Lisbon: When You're Centrally Located (Baixa)

Following the quite stressful start to this day, we cannot get to our hotel fast enough to freshen up, decompress, breathe and lie down prior to exploring more of the city. As it turned out our hotel or called guesthouse was centrally located. We couldn't have picked a better location.

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The only disadvantage, if you would call it that, was taxis or any motor vehicle couldn't go in and deposit us in front of the hotel. We had to walk a few blocks, even dragging heavy luggage it was worth it. This is Rua das Portas de Santo Antão in the Santa Maria Maior area.

All the places we didn't know we wanted to see was within walking distance. Rossio Square for example is a 2-minute walk.

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Rossio is the liveliest square in the city, where people stop to sit and relax, or for a drink at the several atmospheric cafes with outdoor sitting.

On either side of the square are two baroque fountains, and in the center is a monument measuring 27 meters in height. It consists of a pedestal with marble allegories of Justice, Wisdom, Strength, and Moderation, qualities attributed to Dom Pedro IV, whose statue stands on top of the monument.

In the 19th century the square was paved with cobblestones in wave patterns, a design seen today in many other pavements all over Portugal, and that has spread to Portugal's former colonies from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to Macao (China).

On the north side of the square is the Dona Maria II National Theater, a monumental neoclassical building built in the 1840s. The portico has six Ionic columns (originally from the Church of St. Francis, destroyed in the 1755 earthquake), and crowning the pediment is a statue of playwright Gil Vicente. (info from here)

Back to the pedestrian only cobblestone street that is Rua Das Portas de Santo Antao where our hotel is located, I found this description online: Leading up from behind the National Theater is Rua das Portas de Santo Antão, a lively pedestrian-only street known for its seafood restaurants. Even if you are not a fan of seafood, look out for the eye-catching tanks filled with gigantic lobsters by the windows. Most of the restaurants have outdoor seating.

It is also the location of the classical Coliseu dos Recreios, the Lisbon Coliseum, opened in 1890 as a circus, and today a concert venue.

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Taken from the balcony of our room looking down on wet street. Centrally located also means the noise level could be high.

Strolling the length of the street on a cold wet night just to take photos.

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Early morning waking up to a better weather on day 2. Next door to our hotel is this restaurant that opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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Typical breakfast.

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A great deal. For the price we had a large room with three beds, private ensuite bath and a balcony overlooking the street. The only downside is that there is no elevator and we had to climb up the three flights (one very long and steep) carrying our heavy luggage. It is a basic accommodation that gave us what we needed - a safe clean room to sleep and bathe and free wi-fi.

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Comments

  1. Hello, looks like a great walking city. The square looks beautiful. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day and weekend!

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  2. that square can make you dizzy I think. Not sure I like it.
    But the rest is great :)

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  3. What a great balcony view! Thanks for the tour.

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  4. That is a good deal for 2 days.
    Beautiful sights framed, I am reminded of my visit.

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  5. Good price for the room. Beautiful photos and I like the patterns of the floor tiles.

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Alexander
    Alex's World! - http://alex.kakinan.com

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  6. Beautiful views, and a delicious breakfast too!

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  7. Lovely shots of the city. I'm going there in July and can't wait to explore!

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  8. You definitely lucked out on those accommodations -- even the climb doesn't sound too bad since you were so well located. (Although my husband would probably not agree; he doesn't love stairs.)

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  9. I visited Lisbon in April last year with my 2 daughters - recognised many of the places you showed. We paid 70€/night where we stayed but it was a 2-bedroom flat. Very pleasant.

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  10. Beautiful shots. It sounds like a convenient hotel but I would need the bed after carrying luggage up three floors.

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  11. What a nice sightseeing I did with you ! and the hotel seems to be good too, except maybe the staircases !

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  12. That looks like a great city, and you got a steal on that room. It costs several times that for a basic room every night I stay in New York City.

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  13. I can see things that happened as part of the adventure in the place ... reading the story, for me it's still fun and interesting

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  14. Great photos!
    My daughter Sofia when she went to Portugal, loved so much the Portuguese cuisine.
    Did you taste the famous "Francesinhas "("Little frenchies")? It is a special sandwich, an icon of both Porto’s and Portugal’s cuisine. It is a delicious huge sandwich that's made from grilled pork, smoke cured pork sausage, between two slabs of bread, covered by melted cheese and immersed in a spicy beer and tomato sauce, often topped with a fried egg, usually served with french fries.

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