A Lisbon (Portugal) Week of Runarounds

Over the past week I’ve been hanging out in Lisbon, Portugal for work meetings.  But, I managed to get in a number of runs here, as well as a bit of time in between things exploring the city a little bit.  Here’s a quick rundown and blend of everything!

For all of my runs I’ve been sticking to a gigantic park area near where the hotel I’m staying is at.  This portion alone is about 3 miles (5K) in length and runs along the water.  But from there it serves as the start (or end) of a massively long bike/running path that goes along the river forever (more miles than I’d ever run).  Below is a map of the park area from my run tonight with mile-repeat intervals:

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Below are a slew of photos combined from the different runs.  I start almost all my runs near this little set of water volcanos that periodically blow their tops:

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From there I pass under a museum where when I returned from a run on Monday morning the police force was all lined up for a morning meeting and what appeared to be some sort of TV recording going on.  There was also a huge T-Rex model on the opposite side, but I somehow didn’t get a photo of him.

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Next to the museum is the aquarium that sits on the water.  A pretty cool structure that I’d cut underneath.

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There’s a fair amount of public art around.  Though, some of it I’m not quite sure I understood:

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After leaving the buildings behind I’d head out along the water onto a bit of an elevated boardwalk.  There’s a few different sections of this and depending on which way I’d be going I’d either get slaughtered or helped by the wind.

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Up ahead I’d go under a massive bridge.  Once crossing under the bridge it got into a much quieter section of park.

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The bridge went on forever.  I think it actually connects to New York or something.

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As noted, once past the bridge it was a much quieter section of trail, mostly paved though a few brief sections of hardpack.  The water just off to the side at all times.

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After the fields I’d often turn onto a bit of a smaller river trail.  This was not quite as pretty and I’d soon turn back around again after reaching the next bridge.

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I’d always finish back up in an enclosed marine area next to the aquarium.  This is where at least one local triathlon is held (just two weeks ago), and is an awesome spot for a swim course:

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Now, as I said earlier in the week, The Girl did come down to enjoy things a bit.  She’s been off doing all sorts of sightseeing, based in part on your recommendations.

On Monday, as well as Thursday evening, I got a chance to check out a few things along with her.  For example, on Monday we went out and checked out the beach:

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And then later that evening enjoyed plenty of food in a local wine bar:

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On Wednesday while at a team dinner I ate both snails….

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…and these funky little things that looked like dragon claws.  They’re called Percebes here, but are known in English as Goose Barnacles.  They sorta taste like mussels.

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Thursday evening we drove down to check out the Belem Tower and surrounding area.

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As well as the Museu do Combatente, which contains this pool with a long list of names, somewhat like the Vietnam wall, behind it:

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A few hundred meters away is the well known bakery Pastéis de Belém, which many of you recommended in my Monday morning post.

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They sell these small little custard pies for about 1€ each.  The pies are often topped with sugar and cinnamon.

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We also headed a short distance away to another place that others recommended as slightly better, and grabbed some of those too (and a few other things), and headed over to a park to enjoy some treats:

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After filling up on treats, we headed back and ran (bringing us back to the start of this post).  Of course, there’s been plenty of other wanderings around the streets of Lisbon, including many potentially harrowing moments between our little rental car and some trolley tracks.  No worries, thus far Avis will get their car back in one piece.  Though, there’s always still tomorrow….

Thanks for reading!  And thanks everyone for all the suggestions (and Ricardo, for picking out the great dinner places).  Definitely a great city!

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15 Comments

  1. Pedro

    Hi Ray! Enjoy our beautiful Lisbon and if you can still make it, head up to Cascais and Sintra, the magical moon mount. You and the Girl will love it. Cheers.

  2. Tiago Ferrão

    You should check the lisbon city runners project : link to lisboncityrunners.com

    They make tours for sightseeing while running 🙂

  3. Jorge

    I love Lisbon. I’m at least once a year in Lisbon. 🙂

  4. Jorge

    Are you also run along the coast towards Estoril? Wonderful …

  5. Juergen Veith

    Ray great! I was really looking forward to this one! I reckon swimming is allowed next to the aquarium. How is that beach called and last but least least: What about the water temperature?

  6. So many beautiful sights and good eats! As they say, the best way to see a country is to run in it. It looks like you are discovering so many cool spots in Lisbon. So jealous!

  7. Good to know that you´re in Portugal!
    Dont forget to go to Sintra e Queluz.
    If you by any chance go to my hometown Oporto (north of Portugal link to portoturismo.pt ) i will glady have some great tip for you.

  8. Alfie

    Looks like a beautiful place! Like it better than my latest runaround which was in Columbus, OH which does have some really great paved trails for runners and bikers that run along the river in the city but are spoiled somewhat by having the highway alongside on the other side of you.

  9. Mark

    Love those custard tarts. The Portuguese community here in Canada keeps us well fed. Admittedly though, I’ve never heard of the cinnamon or sugar – guess I’m just out of touch. You just made a good thing even better!

  10. Blind

    You ever considered publishing a travel guide for athletes? Could post where to run and where to refuel (eg treats ahoy!)

  11. BillM

    Wow, goose barnacles. I’d never have thought of eating them, they come ashore here in ireland clinging to old bits of wood that have drifted in the ocean for ages. We usually just let them rot, next time I might take a few and cook me up.

  12. Gary

    Hi Ray you must have enjoyed Lisbon as no week in review this week. Since iOS auto updates I often miss updates like the Echo update and your week in review is really useful for seeing when apps are updated. All the best.

  13. Manuel

    if you like seafood you should check out link to en.yelp.ch best seafood i’ve ever had! expect to wait, however, as there’s always a queue of people waiting for tables since they don’t allow reservations. it’s very much worth to wait, though! 🙂

  14. PRH

    Ray, I just travelled from Boston and went to Lisbon and stayed at Sintra to explore that area. Definitely worth a visit…I think you’d definitely like it especially the hills and ocean views…reminds me of Big Sur and Pacific Coast Highway in California.