- published: 24 Feb 2015
- views: 57720
The Pombaline Lower Town (Baixa Pombalina, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbajʃɐ põbɐˈlinɐ], or Baixa) area covers about 235,620 square metres of central Lisbon, Portugal. It comprises the grid of streets north of the Praça do Comércio, roughly between the Cais do Sodré and the Alfama district beneath the Lisbon Castle, and extends northwards towards the Rossio and Figueira squares and the Avenida da Liberdade, a tree-lined boulevard noted for its tailoring shops and cafes.
The Pombaline Baixa is an elegant district, primarily constructed after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. It takes its name from Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquess of Pombal, the Prime Minister to Joseph I of Portugal from 1750 to 1777 and key figure of the Enlightenment in Portugal, who took the lead in ordering the rebuilding of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake. The Marquis of Pombal imposed strict conditions on rebuilding the city, and the current grid pattern strongly differs from the organic streetplan that characterised the district before the Earthquake.
I.O.I.O.
You know I love getting up in the morning
When the sun first strikes the trees
All the morning birds that sing above
Still bring back memories
Of a girl who stood beside me
When the rights I did were wrong
But she went back down the river
Just when I thought I could be strong
When I thought I could be strong, so I sing
I.O.I.O.
She never told me why she left me
But the letter said goodbye
Now my mornings are for wond'ring
And my nights to reason why
Why a stranger comes to steal the love
Of a girl I had to hold
But she went back down the river
Just when I thought I could be strong
When I thought I could be strong, so I sing