GARDENS AND CAVES OF LUIS DE CAMÕES

In the th century, these gardens on a small hill were covered with an vegetation as dense as a virgin forest. They belonged to a senior British official of the East India Company. In 1785, the French astronomer and explorer La Pérouse built a small observatory at the top of the hill. In 1835, the Portuguese were in turn building a cave around the bust of their national poet, Luís de The. History tells us that The, a great Portuguese poet, an adventurer of the sixteenth century, composed here part of his work Os Lusíadas (Les Lusitaniennes). Behind the cave, small trails lead to a pavilion with a view over China. In front of the entrance of the gardens, some diseurs of good Chinese adventures offer their services.