They were not at all what I expected as I had presumed they would be glass greenhouses, consequently it took us a little while to find Estufa Fria, Estufa Quente and Estufa Doce. They are all greenhouses just not all glass greenhouses, which if I had thought about it a bit longer makes sense. A ‘glass greenhouse’ in Portugal could not be used as a ‘Cold House’ throughout the year, and the largest of the three ‘Estufa Fria’ is exactly that a cold house. All it has is what the website describes as a ‘lath roof’, which as you can see below are wooden slats.
Most of the plants in the enormous cold house come from China, Peru, Brazil, and the Antilles. My recollection when I sat down this morning to prepare this post was that there was not much colour on the grey March day when we visited, however as I discovered and you can see my photographs tell another story!
What my memory and the photographs agree on though is the size of the cold house and beauty of the landscaping. It is enormous. In fact so big that the school party who were there at the same time as us soon disappeared from sight on one of the many meandering paths, and even their excited happy chatter was not much more than a murmur most of the time.
The second house – Estufa Quente – whilst not quite as big is just as impressive. It is a more typical greenhouse as it does have a glass dome. This hothouse is where you will find the more tropical plants such as Banana and Mango Trees, not that I appear to have taken any photographs of them. Typically I was too busy take close ups and there were also grottoes to explore.
The third house – Estufa Doce – seems tiny compared to the other two, and like the hot house was built in the 1970s. 
It is the Sweet House, and is where you will find all the cacti. You’ll have to visit if you want to see them though as for some reason I only took two photographs, neither of which were of the greenhouse as a whole!
As well as the three greenhouses there is also an entertainment hall and an outside area with a lake. Nothing was happening in the hall on the day we visited, but we found a very comfortable seat by the lake underneath a wisteria. Despite it being a grey day, we must have spent a half hour or more watching the gardeners feed the birds.
The Greenhouse – Estufa Fria, Estufa Quente and Estufa Doce – are open daily and well worth paying the few euros to visit. You’ll find the entrance by the lake on the left-hand side of Parque Eduardo VII. Don’t expect to spot the greenhouses though from a distance, as whilst they are opposite the wonderful Carlos Lopes pavilion, they are built into the hill and almost hidden from sight.
I’m going to return to the greenhouses again next month for my ‘Past Meets Present‘ challenge as I’ve found some fabulous photographs from when it was created in 1933 and first extended in the 1950s. So watch this space, or even better join in on 1st May with your own #PastMeetsPresent. Remember all you need are two photographs of the same scene – one recent, one old – and they don’t need to be of Portugal. I’d be delighted if you did.
Wow, what a place! Such great images, I want to go there now! And I can’t believe I have so much to catch up with, two months’ worth of blogging. Serves me right for being slow, and looking forward to your lovey glimpses.
I’m so so impressed by your diligence . . you have visited so many posts of mine. Thank you so much. I feel as I said earlier very honoured
Do you know I can’t remember which bits we saw and which we didn’t! Definitely needs a return visit, if not a memory transplant 🙂 🙂
A return visit with Jude I say . . .the 3 of us!
Looks to be an amazing place, almost its own exotic small world.
oh it so was . . .just quite incredible. So glad I persevered with trying to find it.
They look delightful and another thing to add to the list if we ever revisit Lisbon!
So hope you do find a weekend one day to revisit . . . avoid the busy season though as it really was quite noticeable how many more tourists there were compared to the same time last year.
What beautiful flowers and waterfowl – you really did find some vivid colors in the end. I look forward to learning more about the history of the place in your later post.
Thanks Susan, it is such a lovely place. Now just have to make sure my history post is good!!
So glad you found the estufas! We visited a year ago when our flight to the Azores was delayed. Yes, a very pleasant place to pass some hours. Look forward to your post on the history.
So are we 🙂
all being well it should appear on the 1st albeit having nightmare internet issues this week because of the influx of tourists.
Yes, that happens here but the Spanish influx here have gone back to their city homes and work today!
oh I’m so happy to learn other places do this . . . one day we will make it to Spain!
Back to work here too . . .only the protestant English I think who make it a four day weekend!
Spending a half hour or more watching the gardeners feed the birds sounds relaxing. The flowers are pretty!
My photo albums have more than one photograph of the same scene–one recent and one old. Every time I visit my home province of Newfoundland, I take photos of the world I grew up in, which keeps changing every year.
Thanks . . .
Your photo album sounds amazing, what a brilliant thing to do. I’m hopeless at doing this sort of thing when home in England, but here in Portugal I seem to do it all the time. Must change my mindset back home!
Looks a lovely place to visit. Lots of vibrant coloured flowers and nice bird pics too. 🙂
Thank you so much for popping by and for your lovely comments. We loved it, and am so pleased that we made the time to visit this trip.