Elevador Santa Justa, Carmen Convent, Bairro Alto-Praca Dom Pedro IV, Rossio Station, Igreja de Sao Domingos, Largo de Carmo, Teatro Nacional, Castello de Sao Jorge, views, Baixa Pombalina
Rossio Station (Estação de Caminhos de Ferro do Rossio) is the main station of Lisbon, it opened in 1891. The beautiful main exterior (during our visit unfortunately large parts were covered by scaffoldings) is facing a small square at the edge of Rossio Square. The station building with its Neo-Manueline (Portugese Late Gothic) was designed by José Luís Monteiro. This is where you take the train to Sintra, like we did, a town where you find many imposing palaces in the same style as this station. The upper part of the station building borders to Barrio Alto, while the lower part Pombaline Baixa. Near Restauradores and Rossio, at the end of Rua Augusta, you find one of Lisbon's most central squares; Praca Dom Pedro IV, also called Rossio Square. It is a beautiful square with curvy mosaic patterns, and here is a fountain, a pedestal statue of King Pedro IV and several white building, like the National Theater (Teatro Nacional de Maria III), Next to Dom Pedro IV is another large square, Praca da Figueira, where many yellow historical trams and modern buses depart. Next to Figueira is one of Lisbon's most beautiful churches, Igreja de São Domingos. It is a white baroque building, built 1241-1748. It was devastated and rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake, and a fire in 1959! It didn't reoppened until 1994, and you can clearly see that the interior is still very damaged, creating a decaying beauty. Lots of open-air restaurants can be found in the area. As on other squares, drug dealers approach people that visit the squares, and the police and government doesn't seem to care about it. Near these squares, at Rua de Santa Justa, a parallel street to Rua Augusta, you find another interesting landmark; You also find the Carmo Convent (Convento da Carmo), a beautiful large white ruin church that can be visited. Inside is an archeological museum and the building overlooks Praca Dom Pedro IV. The gothic convent convent, built in 1389, was ruined during the great 1755 earthquake, leaving the church with bare roof, a very beautiful sight. Bairro Alto is the upper town of the old town, and one of Lisbon's most popular tourist districts, with hilly narrow streets and lanes, and small squares and restaurants. We didn't see much of this part, but visited similar disitricts next to it, it can be quite hard to figure out where Bairro Alto begins and another, similar looking district begins.
BAIRRO ALTO (UPTOWN): ELEVADOR DE SANTA JUSTA and it's views (Baixa district): CARMEN CONVENT: ROSSIO STATION: PRACA ROSSIO (Dom Pedro IV) and PRACA DA FIGUEIRA: IGREJA DE SAO DOMINGOS: |