52 Weeks, 52 Half Marathons - Stage 5
Run 5 - Lisbon - Inner "beltway"
February 18th, 7:09 am
What can I say, this beginning of the year is putting me to a test. I felt terrible all week long, coughing as if my lungs were coming out through my mouth. Poor sleep and no training at all except for a shy 5k run on Friday. Today’s run was initially planned for Saturday but the “bear” cough was too rough, so I had to postpone it for today. Early in the morning I was not feeling stellar but it was good enough for going out. The weather, again, was quite friendly. I had to use a Jedi mind concentration to try and keep that coughing at bay. It worked.
The run starts downtown Lisbon. Parking is free on Sundays, and this early in the morning there is no traffic at all. It was a breeze to drive to the start line.
Tourism in Lisbon, for good and for bad, has been growing steadily up to the annoying point. The fact that there were so many people in the streets, this early, walking their trolleys is mathematical proof.
The starting pistol fires by the Rossio Square and Rossio train station, a tourist hotspot. This is were you can take the train to go all the way to downtown Sintra (see run 2). The area is populated with typical coffee spots, restaurants, souvenir shops and some of the most expensive stores in town. Sadly it has been losing a lot of its character, pressed to please the Instagram follower crowds, as many other major cities.
Most of the run is on flat terrain but there are a few surprises ahead. There is going to be a lot of sidewalk running, where I highly recommend that you keep your eyes on alert for uneven pavement. Lisbon has been pushing for bike lanes which come in handy for running too. We won’t be crossing too many roads.
From the Rossio Square, the route heads to the river margin. There are several parallel interesting streets; I picked one that has recently been closed to traffic and that has a new bike lane. This area of the city, with a US-type perpendicular design, is a result of it being rebuilt after a major Lisbon earthquake in the seventeen hundreds. It’s quite beautiful.
The sun is not out yet, but there is already plenty of promising chromatic light at the end of the street - proceed flat out to catch the sunrise.
As we approach the river we are greeted by Praça do Comércio, a big square that is a gathering spot for many occasions (New Year, for instance), home to many restaurants and place for a lot of important and historical government and armed forces buildings.
Lighting, or lack of it, is challenging for my aging iPhone 12 Pro Max, and I struggle to get the photos in focus. I wont’ be stopping, so I cheat by shrinking the photos here.
The river is right there, but we need to put on some extra miles (or kms) to get to 21.1k, so we detour on a street that leads us to the Cais do Sodré train station (run 3). It is also a good excuse to run by the City Hall, a historical Lisbon spot for many reasons.
Arriving at the Cais do Sodré train station, it’s time to glue ourselves to the river margin for a long stretch of the run. That’s where the sun is waking up and where the movie unfolds, again.
There are still many survivors from last night that are hanging around waiting for the sun to come up before they go to bed.
The river is extraordinarily wide here, hard to believe that it is a river indeed.
Stay the course and watch sun the slowly rise as the flat route progresses srtaight along the river shore.
We run by Praça do Comércio again with the Lisbon Castle behind it (another one built by the Moops :) )
A reason that baptized this run as the inner “beltway” is that for a long distance, the landscape is quite industrial and not as nice as my previous runs.
Still, the city has been slowly renovating this area, changing what used to be industrial areas, to new gathering spots, co-work spaces, incubators, and all those fashionable initiatives that look good on every political party CV.
There has been a raising influx of cruise ships which lead to a new cruise ship building terminal that nevertheless looks empty most of the time (ships don’t come and go as fast as planes).
We are around the 4th km and on the left side the old city follows us with some of its impressive historical buildings like the Panteão Nacional.
There are many restaurants and bars, more than free time in my life and Euro bills in my wallet, that keep popping (and busting) as the place is renovated. The sidewalks are in good shape here, and we move on to what used to be the main train station in Lisbon (where one can catch the Sud Express). It’s a tiny station by European standards, cozy but cramped. It has been renovated and I just found out that the building is also being used as a hotel (looks nice).
From here on, the landscape becomes more spartan as most of the buildings are related to the Port of Lisbon and older industrial facilities. I enjoy the view, but then again, I am an engineer, not an architect, so I am biased.
Even old cereal silos are being repurposed for office buildings. Lisbon has been betting on becoming a digital nomad key stop (nomads don’t stay by definition), but there is a harsh hidden fight between many cities in Europe.
This one one in the photo has hilariously been named the Unicorn Factory. My only request is that a unicorn amount of money is not spent chasing a kid’s fairy tale horse.
The landscape starts to improve as we get closer to the Lisbon Expo area, which is a new area of the city where industrial terrains have been successfully transformed into a mix of residential areas, office buildings, commercial and cultural.
We get there around km 9, and are allowed again to kiss the river border.
Unfortunately, the running exploration of the Expo will be the theme of another run. We need to start routing back, and that means grinding the teeth for an uninvited climb. It’s 2.7 km with an average grade of 3.6%, not too bad, but starts with a 200m stretch that goes all the way up to 10%. No one deserves this kind of punishment (I almost missed my cough). This is a long lonely climb cutting through the middle of nothing but businesses, rail-tracks and overpasses. The sidewalk is wide and well paved and I was quite lucky with green lights at the crossings.
Have I mentioned that this climb is boring?
…
And long
…
And lonely
When you get to the top, you will be able to see a number of parked planes at the Lisbon Airport at a distance.
The punishment is over (for now), and we can gear up for a nice short descent that will lead us to the outskirts of what used to be one of the finest Lisbon neighborhoods. We have again a mix of bike lanes and well-paved sidewalks that segue us along Avenida do Brasil all the way to Campo Grande.
As one gets to Campo Grande, it is tempting to use the trails through the green areas and parks in the middle of the large avenue, but alas, we have a mission to complete, and no time to have fun in the park since the crossings become prohibitive. If one stops too many times, the legs get more and more tempted to give up. It’s no time to rest. So, we loose some of the beauty but gain running efficiency and safety by just following the not-so-boring sidewalk.
At km 17, on our left, a bullfight arena (sorry), it is still used today for that tradition, but also for hosting interesting music concerts (once, I watched Mark Knopfler playing there, and if you don’t know who he is, stop reading and go listen).
There are also good restaurants around. The area is quite nice.
It’s hard to capture the grandeur of this avenue, regrettably I believe the best view is by car. As we get to Praça do Saldanha, we can see a lot of renovation around bike lanes, green areas, and closing streets to traffic, that has been working quite well.
We are getting close to our starting point, Lisbon sends a breath of fresh air with a resting descent all the way to Marquês de Pombal roundabout. There are a few new buildings, pushing the reasonable height limits for this part of town. Office space and housing prices are at their speculation peak, pushing the locals away from the city center.
As we get to Marquês de Pombal roundabout, I have a poisoned present for you. In case you did not notice, we are approximately 1km away from our starting point but 3 km shy of the 21.1k goal. This was planned, of course, but I had to hide it from you. We need to go around Parque Eduardo VII for a “short” 2km loop.
The problem is, going around really means climbing, and, let me tell you, that climb, at this point in time, is a complete slaughter!
I said it was a poisoned present, you felt the poison of the climb, but there is still a present in that sentence, so lo and behold, use all that film in your phone camera on the magnificent view from the top.
The gift is twofold, from here on, it’s a downward slope all the way to the end, and the view is glorious.
There are a few crossings along the way but today I confess that the traffic light gods were on my side. Luck protects the bold, they say.
We finish on Avenida da Liberdade, home of to Cartier, Gucci and all the others. Nothing of interest for a sweaty runner.
Below the route and profile as recorded by Strava.
With this run, we got a glimpse of the several faces of Lisbon. The old, the new and the in-between. Running this early in the morning is a great way to get acquainted with city neighborhoods and I will definitely explore multiple routes in Lisbon in the coming weeks.
Enjoy your runs!
APF