Until November 1, 1755, Lisbon was indisputably Europe’s greatest port and finest city. That morning, however, three successive tremors struck around 9:30am, just as its inhabitants crowded inside churches to celebrate All Souls’ Day High Mass. Thirteen thousand people, a full twentieth of Lisbon’s population, perished, as these calamities were followed by a fire and tidal wave, leveling the entire city save the Alfama, a disaster collectively known as the "Great Lisbon Earthquake." Lisbon’s comprehensive reconstruction as Portugal’s capital and one of Europe’s most pleasant cities owes a great deal to the Marquês de Pombal, Dom João I’s chief minister.
The Marquês de Alorna's famous plea that "we must bury the dead and feed the living," became Pombal’s mantra. In order to do so, he sought to preserve Lisbon’s economic preeminence by designing a straightforward commercial district with direct access to Lisbon’s port and adjacent to what little remained of the city. The result was the gridded district known as the Baixa, squeezed between the aristocratic Bairro Alto and plebeian Alfama, running from the riverfront to the attractive squares of the Rossio and Praça da Figueira.
Like Lisbon in general, the Baixa is a place to be experienced as much as explored, but you’ll appreciate it much more if you enter it from the Praça do Comercio, the vast riverfront square whose front opens onto the river and whose other three sides are occupied by arcaded classical government ministry buildings that once served as a royal palace. A statue of Dom João I towers over the square’s heart, rather ironically, since it was the literal death knell of his Bragança dynasty; in 1908, Dom Carlos I and his heir apparent were assassinated here, and 2 years later, the Portuguese Republic was declared at the adjacent (and attractive) Town Hall.
Many Lisboêtas linger in the Praça do Comercio of an evening to watch the sun turn its buildings gold and then an orange to match that of the trans-Tagus ferry, but if you’re here at any other hour, it’s better to continue through the imperious Arco da Rua Augusta. The brilliance of Pombal’s design is most evident here, as it truly feels like the entrance to a city, although the statues on arch itself weren’t fully completed until 1873. Rua Augusta itself is the widest and most pleasant street of the Baixa, well endowed with cafés, buskers, and gift shops. The parallel streets preserve their commercial past in more than just name – you’ll still find quite a few shoe stores on Rua dos Sapateiros, for example.
Rua Augusta terminates at the Rossio, Lisbon’s main square since the Middle Ages, but repaved in waves of black-and-white granite under Pombal’s orders in a "rolling motion" style replicated throughout Portugal. Poised delicately between the Baixa, Alfama, Bairro Alto, and modern city to the north, there’s nowhere better to savor Lisbon’s languorous rhythms (and give thanks for their preservation) than in its numerous outdoor cafes.