Lisbon Logistics A Bit Perplexing To Me
 

I have read through all the terrific Portugal trip reports and read Maribel, Helena and other Portugal experts sage advice, but I have to admit I'm still a little confused on how to get to some of the places without having a heart attack on a hill. We will be staying at the Altis Avenida (R. 1º de Dezembro 120). I plan on taking an Uber close to São Jorge Castle and the walk from there is fairly clear to Igreja de São Vicente de Fora, Igreja de Santa Engrácia-Panteão Nacional and a miradouro or two (I think) . However, what's not quite clear in my pea brain is going from the hotel to, let's say, Convento do Carmo or Igreja-Museu São Roque. Is that where I use some of those hacks Maribel posted about the escalators in the metro station and also in the department store. My other question is about Belem. I'm going to attempt to do what Maribel did on an earlier trip and visit a lot of places on our day there. I have a walk planned out, but I remember Maribel saying there are only a couple of places where you can get through to Torre de Belém and Monument to the Discoveries. Any help to my directionally-challenged self are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

MT,
I’ll be honest with you, I’m still baffled by Lisbon after 6 days there! So if you think you have a pea brain, trust me, I really feel like my brain has been twisted by Lisbon! One needs many visits there to ace that city! We did figure out some of the “hacks” that Maribel mentioned though often they were just as confusing to find and figure out as Google maps. Of course, Google maps doesn’t show you the hills 😁.

I don’t think it’s that difficult to walk to Largo do Carmo from your hotel. I know the street since we shopped at Pingo Doce (a supermarket ) on Rua 1º de Dezembro and Google says it’s a 3 minute walk to the convent from the store. My memory, for what it’s worth, is that that the hill to Largo do Carmo is not bad. But don’t hold me to that!

About Belém - I’m not sure what’s meant by “getting through” to the Torre de Belém and the Monument. We walked to them from the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos - a bit of a walk but doable. At some point, we had to cross the very wide street, and there were limited places where that could be done easily, but it wasn’t difficult. But again, my brain is fuzzy these days, so the details are a bit waffly😉
The monastery is fantastic! Absolutely wonderful. You will love it, I’m sure.

We did have a wonderful lunch at somewhere in the park in Belém at the Comptoir Parisien -
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura..._Portugal.html

And you know, of course, not to wait on line for the natas at Pastéis de Belém, but enter the shop/restaurant and get a table. There are lots of rooms, and you can even see them being produced. Much more fun.

And, I assume, you plan to go to the Carriage Museum - it’s wonderful, though finding the entrance was probably the biggest challenge of the day!

Have a great trip! This one’s a go!

For the Carmo you would use the Eiffel elevator.

https://flic.kr/p/2gwoXdK
and the next picture is taken from the top of the elevator

https://flic.kr/p/2gwsDXj
The metro also has a stop in that area with a long escalator to provide an exit higher up on the hill.

When we were there, the lines were HUGE at the elevator that Michael mentions. It’s a very popular tourist spot. We did somehow stumble upon it when we took the escalators at the Rossio station, but I couldn’t tell you how, exactly, we arrived at the Largo do Carmo!

Tom, google map of Belem sites and you will see they are not far apart. You will just have to cross the main street. We loved this area
and were surprised how much we enjoyed the Coach Museum. Jeronimos Monastery is such a gem with it’s Manuline architectural
details.

Belem was easy. Lisbon, not-so-much.

And it's the Elevador de Santa Justa (assume Eiffel was tongue-in-cheek). We never used it, we choose to climb the hills instead. Needed to work off the the food and wine:)

It was said to have been built by him or one of his acolytes (urban legend?).

Oddsmakers say I have a 28% chance of navigating Lisbon correctly.

Getting lost is half the fun maitaitom.

28% sounds like good odds to me! Agree with mel getting lost is one of the fun things to do - kinda like Venice, but you are less likely to wind up in a canal.
BTW the elevators maribel talks about are not in department stores, but actually on the street as you can see in the photo above.
After a couple visits, my best advice is to be sure you have the uber app on your phone.

Seamus, I couldn’t tell you which stores we were in but we definitely found a few elevators within stores in the shopping mall in Chiado that took us from one level to another, though they never really seemed to take us exactly where we thought they would and we never quite figured out where they went.

The best “hack” we found was the series of escalators in the Baixa-Chiado metro. They go from Baixa to Chiado, starting in a small street, Rua do Crucixo (and I hear you now praying this will all make sense!), just off a larger street, Rua Áurea, to Largo do Chiado (a lovely square).
https://www.thelisbonconnection.com/...eds-of-stairs/


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...419e8ea9a.jpeg

Yes, progol, I saw store elevators, too, but I think OP was malign reference to the outdoor elevators.

We also rode that escalator!