Elevador da Bica

So Lisbon is a pretty hilly city. Perhaps even mountainous. Luckily, there are these “elevators” conveniently sprinkled throughout the city that take care of the worst inclines. The problem is that they cost 3,50 Euros a ride! Classic tourist trap. Good thing that I have the Carris metro pass that lets me ride these things all month.

View from the Window of the Elevador da Bica

I went inside the elevator to take a look and it was pretty cramped in there. The Elevador da Bica is near Praça do Camões and goes down near Cais do Sodre.

Only 6 Going Up, 12 Going Down - Standing Room Only, No Smoking.

Thanks, Sign! The elevators are pretty old, especially this one. Apparently it can only haul six people up the hill. I got impatient for the operator to finish his coffee and conversation so I decided to walk instead. It was a good decision because I got to capture a pretty cool video…

Walking Instead of Taking the Elevador

On the way I encountered an old school Vespa.

Vespa!

This is so Lisboa Tipica its crazy. Just like in the post cards:

More Street Art

After walking down to the bottom of the hill I started wandering around and I encountered some more nice street art. Lisbon has a lot of this street art and a pretty solid graffiti culture. Too bad a lot of it is tagging and what not but there are many areas in the city where you can see awesome murals like this by real artists.

I continued to walk downhill towards the river. My throat was getting parched from this dry, late fall air and I unconsciously started wandering towards some cerveja. Of all places I found a British bar near Cais do Sodre. I almost walked right past it but something caught my eye: Guinness Stout on tap!

Guinness Draught at British Bar

It took me about 45 minutes to finish this beer. It was like drinking liquid bread. The British bar was full of kitsch, some of it funny, some of it awful. I’ll let you decide.

There's Something Wrong with the Clock Here...

After the beer I walked East towards Praça do Comércio and I ran into Praça do Municipio. Here they often display art and sculpture as well. It is a smaller square almost kiddie corner to Praça do Comércio. It looks pretty cool from space too.

Some Art near Praça do Comércio

In the Praça do Municipio there is this cool statue with a stone spire carved from a single piece of stone. I forgot who sculpted it, maybe someone can put it in the comments?

Stone Spire

Pretty Hard to Chisel That I Imagine

Praça do Municipio

Praça do Municipio

After this square I went to Praça do Comércio to sun myself. Here is a 360 degree view of the square. Enjoy!