Tile Town

I've never seen so many tiles in one place. They are on the buildings:

In infinite variety.

They are in the churches, illustrating the lives of the saints.

They take many forms, such as these polychrome tiles:

And then there are the public squares.

Not knowing Portugese, I don't know the story behind all the statues I saw.

I imagine, strictly speaking, these massive courtyards are cobbles, not tiles? Not sure. But the workmanship and the thought that goes into each design is mind blowing. Here's a sidewalk:

My day went like this. Dara set off for a day of cycling. I did not. I stayed in bed until 1 pm. Then went for a walk for 2.5 hours. Then back to bed until Dara got home.

Dara cycled 30 miles. I could no more do that than tile a Portugese public square. I really enjoyed my walk though. I climbed a lot of stairs to get to a church Joe recommended (pictured above, stairs below).

Joe said I would enjoy the view from the church, which I surely did. This woman was singing Adele, at least as good as Adele, so that added to the pleasure of the day. You can see the bay in the distance.

This wee man was in the square opposite the Adele singer.

I had lunch in another square, next to a talented violinist. Then made my way down to the coast and walked back to the apartment, feeling I had used up all that was in my cold-infested body. While the cold has certainly limited my strength, I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring Lisboa.

This arc was in the photo yesterday of the massive square. It is not far from our apartment, which is in a charming part of the historic area. I'm incredibly lucky to have Dara as tour guide as I am useless at putting together vacations.

3 March