Explorar Lisboa

Praça do Comércio is a square of about 175 by 175 metres on the Tagus waterfront, laid out after the 1755 earthquake on the site of the destroyed Ribeira Palace as part of the Marquis of Pombal's rebuilding of the Baixa. Arcaded buildings frame three sides, with an equestrian statue of King José I in the centre and the Rua Augusta Arch to the north.

Rossio, officially Praça de D. Pedro IV, has been one of the main squares of Lisbon's Baixa since the Middle Ages, the scene of markets, bullfights, revolts and the Inquisition's autos-da-fé. Its wave-patterned Portuguese pavement surrounds the 1874 column of King Pedro IV and two bronze fountains, with the D. Maria II National Theatre on the north side.

Miradouro de Santa Luzia is a terrace viewpoint beside the Church of Santa Luzia in Alfama, looking over the rooftops of the old quarter to the Tagus. Its pergola is hung with bougainvillea, and its south wall carries two azulejo panels, one of Praça do Comércio before the 1755 earthquake and one of the Christian attack on São Jorge Castle.

Immersivus Gallery stages digital projection shows inside the Mãe d'Água das Amoreiras, the vaulted reservoir at the end of the Águas Livres Aqueduct, begun by Carlos Mardel in 1746 and finished in 1834. Images are projected onto the stone vaults and pillars around the 7.5-metre-deep water tank; the building is part of the EPAL Water Museum.

Lisbon Zoo was founded in 1884 and has occupied the gardens of the Quinta das Laranjeiras in Sete Rios since 1905. It keeps about 2,000 animals of more than 300 species and takes part in breeding programmes for endangered species. A small cable car crosses part of the grounds, and the Baía dos Golfinhos holds dolphin presentations.

The Lisbon Oceanarium was built for Expo '98 in what is now Parque das Nações, on a pier in the Olivais dock, to a design by Peter Chermayeff. Its central tank of about five million litres is surrounded by four habitats – North Atlantic, Antarctic, Pacific kelp forest and Indian Ocean reef – with sharks, rays, penguins and sea otters.

Telecabine Lisboa is a gondola lift built for the Expo '98 world exhibition in what is now Parque das Nações. Its 44 cabins run on seven pylons along the Tagus riverfront between a station near the Oceanário and one near the Vasco da Gama Tower, with views over the estuary and the Vasco da Gama Bridge.