An insider tip how to reach the famous Elevador de Santa Justa (without paying for it)

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akida853.472 years agoPeakD5 min read

Happy #Wednesdaywalk to all of you lovely people of #Hive and many thanks to the both hosts of this amazing Wednesday event, our beloved @tattoodjay and @elizacheng which are looking forward to amazing walks every week on Wednesday.

Above the rooftops of Lisbon

Adress: Rua do Ouro, 1150-060 Lisboa

Today I'll tell you a #secret. Just for all those who want to #travel soon or in future to #Lisbon.
Mostly this little tip is completely unknown to the #tourists here and therefore they pay extra entrance fee to enter the famous "Elevador de Santa Justa". You know what? Save yourself the 7 to 10 €, buy some coffee instead, I'll gladly tell you how to get up there without going the commercial way. Just like we all do here. So today we #walk the way a little bit together and I show you that this is even much nicer and cooler than getting in line and going away from the tourists.

(front view of the elevator)

(jup, some #black-white #photography is waiting for you too in this post)

(and #stickerart fans will love this area)

(back view of the elevator)

First we walk behind the #elevator, where you will find this pink #woman and the great "Big Trash Animal" from Bordalo II (two Pelicans). Feel free to check out my Monday #streetart post if you want to see this #Artwork. Just at this streetart of the two Bordallo #Pelicans you turn left around the corner.

Just go straight for a few meters, and you'll see a white metal gate aka #entrance on your right, where stairs go up. That's where you have to go in.

(I didn't photograph the #street because it was full of people, so I start at the stairs up)

Just walk up the stairs, then right around the corner, straight ahead and left again up the stairs.

Maybe when you visit Lisbon you will see the same #graffiti as I did. But it can also be that it will be painted over again, because from time to time old graffiti disappear and new ones arise.

Here just take the stairs to the top, and you will first see the wonderful building of the Carmo Convent (Carmo Archaeological Museum) and some ancient #ruins remains.

If you now just walk left and go up the stairs again you are already at the elevator and have a beautiful view over the roofs of Lisbon.

Oh yes, by the way probably noted. You are walking here on #portuguese #history.

(lovely view right?)

(lets see more of rhe Elevador)

(I was here on a sunny Sunday, 22nd of 2023. A perfect day and weather to go for a walk here)

(I just loooooove the view, hope you too)

(now lets chwck more details of the elevator and the Gothic style)

(to go up this stairs you have to pay a fee)

(some close-ups in #black-white)

back to #history

To be more specific, the Convento do Carmo is an old and former #monastery building of the #Carmelite order. It was built in the years 1389-1423 on a vow of the marshal Nuno Álvares Pereira.

The building complex also includes the #church Igreja do Carmo, which is considered by #architecture lovers as a prime example and a splendid specimen of Lisbon #Gothic.
The building was destroyed in the famous and great Lisbon #earthquake of 1755. Initially, even Queen Mary's restoration efforts stalled after the secularization of the monastic orders in 1834, after only one wing of the monastery was restored. Today it houses the headquarters of the Portuguese National Guard. Which is why you'll see smartly dressed men standing there, girls. Lol.

The #ruins of the monastery church now house the "Museu Arqueológico do Carmo". But we'll walk through there another Wednesday, I promise. Today I just want to show you the secret way up to the viewpoint of the elevator without paying for it.

It was not until 2016 that a long-needed redesign of the surrounding area was completed by architect Alvaro Siza, and it was through this that the viewing terrace to Rua do Carmo and a passageway through the backyards to Rua Garrett were first created. And now it looks beautiful here again. It is wonderful to walk here on sunny days.

(some artists are selling here their #Artworks and often some #musicians playing #music.)

(if you walk here you will find some cafés and seating options too)

(to proof where I came out...)

(lets go back... I wanted to show you the terrace too.)

(its artfully decorated with some metal #sculptures)

Oh yes, at the end some interesting information about the elevator.

The Elevador de Santa Justa, or also titled with its second name Elevador do Carmo, is a public passenger elevator, which connects the district #Baixa with the higher district #Chiado in the heart of Lisbon. Completed around 1902, this eye-catching and very distinctive cast iron structure was originally powered by a steam engine, can you imagine today? Hardly or? this old drive was replaced in 1907 by electric motors again. Let's see how this will be replaced in the future. Who knows where the technology still leads us.

Hope you had a marvelous Wednesdaywalk tooooooooo.

Your @akida aka TrinityArt