Portuguese Tiles

It’s really hard to find any old buildings in Portugal (famous ones at least) that isn’t adorned in some way with the blue-toned ceramic tiles (they’re called azulejos in Portuguese). Even newer buildings have the tile added to it (there’s been some new interest in reviving the art). They seem to have it everywhere, at the zoo, in parks, on houses and apartments, mansions, churches, stores and shops. Many are predominately blue but many other colors can be found. It was influenced by the Moorish occupation but none of the actual tile work from that period of time is to be found in Portugal. Sintra has some beautiful examples of various stages of tile work, cut tiles, stained tiles as well as the traditional blues. Unfortunately, the best examples were in the Palace Real and they wouldn’t let you take photos.