PORTUGUESE SIDEWALKS

These artworks-under-foot were typically black and white mosaics, with designs that varied from street to street, and block to block. Known as Calçada Portuguesa, or “Portuguese Pavement” these mosaic sidewalks are a signature style that can be found wherever the Portuguese settled, from Macau and Malacca in Asia to Rio de Janiero in Brazil. But it is in Lisbon where they are so ubiquitous they simply become part of the street scape. Technically the designs are made of paving stones, not tiles. Chunky cubes of sturdy basalt and limestone form the mosaic squares, sturdy enough for thousands of feet and durable enough to last centuries. We saw the same sidewalks in Sintra, Porto and most of the small towns we visited.