Parque das Nações: the Expo riverside
Calatrava's white ribs, an ocean in a tank, and a cable car along the Tagus. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Gare do Oriente
Start under Calatrava's roof — a forest of white concrete ribs holding up glass, the most theatrical station in the city. Walk through it slowly before you step outside; the light through it is the point.

2. Oceanário de Lisboa
One of the great aquariums anywhere — a single vast central tank you circle on two levels, sharks and tuna and a sunfish wheeling past. You don't have to go in, but if you do, give it two hours, not one.

3. Telecabine Lisboa (south station)
The *teleférico* (cable car) runs the length of the riverfront, eight minutes from the Oceanário end up to the tower. Take it one way; it's the best slow look at the Tagus you'll get without a boat.

4. Passeio do Tejo (riverside gardens)
If you'd rather keep your feet on the ground, walk the riverside promenade instead of riding over it — water gardens, public art, the long flat path that the whole quarter is built around. Either way you end up north.

5. Torre Vasco da Gama
The tallest thing for miles, a slim white mast tied to a sail-shaped frame, with the cable car's north station at its foot. The river opens out here; this is where the bridge view begins.

6. Ponte Vasco da Gama viewpoint
From the northern end the bridge runs off across the water for what looks like forever — twelve kilometres of it, the longest in Europe when it opened. Stand a while, then cut inland to Cabo Ruivo for the metro back.

Parque das Nações: the Expo riverside