Estrela and Campo de Ourique are two quiet, residential neighborhoods just west of the center, and they're easy to do with kids on foot. Expect big shady gardens, small neighborhood playgrounds, a market hall where everyone can pick something different for lunch, and an indoor option for a rainy morning. These are the spots we'd string together for a slow half day.
Each fall the Museu da Marioneta turns its convent chapel into a puppet theater, with a different company on stage most weekends. Expect shadow puppets from a Japanese artist living in Portugal, a train ride through Fernando Pessoa's characters, a cat and mouse who become friends, and the traditional Bonecos de Santo Aleixo. Kids sit close to the stage, and the puppet collection is in the same building.
Zorbas is a puppet and visual theater show by Marionetas Rui Sousa, based on Luis Sepúlveda's "The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly." A harbor cat promises to look after the chick of a seagull harmed by pollution, and learns what friendship, responsibility and freedom mean.
The puppets are built from reused materials, and the visual style is made to work across ages.
A Fada Oriana is a theatrical visit through Lisbon's Museu da Marioneta. The Companhia Teatro do Museu brings the characters of Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen's story to life with puppets, right in the museum's rooms.
Afterward, each child builds their own puppet, inspired by what they saw. It is performed in Portuguese, so it suits kids who follow the language.
A covered neighborhood market, open since 1934, where fish, fruit and vegetable stalls still serve the Campo de Ourique district. Since 2013 the middle of the hall has been a food court: shared tables surrounded by counters serving everything from traditional Portuguese dishes to Japanese food.
Kids can look over the fish and produce stalls, then each person in the family picks a different counter for lunch.
Jardim da Parada, officially Jardim Teófilo Braga, is a tree-covered garden laid out on a former barracks parade ground. Around the playground sit two ponds with ducks, fish and turtles, a bandstand and the Maria da Fonte statue.
A kiosk café has terrace tables next to the playground, so parents can sit with a coffee and still see the slides.
Portugal's only puppet museum fills the Convento das Bernardas, a former convent in Madragoa. Display cases hold traditional Portuguese puppets next to masks and puppets from Java, Bali, Burma, Vietnam, China and Africa, from string marionettes to shadow figures.
The museum also stages its own puppet shows, and family workshops let kids build a puppet and learn to work it.
Tapada das Necessidades is a walled, 10-hectare former royal park laid out in 1742 beside the Necessidades Palace. Woodland paths lead to lawns, a circular iron greenhouse, a cactus garden with plants taller than adults, ponds and the remains of a small royal zoo.
Kids can run the lawns, hunt for statues and spot the chickens and ducks that roam free. Restoration has stalled, so parts look worn and overgrown.
Jardim da Estrela is a mid-19th-century public garden with playgrounds, an iron bandstand, and ponds full of ducks, swans, geese and carp. Peacocks walk the paths, and parakeets flit through the jacarandas, dragon trees and araucarias.
Families picnic on the lawns, kids learn to ride bikes on the paths, and older ones play ball. One entrance faces the Estrela Basilica.
Estrela and Campo de Ourique are two quiet, residential neighborhoods just west of the center, and they're easy to do with kids on foot. Expect big shady gardens, small neighborhood playgrounds, a market hall where everyone can pick something different for lunch, and an indoor option for a rainy morning. These are the spots we'd string together for a slow half day.
Each fall the Museu da Marioneta turns its convent chapel into a puppet theater, with a different company on stage most weekends. Expect shadow puppets from a Japanese artist living in Portugal, a train ride through Fernando Pessoa's characters, a cat and mouse who become friends, and the traditional Bonecos de Santo Aleixo. Kids sit close to the stage, and the puppet collection is in the same building.
Zorbas is a puppet and visual theater show by Marionetas Rui Sousa, based on Luis Sepúlveda's "The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly." A harbor cat promises to look after the chick of a seagull harmed by pollution, and learns what friendship, responsibility and freedom mean.
The puppets are built from reused materials, and the visual style is made to work across ages.
A Fada Oriana is a theatrical visit through Lisbon's Museu da Marioneta. The Companhia Teatro do Museu brings the characters of Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen's story to life with puppets, right in the museum's rooms.
Afterward, each child builds their own puppet, inspired by what they saw. It is performed in Portuguese, so it suits kids who follow the language.
A covered neighborhood market, open since 1934, where fish, fruit and vegetable stalls still serve the Campo de Ourique district. Since 2013 the middle of the hall has been a food court: shared tables surrounded by counters serving everything from traditional Portuguese dishes to Japanese food.
Kids can look over the fish and produce stalls, then each person in the family picks a different counter for lunch.
Jardim da Parada, officially Jardim Teófilo Braga, is a tree-covered garden laid out on a former barracks parade ground. Around the playground sit two ponds with ducks, fish and turtles, a bandstand and the Maria da Fonte statue.
A kiosk café has terrace tables next to the playground, so parents can sit with a coffee and still see the slides.
Portugal's only puppet museum fills the Convento das Bernardas, a former convent in Madragoa. Display cases hold traditional Portuguese puppets next to masks and puppets from Java, Bali, Burma, Vietnam, China and Africa, from string marionettes to shadow figures.
The museum also stages its own puppet shows, and family workshops let kids build a puppet and learn to work it.
Tapada das Necessidades is a walled, 10-hectare former royal park laid out in 1742 beside the Necessidades Palace. Woodland paths lead to lawns, a circular iron greenhouse, a cactus garden with plants taller than adults, ponds and the remains of a small royal zoo.
Kids can run the lawns, hunt for statues and spot the chickens and ducks that roam free. Restoration has stalled, so parts look worn and overgrown.
Jardim da Estrela is a mid-19th-century public garden with playgrounds, an iron bandstand, and ponds full of ducks, swans, geese and carp. Peacocks walk the paths, and parakeets flit through the jacarandas, dragon trees and araucarias.
Families picnic on the lawns, kids learn to ride bikes on the paths, and older ones play ball. One entrance faces the Estrela Basilica.
