You're standing on a street in Lisbon's Parque das Nações, close to the Tagus River.
Last reviewed 26 October 2026 · A two-minute read · 1650–2024
The short answer
Rua da Ilha dos Amores is a street in Lisbon's Parque das Nações, named during Expo '98 after the mythical Island of Loves in Camões' poem Os Lusíadas. The ground once held an oil refinery, a slaughterhouse and a hydroport for transatlantic flying boats, before the 1998 World's Fair reshaped the riverfront around the Vasco da Gama Tower.
Parque das Nações, Lisbon, Portugal — 2005 · Pedro Ribeiro Simões from Lisboa, Portugal · CC BY 2.0
1998 to now
A fair raised a tower over the old docks
On this street in Parque das Nações, the strongest story stands about a quarter mile away: the Vasco da Gama Tower. It rises 160 meters over the river, a tall metal tower built for Expo '98, the World's Fair that reshaped this whole stretch of riverfront.
Before 1998, this area was mostly old docks and industrial land. The fair changed that. Organizers built new plazas, a cable car, and a vast aquarium. The tower became the tallest structure in Lisbon at the time, a marker visible for miles along the water.
Nearby, the Centro Vasco da Gama shopping mall, about three quarters of a mile off, was also built for the fair. It still stands today, its glass roof catching light off the Tagus.
1942 to 1970s
Flying boats once landed at a riverside hydroport
Earlier still, the riverbank near here was shaped for a different kind of travel. In 1942, workers built a Hydroport, a dock where giant flying boats landed and took off for the United States. Transatlantic hydroplanes used it for decades, until jet aircraft made them obsolete and the Hydroport fell out of use.
1998
A street took its name from a mythical island
The street under your feet is named Rua da Ilha dos Amores, the Island of Loves. Lisbon's city council named it during Expo '98, drawing on Luís de Camões' epic poem Os Lusíadas. In the poem, the Island of Loves was a paradise built by Venus, where Portuguese sailors were rewarded for the first voyage to India. Planners gave Expo '98 streets names tied to the sea and to Portugal's old voyages of discovery, and this one took its name from the goddess's reward.
An oil refinery once stood here, alongside a slaughterhouse, army warehouses, and an open-air trash dump. Crews dismantled and recycled about 35,000 tons of refinery steel between the early 1990s and 1998.
2024 to 2025
A daycare opened where the ground once sank
The street has stayed a working part of the neighborhood since. In November 2024, Lisbon's mayor Carlos Moedas opened the Creche Ilha dos Amores, a daycare on this street with room for 84 children, backed by over 900,000 euros in city money. The following June, parish crews repaved a stretch of sidewalk here after the ground sank near the local police station. Workers have also cleared weeds along the street as routine upkeep.
Street names nearby echo the same theme the city gave this one. Rua das Urcas is named for a type of Dutch cargo ship once common on the Tagus. Rua das Bússolas takes its name from the mariner's compass, a tool credited to Chinese sailors around 2000 BC.
Rua da Ilha dos Amores carries a daycare, new paving, and a name borrowed from a myth about sailors coming home.
Read the ground you are standing on
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.
The site held the SACOR oil refinery at Cabo Ruivo, a decommissioned slaughterhouse, military warehouses and open-air rubbish dumps along the Tagus waterfront.
The site was landscaped in 1942 as a hydroport for docking transatlantic hydroplanes traveling to and from the US. It operated until jet aircraft made seaplanes obsolete.
The oil refinery was decommissioned and demolished between 1990 and 1998 to make way for the World's Fair, with most of the steel salvaged and recycled.
The Parque das Nações was built for Lisbon's 1998 World's Fair with the theme 'The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future.' The site was converted from heavy industry in just five years.
During Expo '98, this street was named for the paradise from Canto IX of Os Lusíadas, where Venus rewarded Portuguese sailors for their voyage to India.
The ground held the SACOR oil refinery at Cabo Ruivo, a decommissioned slaughterhouse, army warehouses and open-air rubbish dumps along the Tagus waterfront, before Expo '98 transformed the area in the 1990s.
Why is it called Rua da Ilha dos Amores?
Lisbon's city council named the street during Expo '98 after the Island of Loves from Canto IX of Luís de Camões' epic poem Os Lusíadas, where Venus rewarded Portuguese sailors for their voyage to India.
What happened at the hydroport near this street?
From 1942, transatlantic flying boats docked at a hydroport built on the riverbank, carrying passengers to and from the United States, until jet aircraft made seaplane travel obsolete.
What is the Vasco da Gama Tower?
It is a 160-metre tower built for Expo '98 about a quarter mile from this street, once the tallest structure in Lisbon, with a panoramic restaurant in its crown.
What opened on Rua da Ilha dos Amores in 2024?
The Creche Ilha dos Amores daycare opened on this street in November 2024, inaugurated by Lisbon's mayor Carlos Moedas, with capacity for 84 children and backed by over 900,000 euros in city funding.
