Lisbon - Day 9

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Having purchased our 24-hour Lisboa cards yesterday afternoon we were keen to get our money’s worth out of them. Although we are just around the corner from the Elevador de Santa Justa we haven’t ridden it because we are not prepared to queue for an hour for a 30-second ride!! Because the ride is included on our card, this morning we resolved to get up early and go to ride the elevador as soon as possible after it opens at 7.30am before the queue gets out of control. Hmmn, so we arrive at the elevador at 7.45am and … it’s not open!

Oh well, let’s return to the Praça do Comércio early in the morning and try to take some photos without loads of people milling about. Fabulous, that plan worked well and we were able to take our photos of the square and the triumphal arch without the crowds. With it now just gone 8.00am we decided to return to the elevador to see if it commenced operating at 8.00am?? Nope, still no queue, still no action at the elevador. When DOES it open??

After our early morning outing, we returned to our apartment to ate some breakfast. We had put breakfast on hold to go out being early morning tourists. OK, it’s now just after 8.30am and we are ready to head off for today’s sightseeing efforts. We will give the elevador one more try before we walk to the train station. At 8.53am there was a small queue. OK, maybe they are on to something and they believe the elevador will open at 9.00am? We will wait seven minutes. We are prepared to invest that much time in the likelihood that we can ride at 9.00am.

Yay, the elevador starts operating at 9.00am NOT 7.30am like Google said!! No wonder everyone has to queue for the ride, everyone else with us on the first ride of the day had to buy a ticket - using cash - from the operator of the elevador before we could go up, up, up. This is not very efficient. Everyone should have to have their e-ticket ready to go just like on the buses, trains and trams!! Geez, we’re from Melbourne, we get that it’s much more efficient to have a ticket ready to ride. Anyhoo, finally everyone was ticketed and up we went. Yup, not even 30 seconds which is exactly why we were not prepared to wait ages for the ride. Not a good return on investment of your time! We disembarked, re-scanned out Lisboa cards as we re-entered the elevador and we rode straight back down again. Tick!

Next we walked to the station to catch the train to Martim Moniz Station planning to catch the Route 28 tram from the terminus at Praça Martim Moniz. Oh dear, that time spent riding the Elevador de Santa Justa could have been invested in queuing for the tram here. We had hoped that coming to the terminus would make it easier to get on the Route 28 tram, but it seems everyone has the same idea. Fortunately the queue moved along fairly steadily and we were on the tram by about 10.00am. At least after queueing for 40 minutes we are in for a ride slightly longer than that.

Whoa, and what a crazy ride it is on the Route 28 tram! The tram slogs up hills and all but runs away down the hills. If I was driving I would certainly be applying a lot more brake for the down hill bits. It rattles through narrow canyons between buildings, swings wildly around corners and somehow manages to avoid hitting any cars. All that excitement for just €1.50 although it was ‘free’ with our Lisboa Cards.

We had to alight at the terminus at the other end of the route before joining a short queue to jump back on for the return journey. Thankfully the queue was much shorter at this end. We weren’t able to board the first tram to depart after our arrival, but we did get on (and score a seat) on the second tram to head off. This journey we alighted at Mosteiro de São Vincente de Fora – the building with the attractive bell towers that we spied yesterday.

The history of the Monastery of Saint Vincent dates back to the siege of Lisbon in 1147 when the first king of Portugal, Afonso I, promised to build a monastery dedicated to the Martyr Saint Vincent if he managed to free the city from the Moors. The ‘de fora’ suffix means that the monastery was founded outside the city walls. The self-guided tour started in the cistern before entering the cloisters and the adjoining church and sacristy, the Pantheon of the Patriarchs, the Royal Pantheon of the Braganças and Saint Anthony’s Chapel. Upstairs is home to several exhibitions including one of seashells. We were also able to access the roof for outstanding panoramic views over the river and city.

We jumped back on the tram even though boarding mid-route meant that we had to stand! It’s a bit precarious standing as the tram rocks and rolls along the track, but we made it back to Commercial Square without mishap. We bought ourselves a light lunch which we took back to the apartment to eat.

Right, I have been interested in seeing the Aqueduto das Águas Livres and the Mãe d’ Água, but all week Bernie has been saying they are too far away, too hard to get to. The picture of the Mãe d’ Água in our guide book brings to mind Istanbul’s underground cistern so I remained convinced that it looked worth a bit of effort to find/see. Then Bernie discovered that the Route 24 tram runs near to both these points of interest and he was more inclined to visit.

After lunch we walked right through Baixa-Chiado Station to Praça Luiz de Camões which is adjacent to the terminus for the Route 24 tram. For once common sense prevailed and Bernie’s navigational instincts told him this would be the most efficient way to get across to Praça Luiz de Camões. It was certainly much more direct that the overland route(s) suggested by both of his map apps!!

Have to say that the Route 24 tram is nowhere near as exciting as Route 28. It has a couple of moments and it does pass through a section of the aqueduct so still pretty interesting. While we were on the tram Bernie finally found the Mãe d’ Água on Google Maps. I had the photo and information in the guide book, but it doesn’t exist if it’s not on Google Maps! When I pointed out the guide book said to search Mother of Water, it finally came up and, wouldn’t you know it, it’s closed today!! Aargh!

We still rode the tram to the other end of its route and then walked to a point from which we could see the aqueduct. Here in Campolide it’s pretty spectacular with arches up to 65-metre tall. In all there are 109 arches bringing the aqueduct across the hills into Lisbon from Caneças over 18 kilometres away. The aqueduct, a spectacular feat of engineering, was built between 1728 and 1835, by order of Dom João V, to supply Lisbon with its first clean drinking water. Impressive.

We walked back to the tram and rode back to Praça Luiz de Camões. We re-traced our steps back through the underground, but walking in this direction there was no down escalator so we had to use the stairs, lots of stairs!! Judging by the hoarding that is up, it is some time since there were two escalators running … and it could be some time before there are two running again.

After dropping off our cameras we went for a bit of a look around the shopping centre near the station. Not really noteworthy although I did find a KIKO Milano make-up store. I have a couple of friends in Australia who love this make up and stock up whenever they are in Europe. I just checked the brand with one of those friends yesterday and she responded this morning to tell me it’s KIKO Milano. I didn’t expect it to be so easy to find. Of course I always find it overwhelming purchasing make-up, not being one to wear much make-up. I bought a mascara from their sensitive line to try. I have sussed out that there are store in Manchester so, if I try it and love it, I can buy more in Manchester in a few week’s time.

We just rolled ourselves out the door again this evening and ate at Cataplana the restaurant right outside. I had a wet seafood Paella, it’s a fine line between seafood rice and paella, ha, ha. Bernie had spaghetti marinara. I think we’ve eaten prawns every day that we have been here!



Steps: 16,430 (11.03 kms)

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Comments

[Caroline Brunner]

Sharing is caring.
I am quite envious, Tracey. I just LOVE trams. I try to ride trams wherever I find them & take a photo of me beside or getting on them. I enjoyed your description of the 'Wild ride'. Keep having fun you two. Cheers

[Trabern]

Oops, Portugal
Just noted that I erroneously referred to our adventure in Spain when, of course, we are in PORTUGAL!! What a terrible mistake to make, the Portuguese absolutely HATE being confused with the Spanish. The trams in Lisbon are a bit like miniature W class trams. So sad that our classic old W class trams only run now on the City Circle route … and then only sometimes. Apparently driver shortages prevent Yarra Trams from providing a reliable City Circle service. The crazy little trams here have so much character!!