Lisbon, Portugal

For our March race, we tried again to find some sun.  We ended up with a great trip to Lisbon, Portugal.  This is a perfect example of how this year of running will enable our travel fetish.  We would not have made our way to Portugal at all if we didn't have this crazy idea to run a race each month.  I still know very little about the country, but am very interested in going back and learning more.

We got a direct flight, Friday to Monday to Lisbon from Eindhoven.  Again, Paula was dead on when she said that she was glad we were in Eindhoven, since if we had landed somewhere warmer, we might not have ventured out so much.  On Friday we worked from the hotel, as best we could.

Lisbon is the western most European capital and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Tagus (Tejo in Espanol) River.  The water front is where the action seemed to be as well as the race registration, so we opted for another hop on hop off site seeing bus that we could catch at our hotel.  We planned to do some site seeing along the way, pick up our race packets and be taken back to the hotel, killing multiple birds with one bus ticket.  Cool, or so we thought.

The area to the west of central Lisbon and on the banks of the River Tejo is called Belem.  This is where you can find beautiful parks and historic buildings.  To the right  is the National Palace and the official residence of the president of Portugal.

Lisbon seems a bit stuck in modern times (for Europe).  There was a devastating earthquake followed by tsunami followed by fire in the city in 1755.  Today it is estimated to have killed 10 to 100 thousand people with a magnitude of 8.5 to 9.0 - one of the deadliest ever.  The city sadly  lost a lot of its historical buildings and archives.



This might contribute to the fact that the major tourist attractions in the city are the TONS of museums.  They have a museum for everything here.  Of course, we didn't go in any of them since that isn't really our thing, but it would make a very educational visit.  Also, just south of the city is the longest stretch of sandy beach in all of Europe!  That doesn't sound so bad...

I bet you didn't know (and why would you) that Lisbon is the oldest Western European city, predating London, Paris and even Rome!  This is mind boggling to me!  Julius Caesar was involved and then, like a lot of Southern Spain, the Moors took over for a time, followed by the Crusaders.  This fact makes the loss of their archives in 1755 even more devastating to the city.  The statue far in the distance on the other side of the replica Golden Gate Bridge is Christo Rei or Statue of Christ.  It was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  If you ask me, the Portuguese should have concentrated on recreating their own historical landmarks rather than copying others?

In addition to the bridge and the statue of Christ, the city of Lisbon has some memorable characteristics.  I love the white small cobble stones that pave all of the sidewalks.  They must help it to not be oppressively hot in the summer.  Also, the buildings for the most part are pastel stucco.  I have seen this style in other Eastern European cities as well, but it seems quite nice in the sun.  We saw the same in Cinque Terre, Italy, so maybe Southern Italy is similar?

The Belem Tower is the most remarkable site in the city.  It was built as a fortress to guard the city's harbor. In modern times, they have built a bridge to allow tourists to visit without donning a bathing suit.  We didn't go in, but I thought the dark and foreboding pictures were awesome.  We did not get all the sunshine that we hoped for in Lisbon, but mercifully, we escaped the rain on race day!