Jardim do Torel

This guide to the Jardim do Torel in Lisbon follows Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, a student of Gustave Eiffel who built Lisbon's funiculars instead of returning to Paris, starting with the Lavra line that opened in 1884. It traces the hilltop land's earlier life as a judge's farm, the mermaid-pond garden that eventually opened to the public, and the view over the Baixa and the Tagus from one of the city's seven hills. Come for the near-empty terraces most visitors never find.