Photo: Pedro Ribeiro Simões from Lisboa, Portugal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo credit
Photo: Pedro Ribeiro Simões from Lisboa, Portugal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Tile painting workshop in Penha de França
Your local guide
Rita Carvalho
View profile
Highlights
- A small studio in Penha de França
- Majolica, the tile technique used since the sixteenth century
- Tracing and pouncing a design with charcoal
- Cobalt pigment applied by hand, brush by brush
- Tiles going into the kiln to fire
About this tour
This session goes inside a small tile-painting studio in Penha de França, following the majolica technique from a traced design to a finished piece. The camera follows the charcoal tracing and pouncing method, the cobalt brushwork, and the kiln where the colours are fixed by heat. It is a close look at a craft Lisbon has kept since the sixteenth century.
After a sound check, the guide walks through each stage of the process in order, from studio to charcoal pattern to brush to kiln, answering questions along the way. A short list of the techniques covered follows once the call ends.
This suits anyone curious about traditional crafts or the history of Portuguese tilework, rather than travellers looking for a street walk through the city.
Included
- Live video walk with a local guide
- Questions to your guide all the way
- A short list of places to visit later
Not included
- Internet connection
- Travel to the city
Itinerary
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Welcome and sound check 7 min
The guide joins the video call, checks the picture and sound with you, and gives you a quick sense of Lisbon before heading out.
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A studio in Penha de França 21 min
The camera looks around a small studio tucked into a Penha de França housing block, with shelves of blank tiles and jars of cobalt pigment, and the guide explains why so many of Lisbon's tile workshops sit in ordinary residential streets.
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Tracing and pouncing 21 min
On camera, the guide traces a pattern onto paper, pricks it with tiny holes and dusts it with charcoal, the pouncing method Lisbon workshops have used to transfer tile designs since the sixteenth century.
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Painting and the kiln 21 min
The camera watches cobalt pigment go on in careful brushstrokes over the charcoal outline, in the majolica style, and then follows a finished tile to the kiln where the colours fix under heat.
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Your questions 14 min
Time to ask anything about Lisbon: prices, safety, food, or whatever you are curious about.
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A short list to keep 6 min
Before you go, the guide sums up with a few things worth remembering: a dish to try: Grilled sardines (sardinhas assadas) and Belém, worth a slower look.
Good to know
- A stable wifi or mobile connection makes the picture smoother than a shaky one.
- Any phone, tablet or laptop with a camera works. You watch, the guide does the walking.
- Times are shown in Lisbon time, so check the time where you are before you book.
- The session is not recorded, and recording it yourself is not allowed. Feel free to take your own notes.
- Ask questions any time, out loud or in the chat. The guide will pause to answer.
- Sessions run in small groups, up to 8 people, so there is room for everyone to ask something.
Questions about this tour
What will the session cover?
The guide walks through Lisbon, showing you Rossio Square and Pastéis de Belém live on camera, plus whatever else you would like to see.
What happens if my connection drops?
Rejoin with the same link within a few minutes and the guide will catch you up on anything you missed.
Can I ask the guide questions during the session, or is it a fixed script?
Anything, any time. Sessions leave room for your own questions throughout, not just at the end.
Do I need any background in art?
No. The guide explains what matters as you go, whatever you already know or do not.
How it works
- You get one join link after booking.
- Join from any device: phone, tablet or laptop.
- We meet on Google Meet; the link comes with your booking. I walk Lisbon live with my phone and you ask anything as we go.
Times shown in Lisbon time (WET)
Cancellation
Flexible
- Cancel up to 24 hours before the start: full refund.
- Cancel less than 24 hours before the start, or no-show: no refund.
- If the guide cancels or the date does not reach its minimum group: full refund.
- Cancel in My Account → Bookings; the refund is calculated from the start time in the tour's local time.
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Next: Tue 3 Nov · 8 seats left From 29,00 €
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