Travels in Portugal: Calcada Portuguesa (Portuguese Pavement) - Lisbon, Portugal

When you're walking around, it's a good idea to keep your head up. Except when you're in Portugal...

Calcada Portuguesa. Portuguese pavement. It seems Lisbon is completely stoned.

From sidewalks, to streets, to parking lots, Lisbon is paved in mosaics. Some simple; irregular shaped slabs of white limestone. Others fanciful; carefully designed patterns of precisely pared pavers.

As I stepped out of my Uber onto Rua dos Cais de Santarém, I immediately recognized the strength of Portugal. My shoes made a decidedly smooth click as they hit the first stone. My eyes shot downwards, and for the next five days, I struggled to look up and away from these gorgeous streets.

While I marveled at Lisboa's tiled buildings, it was the Calçada Portuguesa that held my interest. I wondered how long it might take to prepare even a square meter of ground for the inlay of stone, let alone to cut, arrange, and lay the individual pieces. How back-breaking it must be to labor as the calceteiros do in their creation of these marvelous mosaics.

Here, on the Calçada da Glória, we see a most interesting decision of street design. The sidewalk is a traditional, plain design of limestone squares. The street, however, is a hodgepodge of strips. At first, irregular stones, then, beneath the rails that carry an elevated streetcar, meticulously arranged pavers. And between those rails, another thick strip of chaos.

And if you're wondering if these streets of limestone are a little bit slippery, think again. They are treacherous!

When wet, Lisbon's streets resemble an ice rink. Smoothed by the decades, and impervious to water, one practically glides along the winding avenues of Portugal when dew coats the ground before the sun can drink it away.

I hesitate to wonder what might happen if one fell in the rain here on Calçada da Glória. My guess is that it would be a quick trip to Avenida da Liberdade below...

When I travel, I eschew the souvenir shops. Not one for trinkets, and suspicious that all those branded shot glasses and keychains are actually made in China, I look for something real. Something authentic. Something that will personify my experience in whatever land I am traversing.

What could be more real, more authentic, or more durable than a piece of Lisbon's stone streets? Laying amongst a heap of discarded stone, in close proximity to their former resting place, I scooped up this treasure. And while I felt a bit guilty at removing what perhaps could be reused to repair that pothole, I rested secure in the knowledge that it would not, could not, be damaged in transit home.

It is my little piece of Portugal. Of Lisboa. Of the Rua my eyes lingered upon nearly every step through this gorgeous city and astounding country. Smoothed by time. And as enduring as Portugal itself.

Calcada Portuguesa.

Pisar com cuidado, meus amigos!

#portugal #lisboa #lisbon #travel

All original photos.