Lisbon Oceanarium: A Geek’s Paradise

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If it hadn’t been apparent from my enthusing about the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC or even from the fact that I keep a travelblog (!!) then I advise you this: I am a geek. I have learned this over the years but I have come to terms with the fact that I am a dork. OBVIOUSLY a very attractive and socially hip COOL dork, but yes, a dork nonetheless. This is why I was super excited about visiting the Lisbon Oceanarium, the biggest aquarium in Europe, the second biggest in the world, a fantastic place to spend a few hours on a hot Lisbon afternoon and a place worthy of it’s own blog entry.

Cathy had left that morning back for Dubs and we’d had to check out of our hotel so poor Manuela, with no interest in the life aquatic and suffering from a dodgy prawn coquette the day before, reluctantly dragged her squirty body with me across town to the site of Expo 98 where the aquarium was located.

A massive central tank with water the volume of four Olympic sized swimming pools is the key focus of the exhibition, however there are also four regionally based displays that show aquatic life from both the land level and underwater viewing. There were penguins in the Antarctic area and my favourite, the sea otters, were in the Atlantic. The otters almost looked like big, fat heavy cats that floated effortlessly on their backs before suddenly rolling onto their fronts and duck-diving below the surface. A bird-like high pitched and ear piercing squeak was their language and being so incongruous with their languid fat floating furry selves it took me a while to realise that these noises were coming from the otters and not some hidden birds. There were many tanks of odd animals and fish: laterneye fish that live in the pitch black depths of the ocean and have eyes like lights that flash on and off as they blink, a massive octopus bundled up in the corner of the tank peering out through a seemingly cyclopic eye, tropical fish of amazing iridescent colours, jelly fish that could hardly be discerned as animals with their organless simplicity and movements that made them look like giant see-through marshmallows in space.

The central tank could be circumnavigated on two levels which meant it was possible to see all the different types of animals in their various preferred areas. Artificial rays of sunlight attracted schools of tiny fish swimming in circles in the dappled light. Imitation turbulance on the surface was the place of preference for a bunch of little tiny fish. Enormous rays swam around the perimeter acting as public transport for various parasitic fish, their heavy looking wings moving as if in slow motion. Flat fish lay in the sand at the bottom almost invisible as they were camouflaged to match the bottom of the tank. Enormous mouths of grouper-like fish were centimetres away as they seemed to be as interested in the glass tapping kids as the kids were in them. Sharks seemed to hover in the water and move with little obvious self propulsion. Kids squished their faces to the glass.

Manuela overcame her pains to declare the aquarium one of the coolest geeky things to go to and I agree - well worth a visit. Five stars!

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