Porto: Tile Painting Workshop & Port Wine Tasting

4.90

(136 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I showed up late because I got lost in the Sé do Porto backstreets—turns out Google Maps isn’t great with medieval alleys. The workshop had already started but no one seemed to mind; Ana just smiled and waved me in, handing me a blank ceramic tile and a cup of Port that tasted like raisins and old wood. I sat next to an older couple from Lyon who were already deep into their patterns—one of those moments where you realize you’re about to spend two hours with total strangers, but it somehow feels okay.

Ana started talking about the history of azulejos—how you see them everywhere in Porto, on churches and bakeries and even the train station. She passed around some pattern sheets copied from real tiles around the city (I tried one from São Bento but my lines got wobbly). The paint was cool and slippery under my fingers. There was this faint smell of coffee drifting over from the snack table—someone had gone for seconds on the pastel de nata, which made me laugh because I’d been eyeing them too. It’s funny how everyone gets quiet when they’re concentrating on painting, except for Ana who kept circling the room, offering little tips or just chatting about her grandmother’s kitchen tiles.

I didn’t expect to get so into it. My hands shook a bit at first but then I stopped caring if it looked perfect. The Port wine helped, honestly. At some point a kid spilled juice on his tile and everyone just shrugged—Ana fixed it with a paper towel like she’d done it a hundred times before. When we finished, we lined our tiles up along the window ledge; sunlight hit mine just right and for a second it almost looked like something you’d see on an old building here. I still think about that blue color—it’s different when you make it yourself.