Tile mania in Lisbon

Taking a million photos of Lisbon tiles seemed like a good idea… until I had to sort through them all. But I’m a sucker for pattern and colour so I knew what I was setting myself up for at the time.

Lisbon’s colourful tiles are called azulejos — which translates to polished stone. They cover all sorts of buildings, from laundrettes and apartments to historic buildings. Walking around Lisbon, I open caught glimpses of tiled hallways tucked away behind half open doors.

This building is just about clinging on to the last few. It’s pretty wonky, I can’t imagine the place has any square walls.

Remnants of patterned tiles can still be found in run down streets and hanging onto decaying buildings. It’s nice that they aren’t solely limited to grand buildings.

Our co-working space was located at Rua Anchieta — a small square filled with tiled buildings, cafes and shops. Avida Portuguesa is a treasure trove of Portuguese gifts, I could have spent a fortune on soap and crockery in that shop.

I walked up and down this street all week but it took me six days to spot this doorstep.

Above and below are my favourite tiles!

This is a tiny selection of what I saw — I photographed way more than I added to this post! Scott has visited Lisbon in the past but didn’t do a great deal of exploring so I’m sure we’ll go back to photograph more tiles for a holiday. There are many things I loved about Lisbon and the tiles were pretty high on the list.