My Escapes Portugal Another Lovely Trip to Portugal! Lisbon Dipping Into Lisbon The Old Funiculars

The Old Funiculars

Lisbon's old funicular lines facilitate transportation from lower- to higher ground. Lisbon is quite hilly, so they've come up with this ingenious form of transportation.
At first, from the distance, the funicular cars resemble the heritage trams...

Lisbon's funiculars are locally called simply "elevador" or "ascensor", but locals will also understand if you use the word "funicular".

One thing you'll notice about these funiculars is that they're sloped.

They're bottoms (chassis) aren't flat, but inclined in order to allow the movement up and down on the sloped line.

A single way ride costs 3.5 EUR, which I've found spicy in comparison with the metro (which is roughly 1 EUR cheaper).

Boarding requires a long long time. I must have waited half an hour (photographing a funicular and the area around) and the boarding was still continuing.

Because I had little time and it was taking ages for the funicular to get filled, I went mountaineering up the slopes of Bairro Alto...

There are several types of funiculars in Lisbon and several lines...

The one you are able to see on my photos is the Elevador da Glória, which links the Praça dos Restauradores with Bairro Alto.

If you don't want to get the long way up to Bairro Alto, then choose this one to take you.
I would have spared an hour or so, but it would have cost me 3.5 EUR and the route would have been different.

Still, I prefer the long, slow way... more to see and more to photograph!

If you take the Elevador da Glória, it will take you close to the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara - one of Lisbon's best viewpoints. But once there, you won't see much of the southern parts of Lisbon, although there tend to be less people here and it's a beautiful green area.

The Elevador da Glória is quite old - it was opened in 1885.
Back then it used to be water-powered, but just a year later (1886), they switched to steam-power.

The water-powered system was based on two water tanks installed on both vehicles (by the way, there are two funicular lines).

You can imagine where this is going...

When the tank of the vehicle at the top was filled with water, it became heavier and started descending, while the one below (with the water tank already emptied, was lighter) started climbing.

Braking systems would make the ride smoother and safer, of course.

The Elevador da Glória was electrified in 1915.

Other funicular in the area is the Elevador do Lavra. The vehicles are of the same type as these.

Elevador do Lavra is the oldest funicular in the city, built in 1884.

It climbs 188 m long slope of the street Calçado do Lavra - geographically it's roughly opposite to Elevador da Glória.

But a particularly interesting funicular with different design vehicles is the Elevador da Bica.
This one also runs across and alluringly beautiful road. If you want to experience a scenic funicular trip, then go for Elevador da Bica!

It dates back to 1892 and climbs the Rua da Bica de Duarte Belo for a length of 245 m (804 ft) from Rua São Paulo.

All the funiculars in Lisbon and the Santa Justa Lift are operated by Carris.

Do check the heritage trams too!

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