The Plazuela Zaragoza is the larger square in front of the Basilica Cathedral and the closest thing the old town has to a civic centre. Bronze busts of politicians and military men ring the edges, a wrought-iron kiosk for the municipal band stands in the middle, and the cathedral fills the eastern side. The benches under the laurels fill with retirees in the morning and shoe-shines work the steady traffic of office workers headed across the square.
This is not the prettiest square in the Centro — that is Machado, a few blocks south — but it has a working civic life that the more touristed squares lack. The Mercado Pino Suárez, the old town's main public market, is just a block north.