Today I’m going to tell you about something that is not actually Portuguese and, in fact, doesn’t have much to do with Portugal, except for the fact that it is located in the country and was thought of by a Portuguese.
Remember when, back in 2001, the Taliban destroyed the stone Buddhas of Bamiyan, in Afghanistan? Portuguese entrepeneur / art collector / stock investor / filthy rich person Joe Berardo decided to buy a (big) bunch of Buddhist statues and place them all in what used to be a farm – he called it “Buddha Eden – Garden of peace”.
Regardless of your spiritual/religious views the Buddha Garden, located some mere 45 minutes to the North of Lisbon, while also being the largest oriental garden in Europe, with a total of 35 hectares of land, is a great place to go. In fact, most of the people you’ll find there are families with small kids.
More then Buddhas, here you can also find sculpted dragons, pagodas, a lake with koi fish and replicas of the famous Chinese terracotta soldiers – in a total of some impressive six thousand tons of marble and granite.
I’m leaving you with a small sample of what you can see there. Enjoy!
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Beyond Lisbon 
What a great place. Who’d have thought there’d be something like this in Portugal?
“Buddha Eden”… such an amazing place. And your photos are spectacular!
Thank you so much!
We’ve been there. It’s a lovely, peaceful place, perhaps because it’s still relatively unknown and a bit hard to find, unless you’re with a tour. We had to ask for directions a couple of times. Still, definitely worth a visit.
I think It may seem a bit surreal at first… but it’s a great place!