So as a relative newcomer to Lisbon there are times when I am searching out a new business, restaurant, or museum and I am not exactly sure how to get there. Over the years I have come to so distrust Apple’s Maps program that I invariably use Google Maps. Google maps is not without its limitations.
Google Maps has an annoying habit of giving directions based on as the crow flies. It also dislikes things that aren’t designed for mass conveyance. Yesterday when I headed off to the barbershop it had me take one subway line, transfer to another and then take what it claimed was a five-minute walk to the shop’s location.
The five-minute part was BS. Well, it the world were as flat as a map it would have been five minutes. Lisbon is a city of hills. Real Hills that get the old heart pumping and the lungs working overtime. The street that damn application wanted me to take was steep enough to have a funicular to transport people up its incline. The funicular runs from an area called Restauradores up to Principe Real. The funicular don't make no stops on the way up. The street I wanted was Traversa-da-Fala-So. The traversa was about dead center between the two streets.
My momma didn't raise a complete idiot. Thus, I made the tactical decision having come as far as I had on the Google supplied route to take the funicular to the top and then walk back down. If I had been looking at a topographical map, and with Google maps you do have that option but who ever really looks at it, I would have seen the hill I would not walk. Sigh.
Had I thought about it I would have taken the first subway to its conclusion at Rato. Then I would have taken the 24 street car to just before the location of the funicular and getting off would have walked down a very nicely paved and sidewalked street to just about the front door of the barbershop. It would have taken way less time and incredibly less effort. Also, I could have stopped and had a decaf expresso and a pastry at the Pastelaria 1800 on my way. For my friends in Michigan, this shop has a light flaky pastry akin to a Magic Basketball like they used to sell at Quality Dairy except it is way, way better.
I guess my point is this think before you blindly follow a computer-generated route. What AI says works ain’t necessarily the best way to get where you are going.
The song below really has nothing to do with this post except it has the word hill in the title. However, this is a top twenty favorite song for me by one of the most unappreciated artists in folk music today. I urge you to give it a listen even if you normally ignore my musical links
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