My Escapes Portugal Another Lovely Trip to Portugal! Lisbon Dipping Into Lisbon Praça Rossio and [...]

Praça Rossio and Praça da Figueira

The two squares known as Rossio and Figueira are heart of Lisbon - in the Baixa district, that is. They're intricate places for starting out urban tours.

What's interesting about central Lisbon is that there are several squares in the central area.

The city's core is constituted by the Baixa district, which has twi squares in the north: Rossio and Figueira.

To the south, there's a third one, the largest one - Praça do Comércio (for which I created a separate article).

Praça Rossio (Praça D. Pedro IV)

The official name is Pedro IV Square, but Rossio Square is overwhelmingly more popular. The nearby Rossio metro station also suggests this.

Starting out any Lisbon urban stroll is great from Rossio square. The metro is nearby and just about any area of the city can be accessed easily (directly or indirectly) from here.

At the centre of Rossio Square is King Pedro IV's statue on top of a tall obelisk.

He was King of Portugal (as Pedro IV) and also Emperor of Brazil (as Pedro I) at the beginning of the 19th century.

Besides the obelisks, in the proximity you'll find fountains, the D. Maria II National Theatre, not far away are the Carmo Convent in Bairro Alto, the Santa Justa Elevator, the Carmo Convent, the Rossio Railway Station.

Some of the places to eat and drink in Lisbon are found in the Baixa district and many of them are actually around Rossio.

I used to start my day by munching around, tasting pasteis de nata and proceeding to my targets pinned on my maps.

Praça da Figueira

It's less busy than Rossio, also a bit less scenic, but the vintage trams stop by here and, the Rossio metro station has some exits as well. So getting in and out is fairly easy.

At the centre of the Figueira Square, there is a large bronze statue of King João I on horseback.

Otherwise, the square is surrounded by roads, cars roam aroun. And interestingly, few people were wandering on the square itself (as opposed to Rossio)

Besides the appealing architecture (especially in the area of the tram stations) and a few restaurants, I didn't find the area around particularly interesting about Figueira Square.

Rossio and lower Baixa offer a lot more if you're looking for good places to eat and drink.

The Figueira Square is a lot less busy than Rossio - despite being so close to it. Much of the traffic is due to the bus- and tram stations and the metro exits.

From Figueira Square you can admire beautiful views of the São Jorge Fortress.

What I loved about Praça da Figueira was the way faraway locations and attractions showed up on the horizon between buildings. Lisbon is indeed an intricate place for architecture.

Like the way the Carmo Convent showed up through this street. Admire below...

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