Portugal | The Best Travel Destinations

Vasco da Gama Tower – Lisbon – Portugal

Vasco da Gama Tower – Lisbon – Portugal

The Vasco da Gama Tower (Portuguese: Torre Vasco da Gama) is a 145 m lattice tower with skyscraper in Lisbon, Portugal, built over the Tagus river. It is named after Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who was the first European to arrive in India by sail, in 1498.

The architects of the tower were Leonor Janeiro, Nick Jacobs and SOM (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill). The steel structure, representing the sail of a caravel, was assembled by engineering company Martifer.

The tower was built in 1998 for the Expo 98 World’s Fair. At the 120 m, there was an observation deck and, just below it, a luxury panoramic restaurant. At the base of the tower was a three-story building that served as the European Union Pavilion during the expo.

Both the observation deck and the restaurant were closed in October 2004. While they were open, the tower was the tallest structure in Portugal open to the public (excluding bridges).

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Estadio Municipal de Aveiro – Portugal

Estadio Municipal de Aveiro – Portugal

Estádio Municipal de Aveiro is a football stadium in Aveiro, Portugal. It was designed for the UEFA Euro 2004 by the Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira. It has an ambitious design that combines a simple and endearing shape with a liveliness of colours of every kind throughout the entire stadium. The seats have different colours and are distributed in a random way. Continue reading Estadio Municipal de Aveiro – Portugal

Vasco da Gama Bridge - Europe's longest bridge

The Vasco da Gama Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge flanked by viaducts and roads that spans the Tagus River near Lisbon, capital of Portugal. It is the longest bridge in Europe (including viaducts), and ninth longest in the world, with a total length of 17.2 km (10.7 mi), including 0.829 km (0.5 mi) for the main bridge, 11.5 km (7.1 mi) in viaducts, and 4.8 km (3.0 mi) in dedicated access roads. Its purpose is to alleviate the congestion on Lisbon’s other bridge (25 de Abril Bridge), and to join previously unconnected motorways radiating from Lisbon.

The bridge was opened to traffic on 29 March 1998, 18 months after construction first began, just in time for Expo 98, the World’s Fair that celebrated the 500th anniversary of the discovery by Vasco da Gama of the sea route from Europe to India.

Description

The bridge carries six road lanes, with a speed limit of , the same as motorways, except on one section which is limited to . On windy, rainy, and foggy days, the speed limit is reduced to . The number of road lanes will be enlarged to eight when traffic reaches a daily average of 52,000.

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