If you like to take a walk in a historic zone, full of shopping and agitated life, so you need to meet the zones of Baixa and Chiado! Buildings full of offices and shops, just beside museums, monuments and attractions, are the scenery that you can find here.
Luxurious Hotels like the Avenida Palace and the Vip Éden, Sculptures and Statues in homage and memory to kings and governors of the Country like the Statue of D. José I, the Monument to D. Pedro IV and the little statue of D. Sebastião in the façade of the Rossio Railway Station, Theatres considered relics like S. Carlos and D. Maria II National Theatres, refined coffee shops like Nicola and A Brasileira, important Museums like the Chiado’s and the Carmo Archeological Museum, these are just some of the many curiosities of this zones.
These two zones are so obligatory visits to who visit and to who really want to meet Lisbon.

A look through the Chiado

The Chiado, which had its origin in a mediaeval neighborhood situated in the interior of the walls, is today a romantic place, called “The Heart of Lisbon”, which unhappily had been profoundly affected by a terrible fire in 1988; but actually it had been recuperated and had much live. It is one of the most fine and rich zones of Lisbon, where we can find today some famous artists ateliers and the international big stores. It was a local frequented by modernist intellectuals and it had always been linked to a cosmopolitan Lisbon, with a strong intellectual, liberal, modernist and romantic component.
It is important to detach the coffee shop A Brasileira, the Academy of Fine Arts of Lisbon, the S. Carlos and S. Luiz Theatres, some names that are connected with this zone of Lisbon.

Walking in the Baixa

The Baixa is a zone where we cannot find many residents but we can find too much offices and shops. The houses lost their residents and start to be transformed in big enterprises offices.
In this zone we find some beautiful squares, decorated with the Portuguese Traditional Pavement. The architecture, the position and the organization of the buildings, as the statues and the artifacts, give this squares and streets a special touch. For these reasons, some of these squares were chosen for many shows and parties.
The Baixa is a rectilinear zone, created after the Earthquake of 1755, with parallel and organized streets that have the names of different types of artisans (Rua dos Sapateiros Shoemakers Street, Rua dos Douradores Gilders Street, … ), and others.
It is to bear in mind that a great part of the Baixa is constructed under the River supported by green pine poles that sustain the buildings and the streets.
The visitors that are in the Baixa have a beauty scene to the Tejo, and who wanted to travel in the cruiser or in the traditional boat that cross the River named “Cacilheiro”, can contemplate the beauty of the Baixa and have a sensation of a harmonious and equilibrated city.
With all these qualities and curiosities, the Baixa began a favorite place for many national and international tourists.

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