The question of Where are the gardens and museums created by the Silicon Valley rich? remains open. If any of the tech elite, many of whom claim to be Buddhist or Buddhist-adjacent, want to build something delightful for the peasants, an 85-acre Buddhist garden in Portugal could be inspirational.
Bacalhôa Buddha Eden is about one hour north of Lisbon and seems to have been created relatively recently by Joe Berardo (only “getting by” by Silicon Valley standards, with a fortune of around $1 billion):
“The oriental garden with around 35 hectares of land was created as a reaction to the destruction of the Buddhas of Banyan, in which one of the greatest acts of cultural barbarity took place, erasing masterpieces of late-period Gandhara art.”
(The Banyan Buddhas were carved around 600 AD. Arabs conquered and colonized Afghanistan beginning around 700 AD. The Islamic government of Afghanistan destroyed the Banyan Buddhas in 2001.)
The garden has a nice cafe right in the middle of its hilly terrain and operates a tractor-pulled shuttle for the lazy and/or mobility-challenged.
The garden contains a good “after” statute of the tourist who spends a lot of time in Portugal’s pastelarias:
The amphitheater is surrounded by tile figures that have an interesting design in which the border tiles are cut and the stucco meets them on curve:
I would love to have this on the stucco exterior of our house. There would be a golden retriever chasing a rabbit, a golden retriever trying to climb a squirrel-containing tree, and a golden retriever leaping to catch a rubber ball.
I’m particularly envious of the garden’s stone lantern collection. These are difficult to buy in the U.S. because a small one costs $1500 and takes a year to sell. Consequently, garden stores don’t like to stock them.
The garden also has at least three ponds containing ornamental koi.
Putting this here for future inflation researchers: admission was 6 euros/adult and kids 12 and under were free. Use of the fake train was extra. Popular wine at the exit shop was 2.29 euros per bottle:
