Parque Portugal, Protected area in Campinas, Brazil.
Parque Portugal is a protected area in Campinas featuring a central lagoon, walking trails, sports facilities, and thick vegetation of eucalyptus trees throughout. The grounds include multiple courts, a planetarium, a science museum, swimming pools, and designated spaces for go-kart racing and model airplane flying.
The park became a recreational space in 1972 and introduced heritage trams that still carry visitors along a three-kilometer route today. These rail lines connect visitors to different parts of the grounds while preserving a transportation method from Brazil's urban past.
The park bears a name honoring Portuguese immigrants and features a replica of the Anunciação caravel, which brought Pedro Álvares Cabral to Brazil. This replica reminds visitors of Portugal's role in Brazilian history.
On Sundays from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. the avenue around the park closes to vehicles and is given over to cycling. The 2.75 km dirt track is the busiest facility, used for running and walking. The caravel replica opens Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 8 a.m. to noon and 2 to 6 p.m.; on weekdays it takes school bookings.
The lagoon is named Isaura Teles Alves de Lima, though everyone calls it Lagoa do Taquaral, from a Portuguese term for bamboo grove, as the shore was once lined with bamboo. Its last full dredging before 2016 had been in 1986; that year's work involved the state water department and cost about R$5 million.
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