Portugal's magnificent history of tiles

Leonardo mainly used canvas, Michalangelo often marble, but for the past five centuries, the main foundation of artistic material in Portugal has been ceramic tiles.

 

Known in Portugal as ‘Azulejos’, derived from the Arabic word ‘Azzelij’, or 'Al zuleicha'  meaning small polished stone, this custom of painting bright artworks onto ceramic tiles originated in Egypt, then moved to Persia where it was adopted throughout the Moorish world, before moving up to Southern Spain and the Iberian peninsula.

The Portuguese embraced this art form and it is used extensively on both exterior facades and interior spaces in public & private buildings across the country. The brightly, and often ornate tiles decorate everything from walls of churches to metro stations and public toilets with subject matter as varied as Religious figures, geometric patterns and historical events. It exudes a richness of cultural iconography that has become a symbol of the country.

I was very interested to learn more about the manufacture of these tiles and the process of dating them, so we organised a private guided visit to one of Lisbon's original tile manufacturers. Fabrica Sant'Ana http://www.santanna.com.pt/en/quemsomos has a showroom in central Bairro Alto and their factory is a little further away in the suburbs. Fabrica Sant'Ana began manufacturing tiles in 1741 and the process is exactly the same today with the exception that the ovens are now electrically powered rather than wood fired!

We watched the entire process of manufacture from the throwing of the clay, pressing into the moulds (all done by hand), to drying racks & kilns, application of a milky glaze with fine glass particles to achieve an end shine, and then the meticulous hand painting process. Each and every single tile is done like this! The day we visited, the painting artists were working on reproducing a centuries old panel, and the process involved trace, charcoal and very fine paint brushes. It was absolutely beautiful to witness a process which has remained the same for centuries and gave us an incredible appreciation for the workmanship in the tiles we saw adorning buildings across the city. (Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos)

Since one of my favourite things to do in cities we visit is to discover unusual items in flea markets, we visited Fiera da Ladra the city's Saturday market. Many websites I read said it was full of junk, but I suppose all of those things are certainly in the eye of the beholder, because I think they show a slice of the cultural life of a city - & we loved this one! Although tile facades across the city are protected from demolition, there are still many being uncovered as building occurs or from warehouse supplies, so there is significant number of antique dealers selling them. One of the best value was a dealer at this flea market. Laid out on an old sheet, the man in this market had quite an array of options to purchase. I bought 4 matching tiles which date back to 1650, and Lorenzo and bought 4 dating to 1750. The ages are authenticated by colours used, colour intensity size and brushwork. I plan to make perspex boxes to display these tiles as they are definitely a work of art worth preserving.

If you are on the hunt for antique tiles in Lisbon another well known shop is Solar Rua Dom Pedro V, 68-70, Bairro Alto. This shop has an enormous array of tiles well displayed for sale in period of manufacture. Any tiles with people, in particular faces, are considerably more expensive due to the exertise requires to achieve this but they are divine!. This shop is much more expensive than you will find in the flea market, but the quality and choice is extensive. Even though I had bought a set of 4 dating around 1640 in the market, I still fell in love with one in Solar so bought it - just the side of a face (less than a front on version and within my budget!). You also receive a certificate of authenticity stating the age of your tile.

Then to top off my total tile immersion, I visited the fabulous National Tile Museum in Lisbon. This place is extremely interesting, a very well curated museum, especially if you like cultural iconography. It is housed in the monastic buildings of the Madre de Deus Convent, which was founded in 1509 and renovated to its former glory after the Great Earthquake. The museum is housed in the rooms around the cloister and at the far side of the cloister is a magnificent chapel filled with superb ornately painted tiles. This church is so richly decorated because it belonged to the household of Queen Leonor who in the years after the death of her only son Prince Afonso in 1491, spent much of her time praying and living in this convent.

 

 

 

This is the catalogue system used at Fabrica Sant'Ana to chose your tile colour & pattern

This dealer at Feira da Ladra had a very good selection of tiles at a very fair price for their age and hand made execution

  

 

Solar Antique Tile Shop in Bairro Alto - a huge range of tiles

 

This is the tile I bought from SOLAR and it is authenticated as being made between 1720-1750 

 

The chapel in the convent of Madras de Deus which now houses the National Tile Museum



 

 

Fontesecca Wines, Citta della Pieve

 

To discover and uncover is one of the great delights of travel – as much today as in Marco Polo’s, Captain Cook’s or Vasgo da Gama’s time. Whether the discovery is in unchartered waters or close to where one spends much time, it is always a delight to unearth the unexpected. So, after drinking many bottles of a local biologically produced wine called "Fontesecca" www.fontesecca.it/en/ when we enjoy our countless meals at our favourite family operated restaurant own town in Citta della Pieve,  "Bruno Coppetta" www.en.trattoriabrunocoppetta.com/, we decided it was time to source the grower /producer!

Like with many hidden gems, it turned out to be in a place we drive past regularly, but just slightly off the main road out of vision. Paolo Bolla the owner of Fontesecca wines, has a 4 generational heritage in wine manufacture, and was originally from the Verona area where he learnt his trade in the family business. In search of new unspoilt terrain, he and his family moved to the Umbrian hills in 2004 and began an independent winery that today produces a limited quantity of excellent wines plus extra virgin olive oil, all grown on their land. The delightful part about their production methods is their organic farming approach, a respect for the land, nature & time which seems to be a recurring narrative in this part of the world.  

The wines we have previously tasted are a fabulous red wine called "Pino" (named after Paolo Bolla’s father), which is made from 100% Sangiovese grapes and exudes a spicy, slightly floral, full rounded taste with which as Australians, we are familiar. It is absolutely delicious and with a dark ruby red colour, it looks as good as it tastes. The white wine, "Elso" (named after the man who planted the original vines 40years ago) also has a wonderful 3 dimensional layered taste being a mix of local varieties of Trebbiano, Toscano, Grechetto & Malvasia grapes. With a colour of wet straw, we can testify it is a superb wine to enjoy with lunch during the warmer months.  They also produce several other wines and needless to say we purchased the whole range to be sure!

 

The terrain from millennia ago used to be sea and we were told that when ploughing the soil to plant the new vines they found many fossilised shells which is where the symbol on their label is derived. Today these shells are proudly displayed to show the geographical history of the region and Paolo mentioned that these crustaceans add to the saltiness of the soil and contribute to the grape's end taste for the wine production.  

Uncovering local gems like this, we feel are peeling back the historical layers that have shaped this Umbrian region for centuries.

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Citta della Pieve seen from Fontesecca Vineyard
 

 

Jules Verne would be delighted!

French novelist and playwright Jules Verne may be famous for "Twenty thousand leagues under the Sea" or going "Around the world in Eighty days" but I think he would be very happy with his namesake restaurant high in the sky! 

 

Visiting the iconic Eiffel Tower without the laborious wait in queues, is only one of the reasons to lunch at Alain Ducasse's "Jules Verne" restaurant on level 2, 125metres above the ground.

 

This gorgeous restaurant invigorates the senses in all ways - the interior design is sumptuous, mimicking Gustave Eiffel's  iron lattice structure through the use of lighting, ceiling panelling and windows, the view is spectacular, not just of distant sights of the city of lights but also of the closer workings of the tower itself, and the food by head chef Pascal Feraud is subtle with very clever taste pairings. Most of all this restaurant it is not at all pretentious, just an overall memorable experience.

 

As with many European restaurants, the fixed price lunch menu is the best value - 3 courses with choices in each, with or without wines to match, and exceptional service by a league of wait staff. With additional 'tastes' between courses and delicacies with coffee, the meal is very substantial.  

 

What a piece de resistance it would be to have Mr Verne as our lunch guest! We could quiz him on his profound influence on science fiction genre in a setting that, although he would have seen in his lifetime (he died 15years after the Eiffel Tower was erected for the world Trade fair in 1889), he probably never imagined would house a restaurant of such magnificence.

 

Paris by the Sea - a favourite place to visit!!

Paris by the sea..............Restaurants in Paris may come and go, but after 15years the seagulls are still squawking daily at one of our favourite haunts in Paris's 1st arrondissement.

 

As Australians we are spoilt when it comes to exceptional quality seafood, so I think very hard before choosing to eat seafood when abroad, however, the French grow the most fabulous oysters and as one of my favourite foods, this is definitely an exception to my rule! As a nation, the French are Europe's largest producer of oysters and the 4th largest in the world with almost all consumed domestically, so, as for many food products in France, the craft of producing, consuming and selling oysters, is taken very seriously indeed!

Like wine, oysters reflect the terroir (area) of where they are cultivated and have been part of the French diet for centuries. Since Roman times they have been farmed in the Lagune de Thau, in the Mediterranean and in the Bay of Arcachon, where they are still farmed today.

I will certainly plan a trip to these regions in the future to samples their varieties, but in the meantime,  L'Ecume St Honore oyster bar on 6 Rue du Marché Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, offers me samples from across the country and is a fabulous spot to punctuate my day. A plate of oysters, a glass of wine and the traditional basket of brown bread and butter - all enjoyed while the seagulls fly above your head (painted on the ceiling) and squawk continuously (a looped audio tape) - a perfect way to rest your feet from arduous task of the Paris sales and spectacular art galleries.

Oysters in France are sold by size - I think the smaller sizes often have a more intense taste but are perhaps not as 'full bodied' or 'well rounded' as the larger sizes. At L"Ecume they are always freshly shucked by men who look like they have just departed the fishing trawler, and the presentation is superb - simply delivered on a bed of fresh seaweed with fresh lemon. I am a fan of all oysters but if I had to make a French choice it would be the large creamy and intense flavour of the Blanches variety - succulent & sweet with the delicious briny aftertaste  of the juice that they are ensconced in - though I certainly intend to continue sampling all the possible varieties just in case there are better varieties I may have missed!

If Oysters are not your thing then they also sell delicious platters of smoked salmon, expertly hand sliced, and other beautifully fresh seafood product. And as for dessert..... don't expect cake or macaroons here, their treat when we were there a few days ago, was superb, finely cut raw St Jacques scallops! 

 

 

 

 

I've never met a Paris food market I didnt love!

Charles de Gaulle once stated "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty six different kinds of cheese". Maybe when he said that in 1953 he was correct, but today, France has well over five hundred different kinds of cheese, and I think I saw them all today at Sunday's Marché Richard Lenoir food market.

This place is a foodie’s delight! Whether you are renting an apartment in Paris and need to stock the fridge, or simply want to spend a colourful and fun Sunday morning enjoying a very typical French way of life, this market has got it all! Stretching about a kilometre from the monument at Bastille down Boulevard Richard Lenoir there are three alleyways of deliciousness of French gourmet products to delight your taste buds and cause havoc to your waistline! And I can promise you we did well on the waistline!

A fabulous busker who sang and danced with small children while balancing a goldfish bowl filled with fish on his head entertained us while we ate the most delicious crepes expertly made to order by a stall holder who had clearly done it many times before. Breakfast doesn’t get much better than this – calories galore (my crepe was goats cheese, smoked salmon grated cheese and an egg), colourful entertainment, and a taste of true French life – all free of charge in a Paris winter that is pretending to be spring!

 

We bought an awesome Roquefort cheese that smells like a gym junkie’s dirty socks, endive that was picked directly from the beds in which it was still growing (I have never seen this before and food doesn’t get much fresher!) and small green beans that were so expertly stacked they looked regimental and severe but were so crisp & young that we ate them raw. For a late lunch we bought San Jacques - the largest scallops I have seen and in our apartment we simply steamed them with lemon. The texture was meaty, the taste delicate and at 12.50Euro a kilo we thought they were a bargain.

 

I LOVE a food market like this – to me it is shopping in its most perfect form, exciting the senses in all formats. This makes me want to move to Paris!!!

  

 

A Carpenter's Workbench gets a new lease of life as our kitchen table

A few months ago I posted a photo of a re-invigorated carpenter's workbench which we fell in love with at the Arezzo antique market. Well, here is a photo of a similar one which we also found recently at the same Arezzo monthly antique market, and, it has now become our 'new', but very old, kitchen table. A thick piece of glass has made what may have been an impractical bench into something completely usable, very comfortable, and indeed supremely beautiful. We love its character - the 2 timber vice that have tightly held hundreds of pieces of timber over the years, are still attached and working, and the visible recesses that held the tools of the carpenter's trade, bear the worn signs of their past life. It is a table that each time we sit at to eat a meal or drink a cup of coffee, it makes us smile thinking of its past history and new beginning. It looks very much at home in our beautifully imperfect ancient apartment! 

 

 

 

Verona - Aida in the Ampitheatre

Verona is a delightful Italian city  to visit only a short distance from Venice - many go just to see "Juilet's balcony", supposedly the balcony where Shakespeare's fictitious Juliet Capulet was wooed by Romeo Montague. It is always supremely busy in Juliet's corner of Verona, and I admit it is not a place I bother to go - too touristy for my liking and surely fictitious, so what's the point! - plus plastic souvenirs have never been my 'thing'... however, there are many other wonderful places to wander, discover and soak in the peaceful ambience of this beautiful city, so it is undoubtedly worth including it in your Italian itinerary.

 

We have visited many times but never been able to co-ordinate our trip to coincide with viewing Opera in their magnificent Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra .......... that is, until recently, when we specifically timed our visit to see Aida performed in the open air, and what a spectacle it was! The stage set designers used a large 'crane-like' structure to suspend people and create 3 dimensionality in the open void - a difficult thing to achieve when there is no roof or ceiling structure to work with. They also cleverly utilized the steps of the amphitheatre behind the stage as additional 3 dimensional height which significantly contributed to the ambiance of the production. I have to admit sound quality was not brilliant, but then we were sitting in a centuries old open air structure, so that was totally to be expected and it was the overall package of production, history of the structure and the pure spectacle that we loved. A wonderful experience that we will remember forever!

Also a beautiful and tranquil Veronese site is Giardino Giusti, a magnificent Italian Renaissance garden which was first planted in 1580. With a wonderful hilltop view back to Verona's main area, it is an Italianate mix of sculptural & natural and includes terraces filled with ancient Cyprus trees, fish filled ponds and Roman sculpture. It is the perfect place to quietly wander after one of those long lazy lunches we regularly partake in when in this part of the world!

Another interesting thing about Verona - they always seem to have some of the best buskers I have ever come across and we love strolling the streets enjoying the ambience they add to the city. When you see them do make sure you give them some money as without money they will not be there!