It does feel a little bit silly to be reviewing a free public park, but you know what, it was on my…read moreitinerary specifically, so why not? Unfortunately, I got here just slightly too late to properly enjoy the gardens themselves, as there were a *lot* of great art galleries to stop at on the way nearby (intentionally), so as it was already starting to get dark when we got here. But that is also a great time to enjoy the view back over the river and the heart of Porto from above on the hill.
It was also a great time, until it got fully dark and they all went to sleep, to see, basically right when we walked in, a bunch of ducks, a handful of large geese (cool, but we gave them a wide space; geese have an attitude and you could tell they knew they could walk wherever they liked!), even a couple peacocks (though I would later learn, the best place in Portugal to see peacocks by far would be the castle in Lisbon, which has a whole huge flock of them.)
Would I pay to get in? Probably not. But I also didn't have to; it's a free public park. :D