One Sunny Morning in Lisbon

My favorite part about Lisbon is the multitude of music-filled squares and plazas, bright and cheery, buzzing with people. It’s a great people-watching city – from the glittering fountains of Rossio to the grand, yellow Praca do Comercio – there are ample opportunities to grab a cappuccino and bask in the sunny, balmy Mediterranean climate, gathering with tourists and locals alike.

My morning started of sunny and brisk, as I walked to the subway to catch a train to the start of Avenida da Liberdade, a wide avenue with a leafy central walkway for ambling pedestrians. On my way to the station, I passed by a fisherman unloading bags of dripping, salty-smelling fresh fish for a restaurant. Briefcases and suits bustled down the steps, as people got ready for the working day.

I exited at the Marques de Pombal stop, a vast open space thick in the middle of the boulevard. Cars flew past, circling around me as the broad boulevard met the immense green Eduardo VII Park at a tall bronze statue of the first Marquess of Pombal, glinting in the sun. The white tiles and bright buildings and cloud-less sky created a light, floaty atmosphere – as families floated down Avenida da Liberdade past park benches, holding ice-cream, the chatter of politics and friends and gossip swirling up and joining the chirping of the birds hidden by the leaves.

Eventually, I reached Restauradores Square. Whenever people ask me about my trip to Portugal, I always mention how Lisbon is a city of squares and plazas. There are so many points of gathering throughout the city, white and gray patterned mosaics and tall towers celebrating historical figures, poets, and writers … Restauradores Square specically celebrates the independence of Portugal from Spanish domination. From the square I was surrounded by sorbet-colored facades, and pink, red, and lavender buildings with twirling black banisters and balconies. Looming ahead was the art-deco Eden Cinema – it eerily added a touch of Las Vegas to the red-roof tiled confectionary blocks that surrounded the square.

Near Restauradores Square was another square! Rossio Square, a central meeting place used all the way from the middle ages, quickly became one of my favorite parts of the city. The mosaic floor alternated between black and white tiles in a wave-like form, giving the 3D appearance of soft, gentle waves flowing through the square, as the turquoise sparkles from the two fountains jumped out and danced with the sun. I felt as if I was on one of the grand Portuguese explorer’s ships, rocking mildly in the 11:00am sunshine. Tiny little cabins made out of material that almost resembled driftwood dotted the square, filled with chocolate bonbons, Turkish delights, German pastries, baklava, and sangria – treasures from around the world while families chased kids around the square, an early celebration for upcoming Easter.

I bought a nougat/cream/chocolate bon-bon kind of dessert from an old woman who didn’t speak a lick of English – it was fun making gestures and attempting to understand each other with limited vocabulary. Learning a new language is always a worthwhile investment, but there’s something to be said for realizing that communication extends beyond spoken words.

Essentially eating the equivalent of a chocolate-spun cloud, I learned that Rossio square was a place used for public executions, including being burned at the stake, during Inquisition times! The All-Saints Royal Hospital, built in old Lisbon in 1504, was also facing the square, along with the palace where the planning for Portugal’s independence took place. And after the terribly destructive 1755 earthquake, Rossio became the beautiful fusion of baroque, Italian classical, Pombaline, and manueline architecture styles that it is today.

I grabbed a pastry shaped like a bird’s nest from Confeitaria Nacional, a gilded wood and gold pastry store – I would have gotten more, if it weren’t for the line pouring outside the door! They had truffles and pie and, of course, pastel de nata! Licking my lips with powdered sugar, candies, and chocolate syrup, I boarded the Blue Line, Linha Azul, back to the hotel to get ready for a train to Porto, a city whirls away but still as charmingly soft as Lisbon is cheerfully bright.