Baixa / Rossio

The Baixa is the Pombaline grid rebuilt on a rational plan after the 1755 earthquake, a downtown of parallel streets running from the riverfront squares to the Rossio. Its scale and symmetry still feel deliberate: arcaded Praça do Comércio opening to the Tagus, the patterned pavements of Rossio, the old trade-named streets. Much of it now serves visitors, but the bones are magnificent and the early-morning light along the empty avenues is worth setting an alarm for. Read it as urban planning before it became a postcard.