Paço do Lumiar, Lisbon, Portugal
Paço do Lumiar, a neighborhood in Lisbon, translates to Lumiar's Palace. In America we tend to use the word palace loosely, but in Portugal when they say palace, they mean it.
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(And yes, their price tags are princely sums.)
Similarly, the word azulejos means blue tiles, but in Portugal it means a little bit more than that. It means buildings like this:
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...and dining rooms that look like these:
So when I came across a $4.5 million dining room that was un-azulejoed (not an actual word)...
...I decided to give it palace potential.
Then, in true "give a mouse a cookie" fashion, the bedroom niche started looking awfully plain:
So, I figured I'd "give it a glass a milk" while I was at it.
And something tells me that this house approves.
Although azulejos come in many colors and patterns, blue and white are especially prominent. The designs evolved over the centuries to reflect the fashion of the times-- from pastoral and nature motifs to hunting scenes and religious icons (especially common after the "great earthquake of 1755"-- go figure). {source}
Ancient and historic azulejos are protected by law. It was a bit of a thrill to see how many houses in the listings still have their azulejos intact and beautiful.
The listing is here.
