Funchal Madiera Waterside Running Route

Click here for route map
Length 4.8 km (3 miles), terrain: easy, fairly flat, gain 33 meters

Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira, is a pleasant place, with a quiet old-town and a long, beautiful waterfront promenade. And there are also lush parks and botanical gardens, the elegant hilltop retreat of Monte, with its viewpoints, gardens and quirky toboggan rides.

Finding a good running route is tougher, though, because the town, like the whole island, is so vertical. Steep uphill roads provide the only way up into the surrounding suburbs. And vertical cliffs block access to areas east and west of town along the coast. So, the best route to take is simply one that heads along the waterfront promenade, with a return loop through the old town, for a bit of variety.

So, if you're ready, get yourself down to the promenade, at the Praça Do Povo park, right next to the marina, along the Avenida do Mar.

The promenade: nice hangout!

You're in the heart of town, with the pretty, relaxed promenade stretching in both directions, with boats bobbing in the harbor and seagulls soaring above. Let's turn eastwards and run with the water to your right side, enjoying the flowers and exotic trees.

Shortly, you'll cross the river: actually two rivers meet right here just before they pour into the sea.

Next, to the right, you'll see a cement walkway heading diagonally out towards a little green/white lighthouse. If you like lighthouses, like I do, head out there and take a look, with a nice view of the coast and also back towards town.

Then continue onwards, passing the bottom station of the Teleferico (gondola lift). It takes people up to Monte above, and also connects to a second lift that continues on to the main botanical garden.

NOTE: Make sure you get up to Monte during your visit. It's cooler up there in the summer, and there are also spectacular views, has an old church set in a jungley garden, and it has it's own botanical garden which is at least as good as the official one on the next hill. And Monte is the place where the unique toboggan rides start, sliding down the streets back to town.

Toboggans heading down to town

Now just keep running for the next block until the promenade ends right in front of that old yellow fort straight ahead, the Fortaleza de São Tiago. The 400-year old fortress now houses an art museum, a restaurant and lots of cultural festivals. There are swimming platforms down below the fort. 

Heading towards the Fortaleza

NEXT NOTE: If you want to add distance to this short run, just connect to the street to the left and keep running eastwards along Rua de Santa Maria and then Rua Lazareto as they gently head uphill past simple homes and some public viewpoints over the cliffs.
So now we head back, this time staying a bit inland. When we get to the Teleferico again, turn right and follow the cablecars for a block to Rua de Santa Maria, where we turn left and run westwards for a block on this restaurant-lined lane.

Turn right again on another narrow lane, Rua Boa Viagem, and head the one block north to the covered market building. Now just circle the building, but on the north side you might want to step inside the entrance just to see this colorful spot and decide to come back again later. One section of the market is a fish market, the other is mainly spices and vegetables.

Inside the market

After circling the building, head back to the waterfront by running along Rua Brigadeiro Oudinot, next to the river.

Now we'll loop through the old-town and take a look at the main sights: after running one block westwards along the promenade, turn right to cross busy Avenida do Mar and run north along Largo dos Varadouros towards that grey-stone archway ahead. That's a reconstruction of the old city gate that once stood there.

The city gate

Keep running past the gate and you'll come to a quiet square, the Praça Colombo (named after Christopher Columbus), with a few nice cafés. You'll already be able to see the tower of the cathedral off to the left: let's head there next!

So at the north end of the square, turn left and run the one block to the back side of the cathedral, with its Gothic arches and ancient stonework.

The cathedral

Let's run around the building to get to the main entrance, so turn right and run a bit uphill on Rua de João Gago along the east side of the church.

You will now come to the main downtown street, Rua do Aljube. Now, let's keep heading west, past the cathedral entrance with its own little square, where the street widens to become a tree-lined promenade through the old-town. The name changes to Avenida Arriaga. Arriaga is where people come to enjoy the evenings, with cafés, restaurants and theaters lining the avenue.

Zarco statue

My favorite spot in town is at the João Gonçalves Zarco statue, who was the first governor of the island. The elegant Grand Café, with its wrap-around balcony is there, as is the impressive old Bank of Portugal building, and the old Palácio De São Lourenço is next door, the city's first fort and government building. The whole area is a lively, elegant hangout. It's a great place to relax and do some people-watching later on.

At the Ritz, with its blue-white tiles

Continuing westwards, you pass the blue-tile azulejo walls of the Ritz restaurant, and there is a really cool park across the street. The Municipal Park occupies the grounds of a former abbey, and the landscaping is lush and almost jungle-like. Make sure you loop through it!

In the Jardim Municipal

The main theater, Baltazar Dias, comes next, on the left, and then you keep running another block until you come to the traffic circle with the fountain. Here, we'll head uphill into that park on the other side, the Parque de Santa Catarina.

In Santa Catarina

Keep left and follow the way uphill past the 300-year-old baroque chapel. There are a few great lookouts over the harbor below and across the whole town from up here, including the cruise-ship harbor directly below.

Great views from the park!

The park ends soon at a fence that guards the old pink government mansion above. Circle the pond and then head down the steps towards the cruise ship terminal below. There is a pedestrian crossing right there.

You can run under the building housing the C7 Museum (honoring hometown hero, football star Cristiano Ronaldo) and continue to the waterside. 

The Ronaldo statue at the C7 Museum

There are usually ships docked up here, sometimes as many as eight of these impressive giants at a time!

At the cruise-ship harbor

Now just turn left and head back to the starting point along the promenade, a few blocks to the east. Funchal is such a beautiful place!

Lisbon Park of the Nations (Expo) Running Route

Click here for route map
Length 6.9 km (4.3 miles), terrain: flat

Lisbon Running Routes:
Best Lisbon Running Routes: Overview
Park of Nations (Oriente)
Ancient Alfama  
Elegant Lisbon Downtown  
Belem World Cultural Site  
Cool Bairro Alto   

For other running routes, see the Route List

There is a neighborhood up in the northeast corner of Lisbon that will provide a huge contrast to the otherwise historic, hilly town center: the Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations). A lot of people just refer to it as "Expo", for the world's fair that took place there in 1998. The neighborhood is a declaration of love for modernity. There are creative, modern buildings, statues and parks all over the place. And the whole place lines the Tejo River, which looks more like a big bay.

Walking lunch-plates: good thing I didn't have a fork with me

I had to work there a couple of times, and I was immediately captivated by the upbeat creativity of the whole area, with its impressive exposition halls, offices, hotels, museums, marina, parks and apartments.

Modern architecture near Oriente

So, if you want to explore Lisbon's modernistic alter-ego, just head to Oriente Station, reachable by Metro, commuter trains and buses. The station itself is a breathtaking construction, like a huge piece of modern art, with a metallic forest holding up the glass roof. The Vermelha (red) Metro route will take you there from the city center.

Oriente Station details

Exit the station and head across the square to the right, cross busy Avenida Dom João II at the traffic circle, and then run eastwards along Avenida Pacifico. The Vasco da Gama mall is on your left, and you're running past one of the elegantly curved, shrimp-like buildings that flank the mall.

Looking towards the mall from the station

At the next corner, turn left onto the park-like pedestrian strip in the middle of Alameda dos Oceanos. You can run right under the gigantic three-legged sculpture ahead, with the long, flagpole-lined reflecting pool to the right. You are running northwards, parallel to the riverfront, which is a block further east.

Next, on the right side, you'll pass the gigantic dome-shaped Pavilhão Atlântico (Atlantic Pavilion), one of the largest indoor arenas in Europe. On the left side is the other shrimp-like building at the mall.

The Alemeda dos Oceanos, a quiet side-street, has very cool black/white mosaic sidewalks, several colorful, volcano-shaped fountains, huge red-and-white striped waymarkers and a lot of other stuff to entertain you on your way.

Now you pass the very long, futuristic Feira Internacional de Lisboa on your right, the exhibition center, with its suspended roof.

At the big traffic circle at palm-lined Avenida Boa Esperança, turn right and run towards the observation tower at the water's edge. This is the 1-km mark. Ahead is the Vasco da Gama tower, with a luxury-hotel built at its foot.

Just before the tower, turn left and continue running north along Passeio dos Heróis do Mar, another quiet street. A long water-side park now begins on your right side. The park will get wider the further north you go.

Just before you come to the big traffic circle ahead, turn right onto the little path called Caminho das Gaivotas (Seagull Way), where the little blue sign points the way to the right.

Run eastwards across the park. The sidewalk turns into a boardwalk going out over the water. You'll see the huge modern Vasco da Gama Bridge spanning the bay to your left.

Just past the muddy shore, the boardwalk is crossed by another boardwalk running parallel with the shore. When you get to the crossing, turn right and start heading south, with a great view of the Tejo stretching out around you. This is the 2.5-km mark.

In just 150 meters, the boardwalk connects back into the riverside path on land. Keep heading south.

You'll have to run around the Vasco da Gama tower and keep running along the water's edge.

You'll soon pass the northern station of the waterside gondola lift ride, the Telecabine. You'll then run past the exhibition center and the arena again.

The boardwalk at the marina, da Gama Tower on right

Just past the reflecting pool with the flagpoles, you'll come to a big basin. Here, you can keep running straight, over the boardwalk along the river. The multi-storey Oceanarium sits out over the basin.

At the Oceanarium, turn right, then left to get onto the main pedestrian promenade on land, which will take you along the marina after passing some small, strangely landscaped parks and the big, blue theater.

At the southern end of the marina, you've reached the southernmost point of the run, at the 5.5-km mark. Turn right onto Passeio do Adamastor and run between the yellow apartment buildings.

Ahead of you, you'll see a strangely industrial tower sitting in a big square, the Torre da Galp (Galp Tower). This is a left-over piece of the oil refinery which once occupied this spot.

At the tower, turn right and start heading north along Alemeda dos Oceanos again. You'll run past another park on the left and then some museums, like the "Pavilion of Knowledge" life-sciences museum on the right side.

Back at Oriente Station

When you reach the mall again, at the Avenida Pacifico, turn left and run the one block back to Oriente Station again.

Best Lisbon Running Routes and Trails

Top 5 Lisbon Routes

Lisbon is one of those cities that I never tire of visiting. There is something so appealing in Lisbon's lively mix of winding alleys, steep hills, ancient trolleys, with the twin old-towns climbing the hills along each side of the downtown. There is plenty of good food and wine, and it's full of down-to-earth people.

Portugal was the first European country to be successful on the world stage, which added a number of grand monuments, squares, boulevards and buildings. But that brief golden age of glory was soon eclipsed by the expansion of bigger, stronger neighbors. Luckily, though, Lisbon's fading elegance has been compensated by its residents' creativity and resilience. People here are traditionally not very rich, but they know how to live, and the street-side lifestyle and the music can match the cultural scene in any other city.

The Miraduoro (outlook) in Bairro Alto

And the wonderful variety of neighborhoods provides a lot of opportunities for great runs.

So here they are, the five definitive routes in this city of character.

The Best Lisbon Running Routes
Alfama: This is Lisbon's oldest neighborhood, going back to pre-Roman days. It's full of winding lanes, with hole-in-the-wall shops and canaries singing overhead on the balconies, and wash drying overhead. There are few European cities with such an original old town as this.

Downtown/Baixa Avenues: This route follows tree-lined Avenida da Liberdade out to Parque Eduardo VII, heading through old squares, past monuments, fountains, and a botanical garden. At the park, you top it off with a great view over the town center.

Bairro Alto: This is the other old-town, the one with all the hip stores, restaurants and bars. It's full of young people every evening and also offers some great views over the downtown and towards the castle.

Belém: This elegant suburb is home to multiple UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including its famous tower and monastery. There is also a beautiful stretch of riverfront here, another botanical garden, some big museums and the presidential palace. It's also home to those wonderful Portuguese natas, (those amazing custard tarts).

Park of the Nations: This modern neighborhood was the site of the 1998 Expo. Now, its extravagant modern architecture and landscaping is home to offices, shops, apartments, museums, hotels, and a wild-looking train station. Along the river, there is a ski-lift, a marina and a few parks. This run explores it all.

Lisbon Bairro Alto Running Route

Click here for route map
Length 3.4 km (2.1 miles), terrain contains one hill

Lisbon Running Routes:
Best Lisbon Running Routes: Overview
Park of Nations (Oriente)
Ancient Alfama  
Elegant Lisbon Downtown  
Belem World Cultural Site  
Cool Bairro Alto   

For other running routes, see the Route List

Here's a short route that will take you through Lisbon's coolest spot for nightlife: the Bairro Alto (High Town), on the hill just west of the Baixa downtown. If you haven't been up there yet, now is the time to get to know this lively little neighborhood. There is a lot of creative energy in the air up there. That's one thing that I really like about Portugal and Spain: the people aren't usually very rich, but they have a very creative touch, and they exercise it in low-budget ways, like you'll find in Bairro Alto.

NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!
 
There are actually several small neighborhoods up there, each with its own style: Chiaro with its elegant cafés and lively plazas, Bairro Alto with its bohemian restaurants and boutiques, and Principe Real with its wonderful green plaza and the botanical garden.

Let's start the run in the heart of downtown, right at the Praça Dom Pedro IV (Rossio Square). Here at the base of Dom Pedro's column, on the wavy black and white mosaics, you can see where you are going when you turn towards the west: the hill with the ruins of the Carmo monastery just a few blocks away.

Dom Pedro V

Face the south and then run towards the southwest corner of the plaza, and start running uphill on Rua do Carmo. You'll pass the Santa Justa lift on the left side (people pay to take the lift and avoid what you're doing right now! It was built by Gustave Eiffel, who built the Eiffel Tower). When the street gets to its highest point, turn right and continue up Rua Garrett until the first side-street to the right. This is the Chiaro neighborhood.

Santa Justa lift to Chiaro

Turn right on Calçada do Sacramento to continue uphill for two blocks until you get to the little plaza in front of the Carmo monastery ruins. The monastery, like most of Lisbon was destroyed in the earthquake of 1755. During the day, you can go inside the courtyard and see the ruins close-up, well worth doing. The jacarandas in the plaza are beautiful when blooming.

At Carmo monastery

Now turn around and run the same way back to Rua Garrett, where you turn right and continue past the expensive shops and cafés for the next few blocks. "A Brasileira", on the right side, is Lisbon's most famous café, and its most elegant, if maybe overrun by tourists. 

The café A Brasileira

You will soon come to an open square, Praça Luís de Camões, named after Portugal's most famous poet. This is also one of the most important tram stops in the city, and the ancient, creaking trams come clanking by every few minutes.

Bairro Alto begins right here, to the right. Bairro Alto is actually quite small, just a rectangle four blocks wide and eight blocks long. But it's a fascinating place: an old, working-class quarter that has become home for a variety of alternative shops, bars and restaurants. Most of the streets are pedestrian streets, or at least have very few cars.

Turn up Rua do Norte, and you'll pass some of the cooler shops. The neighborhood seems to be moving towards more tourist restaurants and fewer cool shops, though.

Bairro Alto street scene

After two blocks, turn left to go up a side street, then turn right to continue northwards up Rua do Diário de Notícias (Newspaper Street), which is full of restaurants and outdoor seating. This is definitely one place to come back and spend an evening during your visit. Several restaurants host live fado music, others have street musicians standing out front.

Run until the street ends, where you turn right and come out at the Miradouro (scenic outlook). Take a loop through this pleasant, shaded plaza. There is a second level below with a formal gardens full of statues. The views to the castle and the river are worth a quick stop. There is also a café there where you can eat sandwiches and drink a glass of wine or beer later, if you come back.

At the Miradouro

Now continue northwards up Rua Dom Pedro V. On your right, you'll pass the Lost In bar. Out back they also have one of the best views in Lisbon from their little patio.

You are now in the Principe Real neighborhood, full of students from the university up the street. There are some interesting bars, and amazing antique stores along this street.

In a few blocks, you'll come to Praça do Principe Real on the left, one of my favorite plazas anywhere. Cross the street into the plaza, and you'll go by one of the widest trees anywhere (I mean the branches of this amazing cedar are held out wide on top of a metal support structure).

Principe Real cedar

Behind it is a fountain with more jacaranda trees, and a café next to some massive banyans.

Café among banyans

If you go through the plaza to the north side, you'll have a view out over the steep west side of the hill.

NOTE: If you are running during the daytime, before about 6 p.m., you might want to add a small but beautiful loop through the botanical garden, the Jardim Botanico. It is just a few blocks further northwest past the plaza, behind the Museu National de Historia Natural, on the right. You have to pay a couple of Euros to get in, but it's a tropical paradise within, one of my favorite places anywhere.

In the Jardim Botanico

Now head back through the plaza again to the corner where the wide tree is. Cross the street again at the zebra stripes and turn down the little side-street, Rua Mãe de Água. Rua Mãe de Água ends after a few meters, and a stairway continues on down the hill. The way crosses a street and continues as a stairway down to the next plaza. Just keep heading straight downhill on Rua Mãe de Água, passing the Hotel Botanico.

In two more blocks, you'll pass Praça da Alegria on the right. This beautiful little plaza is full of exotic tropical trees (seems like every plaza around here answers that description). Run across this half-circular plaza then turn left to continue downhill.

Strange tree in Praça da Alegria

A few meters further, and the street comes out at Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon's great boulevard.

Now, you turn right and run the last few blocks past the Rossio train station back to Rossio plaza.

Lisbon Belém Running Route

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Length 8 km (5 miles), terrain flat

Lisbon Running Routes:
Best Lisbon Running Routes: Overview
Park of Nations (Oriente)
Ancient Alfama  
Elegant Lisbon Downtown  
Belem World Cultural Site  
Cool Bairro Alto   

For other running routes, see the Route List

One of my favorite Lisbon neighborhoods is Belém. It's home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Hey, how many of your running routes can claim that?) as well as the presidential palace, a tropical botanical garden, monuments, forts, and has a great, flat running trail right next to the Tejo River.

NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!
 
Most of the Tejo riverfront is fairly industrial, lined with loud streets, railway lines, warehouses and factories. But the city has reclaimed some fairly long stretches of riverside land in recent years, converting it into parks with marinas, cafés and museums. And the Tejo around Belém makes up one of the best stretches of nice riverfront. It has become one of the city's most popular running trails, full of runners, bikers and sight-seers.

The Tejo riverfront, with Belém lighthouse and Torre de Belém in distance

Belém was once a separate town, west of Lisbon, a royal district where the first Portuguese explorers sailed off to find a sea route around Africa. And the treasures that were brought back from around the world were used to build the two UNESCO sites: the Torre de Belém, and Jeronimo monastery.

Today Belém is just one of Lisbon's western suburbs. Getting there will be your logistical problem for this run: it's located a few kilometers west of the downtown, the Baixa. I would recommend taking the 15E tram line. You can get on at Rossio square, or at Praça do Comércio or at the Cais do Sodré train station right at the river. Riding the tram is a must-do thing anyway in Lisbon, with those ancient wooden cars screeching down the tracks. It costs about €3 a trip.

One of the older Lisbon trams: gotta take a ride!

Ride the tram westwards (towards Algés) until it passes under the giant suspension bridge over the Tejo, the Ponte 25 Abril. Get out at the second stop after the bridge, at Junqueira, a stop after the big tram depot and the Carris (public transport) Museum.

After exiting the tram, turn south (left from the tram) and run down Travessa de Guarda past the Congress Center. After a block, it runs into the wall of Avenida da India, a loud highway divided by a train line. It's impossible to cross at ground level. But no problem, just take the metal pedestrian bridge to the promised land -- the Tejo River -- on the other side.

Ponte 25 Abril

And suddenly, you're in a nice riverside park along the water, with a great view of the suspension bridge and the gigantic Jesus statue behind it. Now just turn right to head westwards among the many other runners, bikers and fishermen out there. The river is really wide here, more like a bay than a river.

After the Belem ferry station, you have to turn inland to run around a small marina harbor before turning back to the riverside.

Now, you suddenly notice that you've arrived in Belém: you can see the exquisite stonework of Jeronimo monastery across the busy road, to the right, behind a beautiful park. We'll get over there later, don't worry.

But now, to the left, you'll come to the impressive Discoverers' monument at the water's edge.

The Portuguese Discoverers

Keep running westwards past the monument and you'll see Belém's other UNESCO site down the river, the Torre (tower) de Belém. This beautiful little fort was built to protect Lisbon from naval attacks, but it looks way too decorative to be used in actual warfare, and is thankfully still standing, intact.

Before reaching the tower, you have to run around another marina basin, then go by the yacht club. There is a wider park around the tower, and an aviation monument marking the first Southern Atlantic flight in 1922, which took off from here and ended in Brasil.

Aviation monument

When the gateway into the tower is open, it's definitely worth taking a quick look inside. Sometimes, during high-tide and strong winds, you have to dodge the crashing waves to cross the walkway dry.

The Torre de Belém

Just past the tower, there's another, more functional old fort, now a museum with a memorial to the soldiers who died in Portugal's many colonial wars.

The fort and war memorial

You could continue running westwards along the river for a short ways, but this route will turn around here, and head back to the aviation monument, where you turn left through the park to the Avenida da India again.

Take the pedestrian bridge to the north side of the road and keep running north the two blocks to Rua Bartolomeu Dias, with its tram tracks. 

Turn right here, running eastwards, and pass the modern Centro Cultural de Belém, which has some free art exhibits.

Cultural Center

On the left side, you are approaching the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos monastery. At its west end, you can run into the courtyard towards the planetarium, surrounded by the Maritime Museum, with lots of old anchors, traditional boats and other curiosities, not the least of which is a drinking fountain, a life-saver on hot days!

Jeronimo doorway

Now run eastwards along the south façade of the monastery, now an antiquities museum. The small circular windows all have different stone designs. The two doorways into the church are truly amazing, and the stone façade is one great piece of artwork.

St. Jeronimo detailing work: amazing craftsmanship

Now cross the street to the south into the park, the Praça do Imperio, with its giant fountain. Then turn east to run through the beautiful gardens lined by olives and cypresses.

Praça do Imperio fountain

When you come to the line of old restaurants on the left, turn left to get back to the elegant, little shopping street, the Rua de Belém.

Turn left here, before the line of restaurants

Right across the street, you'll see Portugal's most famous bakery, the Pasteis de Belém. They invented those wonderful "natas" (custard tarts), and there is always a line of people waiting to take them home by the boxful. I've sometimes ordered a box of six to eat as dinner in the park (OK, it's not exactly healthfood).

Pasteis de Belém

NOTE: To the left, behind the tram turn-around station, is the entrance to the 6-hectare tropical botanical gardens, the Jardim do Ultramar. You have to pay for admittance, so I didn't include a loop through it, but you might want to add it to this run. It costs just €1.50, and is open until 5- or 6-p.m. depending on the season.

Jardim Ultramar, a tropical paradise

Now turn eastwards and run past the shops, which end after just one block. You are now at the next beautiful square, the Praça Alfonso, with the pink presidential palace on the left, with the palace guards out on the sidewalk.

The presidential palace entrance

Cross the square diagonally to the right to get back to the Avenida da India.

Here, again, is a pedestrian bridge back to the other side, where you'll come to the Belém ferry station again.

Now, just turn left and follow your trail back to the starting point at the Junquiera tram stop again, and take the 15E tram back home.

Elegant Lisbon Running Route

Click here for route map 
Length 6.9 km (4.3 miles), terrain has one gentle hill climb

Lisbon Running Routes:
Best Lisbon Running Routes: Overview
Park of Nations (Oriente)
Ancient Alfama  
Elegant Lisbon Downtown  
Belem World Cultural Site  
Cool Bairro Alto   

For other running routes, see the Route List

Over the years, I've traveled to Lisbon a half-dozen times, and each time I immediately pointed my running shoes up the hills to the east or west of the town center. The narrow alleys and stairs in those ancient neighborhoods, the Alfama and Bairro Alto, always captivated me, and I never once just ran the downtown valley between them.

News kiosk along Avenida da Liberdade

But this time, I took another look, and decided I'd run up the valley one evening, starting downtown at the main Praça do Comércio (commerce square) at the river, heading northwards through the Baixa (downtown) and running the gradual uphill grade out Avenida da Liberdade and then up the small hill at Parque Eduardo VII.

NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!

There are some nice aspects to this particular run: its rise of only about 80 meters over 3.5 kilometers is very mild by Lisbon standards. And even better, this run passes through the most elegant neighborhoods of old Lisbon, full of old-world charm.

Standing there at the Tejo River, looking across the wide expanse of the Praça do Comércio, and the classical arcaded buildings lining the square, you are viewing the results of the reconstruction scheme after the devastating earthquake of 1755. 

Praça do Comércio with graduating students getting their black capes

The quake destroyed the city back then, and the town was rebuilt to a design by the Marquês de Pombal, who also laid out the square. The square has been undergoing refurbishment for years now, but the construction seems to be just about finished, as of this posting.

So, now that you've taken a look around, let's head straight through the giant archway at the north end of the square and head up Rua Augusta. This is the only pedestrian street in the Baixa, and is lined by the neighborhood's most lively shops and restaurants. Like almost this whole route, the way is paved in typical Portugese black-and-white stone mosaics in beautiful designs.

Rua Augusta in the Baixa

The parallel streets seem a bit lifeless and shabby in comparison. At Rua de Santa Justa, look left to see the old iron elevator tower to take people up to the Chiado neighborhood on the hilltop. The tower was built by Gustave Eiffel, who also built the Eiffel Tower.

You will come out into another major square, Rossio, whose wavy mosaics recall the tsunami that hit the town after the earthquake. Up the hill to the left, you can see the ruins of Carmo, a church that was never rebuilt after the quake.

Rossio

The north end of the square is dominated by the national theater. Run around the left side of the theater and past the main train station (also called Rossio), and into the next square, the Praça dos Restauradores. The art-deco Eden Theater on the left has a great rooftop garden with palm trees.

Just past the square, the Avenida da Liberdade begins, the most elegant boulevard I've ever seen. It has 8 rows of trees and lush tropical gardens lining each side, with ponds, statues, cafés, kiosks and monuments adding just the right accents. 

Liberdade landscaping

This is the way every great avenue should be, the way I had expected the Champs-Élysées in Paris to be, but wasn't.

Mosaic, typical Lisbon sidewalk

The route has been flat until now, but it begins its slight uphill climb now, which will continue until you reach the turnaround point. Liberdade ends at the very busy Marquês de Pombal square, with a huge statue of Pombal in the middle of the traffic circle. You'll have to cross several streets to get to the park on the other side, Parque Eduardo VII.

You can just continue on up the central promenade towards the twin white columns marking the top of the park at the north, or follow my route along the right (east) side, up and over the wooded hill. This way has all the climbing right at the beginning, then flattens out past the gardens and café at the top.

Parque Eduardo VII, view from the top

At the top of the park, cross the street (Avenida Cardeal) behind the two white columns and run up along the semi-circle behind it to get a great view out several directions, especially back over the way you just came. This is the turn around point.

Now just continue running parallel to the way you came, back along the west side of the park, where you go by one of Lisbon's several botanical gardens.

In the botanical garden

Just run back along the other side of Liberdade and back to the starting point.

Crossing Pombal on the return trip