Simply known as Rossio to locals, Praça Dom Pedro IV has 24-hour buzz. Shoeshiners, lottery-ticket sellers, hash-peddlers and office workers drift across its wave-like cobbles, gazing up to its ornate fountains and Dom Pedro IV (Brazil’s first emperor), perched high on a marble pedestal.
And these cobbles have seen it all: witch burnings and bullfights, rallies and 1974 revolution carnations. Don’t miss Estação do Rossio, a frothy neo-Manueline station with horseshoe-shaped arches and swirly turrets. Trains depart here for Sintra.