Lagoa do Taquaral
Encyclopedia
Lagoa do Taquaral, officially named Parque Portugal, is an urban public park in the city of Campinas
, São Paulo
, Brazil
. It has been set around a beautiful lagoon
and adjacent wooded park, and is a large municipal entertainment
and sports park, with a planetarium
, a science museum
, an indoor sports stadium
and swimming pool
, kart racing
and model airplane areas, an open concert auditorium
, floating caravel
replica, a working historical tram
way, pedal boats, facilities for several types of sports, including a long track for running
, cycling
and walking, restaurant
s, etc.
Taquaral means "bamboo
grove
" in Portuguese
, probably because the lagoon was originally rimmed with this kind of plant (it no longer is, instead eucalyptus
tree
s have been planted around it). The name Portugal
was given as a homage to the discoverers and immigrants of Brazil, the Portuguese people.
The heritage
tram
line around the park opened in 1972 and uses four historic trams. The tramway was newly built at that time and opened only four years after the termination of the city's last tram service.
In July 2007, Campinas readers of the Correio Popular
newspaper and the Cosmo site have voted Lagoa do Taquaral as one of the "Seven Wonders of Campinas
".
Campinas
Campinas is a city and municipality located in the coastal interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. is the administrative center of the meso-region of the same name, with 3,783,597 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census, consisting of 49 cities....
, São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. It has been set around a beautiful lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
and adjacent wooded park, and is a large municipal entertainment
Entertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
and sports park, with a planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
, a science museum
Science museum
A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
, an indoor sports stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
and swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, kart racing
Kart racing
Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits...
and model airplane areas, an open concert auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
, floating caravel
Caravel
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...
replica, a working historical tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way, pedal boats, facilities for several types of sports, including a long track for running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
, cycling
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
and walking, restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, etc.
Taquaral means "bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
grove
Grove (nature)
A grove is a small group of trees with minimal or no undergrowth, such as a sequoia grove, or a small orchard planted for the cultivation of fruits or nuts...
" in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, probably because the lagoon was originally rimmed with this kind of plant (it no longer is, instead eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s have been planted around it). The name Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
was given as a homage to the discoverers and immigrants of Brazil, the Portuguese people.
The heritage
Heritage streetcar
Heritage streetcars or heritage trams are a development of the heritage railways that are becoming popular across the world. As with modern streetcar systems, the vehicles are referred to as trams or tramcars in the United Kingdom, Australasia and certain other places , but as streetcars or...
tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
line around the park opened in 1972 and uses four historic trams. The tramway was newly built at that time and opened only four years after the termination of the city's last tram service.
In July 2007, Campinas readers of the Correio Popular
Correio Popular
Correio Popular is the largest daily newspaper in the city of Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was founded on September 4, 1927 by Álvaro Ribeiro...
newspaper and the Cosmo site have voted Lagoa do Taquaral as one of the "Seven Wonders of Campinas
Seven Wonders of Campinas
The seven wonders of Campinas is a list of the most beautiful and interesting tourism spots in the city of Campinas, Brazil, which were voted by the readers of Correio Popular newspaper and the Cosmo On-Line Web portal.They are:-Culture Station:...
".