Portugal is well known for its Ceramic tiles. They are used inside buildings as decoration and as a durable, easy to clean finishing material. They are also used on the external parts of buildings for the same reason.The tiles help keep buildings cooler in the summer. They are fire retardant and reduce the spread of fires between buildings.
The use of tiles has been traced from Egypt, to Spain and then to Portugal. Initially they were simple patterns but evolved into intricate pictures and murals. The blue white colour was just a trend during a particular era and has nothing to do with the Portuguese name “azulejo” implying blue.
They fell out of favour until the 1950s when they started appearing in subway stations (subway tiles) now they are often found in kitchen sink back-splashes. From the bus tour, I only saw the outside of buildings.
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