Baixa is one of the first examples of city-planning in Europe. Here you'll find the most prominent squares. The Praça da Figueira (at walking distance from the district Mouraria, a multicultural meeting place), the Rossio (with it's railway station in Manuel-style, and famous café Nicola) and the Praça dos Restauradores (where the central tourist agency is). The most well-known shopping street, the Rua Augusta, leads to the Praça do Comércio, the old Terreiro do Paço (Palace Square). This square was for 400 years the residence of the Royal Palace, until both were destroyed by the earthquake in 1755. In a corner lies the Martinho da Arcada, the oldest café of Lisbon, which used to be frequented by Fernando Pessoa. In 1974 the square played an important part in the non-violent Carnation Revolution.

You can walk along the river Tagus for 5 minutes and then take the train at railway station Cais do Sodré. This train will take you to Belem (museums, monuments, parks), several beaches, Estoril (the biggest casino in Europe) and the final stop Cascais, a small town by the ocean.

Or you leave the apartment and, after 300 meters, face the cathedral Sé, which gives you entrance to the old quarter Alfama, where fish-wives used to sell fish on the street and wrapped their life-stories in fado. This traditional music can still be heard in one of the fado-restaurants.

If you take, however, another direction, you'll walk into Chiado, with the famous pasteleria A Brasileira, modern shops, theatre's, the modern art museum Museo do Chiado and the museum Igreja do Carmo. From Chiado's main street, the Rua Garret, you reach the Praça Luís de Camões, where the Bairro Alto (upper city) begins, a very quiet 16th-century quarter that at night transforms into a lively place with many café's and restaurants.