What do you think of when you think of Portugal – Cristiano Ronaldo, fado, pastel de nata, Lisbon, fresh fish, lovely people, port, madeira, piri piri, cork, stunning beaches or azulejos? The latter for me is certainly something which I now consider quintessential Portuguese. I cannot resist them even when we are on a fast train, hence these rather poor photographs of when we whizzed through Ovar.
And when we arrived in Averio I found more azulejos to appreciate. Even their dilapidated condition doesn’t put me off!
I just love this approach to covering private and public buildings with tile panels, particularly because so many reflect aspects of local life as well as Portugal’s history. It is for me quintessential Portuguese, which probably explains why so many of my posts over the past couple of years have been about azulejos. But what do you think? I would love to know what first comes to mind for you when you think of Portugal, so do leave a comment below.
But before you do I am sure there are a few of you out there who would love to know more about these azulejos! I’ve learnt that the ones in Averio are the creation of the factory Fábrica da Fonte Nova and were created around 1916. Just a year after Jorge Colaco’s incredible creation in Porto. I’ve not yet found out anything about the ones at Ovar’s railway station, however I have discovered that Ovar has even more azulejos than Porto. One website describes it as a true open-air tile museum so somewhere clearly I need to visit!
PS Don’t forget to share your quintessential Portuguese!
Portuguese azulejos are no doubt a really interesting subject! And those oes are realli beautiful too – just as elegant as they should, yet decorative in teir very characteristic way.
So true 😊