Tile painting workshops in Porto

Tiles, tiles, tiles! They´re all around you when you visit Portugal. I like them so much that I went to visit the National Tile Museum in Lisbon last month. Therefore I was very excited when I saw that in Porto there’s a tile painting workshop. I emailed the organisers and signed up for a 2 hour session.

On the day we were doing Portuguese style tile painting. There were about 15 of us, most of us adults but there was also a little girl with her dad. We started by drawing our design on white paper. There were a few available ones there but I had done my homework and took my own ones. (I love sea turtles, you see.) After the white paper we copied the design to see through paper.

We drew over this with a piece of charcoal.

When it was ready we copied the design onto the tile by rubbing it with a piece of cord. The charcoal transferred neatly on the tile. It gave us the guide lines but will disappear in the oven during the firing.

Now came the fun part. The only colour of paint we used came in a powder form and it was pink! We were reassured many times that it will become blue in the oven. You have to mix the powder with water. Logically the more powder you add to the water the darker the colour becomes. All we needed to do now is to colour in our designs, playing with the lighter/darker shades. At the end we drew the outlines over with the darkest shade.

The 2 hours seemed like plenty of time so I did two designs.

Interestingly in the program brochure I got it said that the workshop is aimed at tourists however there were only two of us foreigners. It was a truly Portuguese experience and that’s how I like it. It also meant that the workshop was conducted in Portuguese as the instructor didn’t speak English very well however she spoke perfect Spanish. At the end it didn’t matter as tile painting is all practical, after all.

When we finished the instructor told us about another workshop the next day, which used the crueda seca style, which came from the Muslims. I was so into this that I went on the next day, too, again armed with my own designs. Here again we were about 15 of us but only 6 adults, the rest were all children. I was the only foreigner.

The drawing and the transferring of the designs were all the same as yesterday. Here we started with the outline of the designs. This black paint will stay on the tile as we paint it.

Then we used a variety of colours to colour the design in. It was very interesting as the paint did not get absorbed into the tile like yesterday but stayed on top creating a layer. If you paint it over a few times the painted parts become elevated.

It took more time to do these designs but I still managed to do two.

A few days later I got a lovely email saying that the students really enjoyed showing their culture to a foreigner and that I can go to pick up the ready tiles and I even got two cute certificates, too!    

I think amongst all the great things we experienced in Portugal this was my favourite. They both lasted for 2 hours, the first one cost 7.5 euros and the second 2.5, which is VERY reasonable I think. It seems that there are a few workshops out there similar to this one but if you’d like to try this, send an email to this address. Read about it on their official website or check out their blog.

Cabo da Roca

The Cabo da Roca or Cape Roca is one of the famous stops for the road trippers along the coast of Portugal. It is an important point as this is the most Western point of mainland Portugal, therefore the most Western point of continental Europe. 

Due to its special location it offers great views over the coast to the North, to the South and to the inland, too.

The famous Portuguese poet Luís de Camões, whose tomb can be visited in the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, wrote this about the Cabo da Roca: ‘Aqui, onde a terra se acaba e o mar começa…’ (Here, where the land ends and the sea begins…).

The Cape is in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park and easily accessible from Sintra and Cascais via public transport thanks to the bus nr. 403 which runs between the two. It runs all year around and stops at Cabo da Roca. Check the Tourist Office at either towns before you set out to get the correct timetable.

Sintra – Palácio Nacional da Pena

If you see a photo of a monument in Portugal there’s a high chance that it will be of the National Palace of Pena. This incredible royal palace sits on a top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains and with its colourful walls and eclectic decoration it looks like a huge fairy castle. I remember looking at it the first time and asking ‘who could possibly dream up something so crazy as this?!’.  And I hadn’t even seen it then from the inside!

Originally a tiny little chapel for Our Lady of Pena it was a pilgrimage site, even for many royal members. King Manuel I. had liked the place so much that he ordered a monastery to be built there – which was later completely destroyed by the 1755 earthquake. It took almost a century for somebody to take notice of the place but when they did, they didn’t skimp. King Ferdinand bought the ruins of the monastery, the nearby Moorish Castle and a few more estates around, just to make sure, then ordered a palace to be built and turned it into a royal summer getaway for the Portuguese royal family. A kind of Portuguese Windsor, if you like.

I was right when I thought that the architectural style must be eclectic, it was built in Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance with a lot of symbolism thrown in. Have a look at some of the details of the palace walls.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best and there was a low cloud hanging around the palace. Due to this we couldn’t appreciate the views as much however it also added to the place’s mystery.

The view of the Moorish Castle from the Palace.

As the palace was used by the royal family, its last queen, Queen Amélia lived here until her last day before her exile. The Portuguese State bought the building and thankfully left everything as it was in the time of the royals. Almost every room here is arranged so that it’s easy to imagine that the residents just popped out for something and will be back at any time.

 The decoration inside seems as eclectic as outside, every room has a different style.

Not to mention all the random objects that have been accumulated there!

My personal favourite is the sun cannon on the Queen’s Terrace. Every day the sun would ignite the gunpowder through the magnifying glass which would fire the cannon exactly at noon. How cute!

After spending hours wandering around the palace and marvelling at its beauty, you still have the Park to explore. Together with your ticket you get a map as well, so you can pick and choose the places you’d like to see. Here are some of the details.

This was our favourite, a surprised little castle on the water.

The Palace is a national monument and a UNESCO Word Heritage Site, also one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is still used on occasion by the President of the country. I strongly suggest visiting it if you have time, however there are a few things to consider before you set out.

It is possible to drive up to the entrance. There are many parking places on the side of the road and there are even frequently updated signs to tell you the amount of parking spaces further ahead which is quite helpful but we hadn’t known about at the time. If you don’t want to drive you can take the bus 454 which starts at the train station in Sintra and stops in front of all the monuments.

The entry fee is quite pricey, 14 euros (full price) and it gives you an entrance to the Palace and the Park. You can buy combined tickets as well with other monuments to save some money. From the ticket office the Palace itself is quite a way away and there’s an option to take a shuttle bus for an extra 3 euros. We didn’t pay for it and I personally think that it’s not that much of an effort. They claim that it’s a 15 min steep climb but unless you have kids or of age you should save that 3 euros for a coffee on the terrace of the palace.

If you need more information check out the official website here.