Cobble

I was expecting gorgeous tile in Lisbon, but on the sides of buildings. I tend to be a ‘down looker’ when I walk and was generously rewarded by having so much eye candy to admire. How could anyone miss the artistry of the cobble plazas, streets, sidewalks, and stairs. It was just astounding.

Seeing all the black on white reminded me of many a design lesson in mark making. It doesn’t always require color to evoke mood and communicate a thought or feeling. Sharp lines and shapes, curves, repeating patterns of rhythm. There was a whole language of design under our feet everyday. It was a treat and it was everywhere.

Analytical and curious as we tend to be, Trev and I talked about the cobble a lot, trying to make our own list of pros and cons. In some places, the tree roots or just ground movement had caused ups and downs. In the U.S., we would have cracks in our sidewalks. Here, the cobble just seems to ride out the storm. That seemed quite positive. Where there are manhole covers (covered in cobble, of course), we saw worker removing just the small section they need and the rest is undisturbed. And then, of course, crews come back and replace what was changed.

Even though the white had a smooth top that seemed slippery when wet or even when really, really hot, the black had a rougher texture on top. Where there were checkerboard sidewalks on slopes it was nice to have the black as grip. But much like you may put smaller tiles with grout lines to give more grip in the shower floor, there was a lot of grip in general due to the spaces between.

Mornings in Bairro Alto, the shop owners were out hosing down the “residue” from the previous nights partying and it flowed between and seeped down between the street cobble pretty quickly. Unfortunately, a lot of the sand between them had washed away. This actually proved to be good and bad, as cigarette butts, dog poop, assorted pieces of glass and litter, all seemed to get stuck in the spaces between. But it is really something you just become accustomed to with living in this neighborhood.

The challenge of it is trying to roll a suitcase along. Not only is it noisy, I felt it was a bit more wear and tear on our luggage wheels so the few times we had to travel with cases we just carried them. (Another benefit of packing light.) It also seemed that walking these sidewalks in any kind of pointed heel would be challenging and treacherous, but we saw many locals on their way to work anyway.

While many a tourist was busy taking photos from eye level up, I got a lot of odd looks from folks as I pointed my camera down. So glad I did. It was a joy putting this gallery together.