52 Weeks, 52 Half Marathons - Stage 8
Lisbon Hills
March 9th, 7:05 am
It has been a stormy week and the forecast for the day was not painting a pretty picture. Luck of the fool, around sunrise my phone gave me hope that I would be able run without the lifejacket on. I plotted a ring as close as possible to downtown which meant that I would have to face the dreaded seven hills of Lisbon.
I picked the Amoreiras area as the starting point since it is my closest entrance to Lisbon. That little extra time in the comfort of my bed translates into a climbing punishment at the end of the run. Amoreiras is on the list of the highest points in Lisbon - I like climbing.
Amoreiras towers are know for the Dallas-inspired architecture, back then when JR Ewing was a thing. Nowadays I would say they are interesting office spaces and a semi-stale shopping center - no oil in sight.
It is cold and windy, but no showers, yet. I head down to Marquês de Pombal, the main Lisbon traffic router, a pleasant descent for an easy warm up. The sidewalks are in good shape but cratered with water puddles. Even though it is not raining, my feet got wet pretty quickly - wide awake in a flash.
There is a lot of crossing in today’s route. For the 1st half of my run, I felt like if I had hacked the traffic lights engine as the pedestrian greens were all shinning under my feet. Quite often, by staying alert, and since traffic is very slim this early, it is possible to time or choose alternate crossings to keep moving. Again, I do not run with AirPods so that I can have all senses focused on my surroundings, specially when it’s the first time on the route.
I have arrived at Marquês de Pombal, let the climbing expedition begin. It is hard to plan a 21k route inside a city like Lisbon without sticking to the main avenues. I wish there was a tool that could help freely paint the roads on a map and add up the distance - note to self, work on that one day.
The way is up, for approximately 1km at 4%, not too bad, the streets are a mix of office buildings with residential areas, and local commerce, as I believe it should be. With tomorrow being an important election day in Portugal, today’s bad weather might help getting more people to the polls - no one bothered to go away for the weekend and the sun might actually shine for casting those votes.
It’s almost 5km of rolling hills, that surprisingly, today felt very smooth. At the end of the 2nd hill, we get to the entrance of the exquisite Jardim da Gulbenkian. A very beautiful spot for art exhibitions, classical music concerts and bonding with nature.
“At the bottom one hill comes the uphill slope for the next - it’s a Lisbon theorem.
The route follows the busy (not today) Avenue of Combatentes that luckily has a convenient bike-lane to keep the cars at a distance. For some reason bike lanes seem to propel easier climbs. It feels as if someone had rolled the Oscar’s red carpet just for your run.
I make a mistake halfway through the climb. The bike-lane moves to middle of the road and I decided to stick to the side. The sidewalk ends ~100 meters further down the road and I have to run on the grass and road for a while. I am glad there were no cars at all, amazing.
At some point it did become dangerous so I managed to move to the bike lane for safety. Close to the end of the avenue we arrive at Universidade Católica, a renowned university. I’ve taken some business classes, years ago, and liked it a lot. It really is a world class University.
We arrive again at the pit of the waveform, so it’s time to tackle another positive derivative. The gradient increases towards the top of Avenue Professor Egas Moniz, a Portuguese Medicine Noble Prize winner for a controversial procedure - the lobotomy. As we approach the null of the derivative (and I will end my calculus excursion here, sorry), we have a spectacular view of the main hospital in Lisbon. Hospital de Santa Maria. It is a large campus that also works as a medical University. I think that my iPhone hallucinated a little bit, as I don’t recall the skies as blue as they show on the photo.
We are now at the core of the large campus of Universidade de Lisboa, and on the left we have Estádio Universitário, a sports complex in the heart of Lisbon. It’s time to enjoy the view with a well deserved easy descent. That are many interesting buildings in the area.
I pick two that capture my attention and carry some memories. The building for the Reitoria da Universidade de Lisboa which also holds Aula Magna, an historical concert hall.
The other building holds an Historical National Archive / Library. From an architectural perspective, the building does not shine, but the richness of what it stores inside is an important world asset. There are some old original documents starting from the 9th century. One that amuses me, is the famous Tratado de Tordesilhas, where at the end of the 15th century, the Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, split the world in two. Every new territory, “discovered”, west of a longitude close to the Cape Verde islands would belong to Spain, and everything east would belong to Portugal. The rest is history.
There is a lot of green everywhere, all the way to the western border of the Campus. I have all the campus for myself, no treaty required.
It’s now time to cross a busy street, Campo Grande, a local Retiro style park (stage 6) sandwiched between a normally dense traffic street. It would have been an interesting place to run, but today we just cut through the middle on our way to the Alvalade neighborhood.
Alvalade is a now an old quiet neighborhood with a very interesting life. It was well planned for its time of construction, blending street commerce with low-rise residencial buildings. Today, it has succumbed to the pressures of modern life. Lisbon still has quite a way to go as it simply should not be acceptable that sidewalks are allowed to be used for parking in the way they are around here. The streets are beautiful, though.
It’s a large neighborhood that extends the same type of good taste architecture across several avenues. Apart from parking, another drawback of the area is that it sits right beneath the aircraft approaching line for the Lisbon Airport. The planes skim the rooftops at a very low altitude, it’s rarely quiet around here.
A nasty side-effect from the election campaign are the leftover posters and signs that litter the urban landscape. For our sanity, I used the magical editing tools of today, to delete them from the photos - it works like voodoo.
It’s now raining cats and dogs and I am getting soaked. Taking photos with my phone becomes a game of patience because the touch interface becomes alive (with a severe lobotomy). The streets here have coffee-shops and bakeries around every corner, it becomes a torture. The smell of a fresh coffee brew contrasts with my wet frozen hands and legs. No rain no gain!
I go down Avenida de Roma in anticipation of getting to my next milestone. Alameda, a large green square (I really don’t know how to define it) with a lot of significance today. This is an area where a lot of protests and political rallies take place. Independently of the outcome of tomorrow’s elections, it will hold its “job”.
It also servers as the entrance to Instituto Superior Técnico, a top notch Engineering University, where I spent 6 years studying to get my degree in EE. IST has gained a reputation for being too hard on the students, maybe, but I feel that it prepared me to fear no problems. You want to go to the moon, we can work a way to get you there.
I wish I could go back and learn again what I have learned then. My criticism for IST is that classes were too theoretical, and they failed to capture my interest in many fields that today I love and would like to revisit in depth.
Between Avenida de Roma and Avenida Almirante Reis I am gifted with a total of 5km of negative slope. Well deserved after the long shower that almost turned the run into a swim.
Avenida Almirante Reis is an area in need of renovation (and slowly getting one). The sidewalks, roads and buildings are not in their best shape. The dark skies are not helping the area today. I am not too fond of this area of town, except for the fact that my son was born here.
It’s a long way down, the rain is giving me some truce, but the sidewalk puddles are taking their turn. My legs and feet are now freezing. I cruise down the avenue to warm them up snaking through the puddles. There is a bike line in the middle of the road. It does not inspire safety, I stick to the sidewalk.
The avenue takes us to Martim Moniz Square, an area of Lisbon that has now been adopted by many immigrants from India and Pakistan. The scent of curry and spices is everywhere in the area
A sign of times, this square has become a symbol of the advances of the far right parties that unrightfully spell the fear of immigration forgetting that Portugal is a country of immigrants (more than 2 million Portuguese live outside). Another kind of “race” at stake tomorrow.
Unbothered by politics I am now thirsty for what’s coming as we are arriving at the center of Lisbon, Praça da Figueira , then Rossio. We take a back street, since we’ve been in Rossio before. The run goes along Portas de Sano Antão, a tourist trap street, with several restaurants and “magnet” stores. Traps are naturally laid down by where the cheese is - we pass the Theater D. Maria II, and the concert hall Coliseu dos Recreios.
Coliseu dos Recreios is an historical concert-hall in Lisbon which I find to have the perfect size for intimate concerts. It is a little cramped but the acoustics, with the proper engineering, are excellent. I have attended here some remarkable concerts: Mark Knopfler, Damien Rice, Tracy Chapman and Lou Reed, come to mind.
Right around the corner used to be an old movie theater, with the largest screen (IMAX style) in the 80’s. There, I watched the Empire Strikes Back and never forgot the experience. Today, it is a Hard Rock Cafe.
Across the street is the spot that had me thrilled for the day, Elevador da Glória, a funicular railway line that has been calling for me since last night.
It’s not a climb, it’s a Dirac Impulse! My apologies for the engineering references. It just means that it a strenuously difficult slope.
The slope is so steep that it is hard to get traction. My heart is now beating in my mouth, and I am breathing through my ears. What a slaughter! I love it.
Glorious (Glória) at the summit, after the free climbing. I rejoice with the idea of floating down the street all the way to the river shore.
We are now at a core area of Lisbon. For a long time this has been where the crème de la crème of commerce has been. Around this area flourish alternative stores, mixed with fine cuisine restaurants and art. The city here breaths culture (and booze in Bairro Alto). Tourist traps came crawling in, but good taste has been holding the fort.
It’s almost 1 km of free falling, it feels good, but since we are now at km 15, pushing too hard is a sore punishment on the legs. We go all the way down to Cais do Sodré discovering another peculiar back street in the area.
It is a mini local version of Bourbon Street, at least in terms of odors this early in the morning. I was fortunate, they were already hosing it, and the rain had washed away most of the perfumes remaining from last night.
I am invaded by another feeling of excitement of what’s coming next.
Another funicular in my route! Elevador da Bica. Feeling stoic today. I have to go around the main entrance and trounce the stairs to the first corner that lead me to the railway track.
The pavement by the railway track is too steep and slippery, so I have to use the stairs that have a size that is not working for me. They are too wide for this late in the route. I would have almost to sprint to climb them properly. It’s an awkward climb, but the view competes with San Francisco’s cable cars (and graffiti)
I get to the top huffing and puffing, it looks as if I had left my legs down at the bottom because I almost can’t feel them. What a slaughter - take 2! I love it, again!
It’s time to collect some more coins on the funicular arcade and use the bonus gems to skate down Calçada do Combro street. Old Lisbon at its best.
It would be a relaxing descent if not for the extremely slippery sidewalk. I did not even dare to step on it. I almost fall just by glancing at it shining. Early birds are protected by sleeping cars, so I plough down in the middle of the tram track with no fear at all. There is a mission for me at the bottom of the road.
After enduring some harsh rain through my route, I see some blue skies behind the Parliament. Could these be a sign of good things to come? Tomorrow, a lot is at stake in our country and me running by here was casual, but, given the date, it became meaningful. It is clear that the country needs a change but it won’t be through protest votes, neither through clubby votes, idealistic votes or comfort votes. Votes should push for parties to talk to each other.
WTH - I am here for the running! Move along, there is another uphill gift for you.
It’s one more hard climb with up to 10% grade. The 7 hills is BS, it feels more like its 70 hills. Loving it. The climb takes me to Rua da Lapa, for which I miss my turn, and hence climb one extra block to another peak at km 18, it’s not over yet.
The street is really nice and at some point there are Embassies left and right. I had never walked by here before. It’s quite nice, diplomats know their place.
Every now and then we can peek down to the river and on sunny days the views are remarkable.
To accumulate the required 13.1 miles (after all, we’re in foreign territory streets) I need to go almost all the way to the river margin before going back to Amoreiras.
And by now you might know my saying - “In running, what goes down, must come up.”, The last 2 km to Amoreiras are long steep climbs.
There are several interesting spots on the way up, like Jardim da Estrela and Basílica da Estrela and the Reservoir Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras.
Ending, a little more than a half marathon, with a 700 m, 8% grade could be seen as punishment. Not for me. It’s a reward.
Strava logged 22.7km and 377m total ascent - ouch!
Enjoy your runs!
APF
The photos and history are amazing! It's always great when I (re)learn words like funicular.
You complete maniac! :) Well done, very impressive