t regret it. The Ocenarium is built on two floors, the upper floor where you can admire the surface animals and plants and the lower floor where you can admire the marine species.
The entire place is very well designed and organized and it perfectly imitates the marine environment. A huge central aquarium is surrounded by four smaller aquariums which reproduce the habitats of the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and of the Antarctic Ocean. They are so well organized that they give you the impression of only one large aquarium.
In fact they are separated using acrylic sheets. The marine atmosphere is highlighted by a multitude of colored lights that embellish the whole place. The aquarium gives you the possibility to rest and peacefully admire the marine life because there are a lot of benches, seats and observation rooms where you can do this.
The mysterious sharks, the spectacular stingrays and the unique ocean sunfish are among my favorites. The sunfish is actually a rare species sheltered only by a few aquariums in the world because they require special care.
You should know that no matter where you stay in Lisbon it is easy to get to the Ocenarium by underground or by bus. The Lisbon Ocenarium is definitely worth experiencing and I am sure you will think the same after your own experience there.
