india
Panjim, Goa
GOAN TILES WITH A PORTUGUESE GLAZE BY FERNANDO LOBO bungalow, I’m greeted by bright tiles in all hues and shapes, some name plaques, some more tiles marked “Mario”, and some artistic representations of a bygone era. There are tiles portraying render (the Goan toddy-tapper), poder (baker), taverna (pub), and Goa serenata, a guitarist serenading his lover on the balcão of her home. Noronha isn’t the craft’s only champion. Velha Goa is another local azulejos institution, whose art can be seen in the renovated chapel in Pilar, 13 km south of Panjim. The interior of the church, altar included, is decorated with azulejo ceramic. The government too supports the art, with a workshop in Bicholim, some 33 km northeast of Panjim. But Noronha is Goa’s azulejo superstar. His work adorns five-star hotel lobbies, Goa’s central library, and several hundred homes. I visit his workshop, four kilometres from Panjim, in St. Inez where I see how the azulejo takes form. The clay tile (usually 6x6 inches) is fired in the furnace, glazed, painted on, and then fired again, to fuse the paint with the tile. According to Noronha, more and more people want azulejos, especially those inscribed with their names— a nod to Goa’s past as well as present.
GETTING THERE Panjim, Goa’s capital, is easily accessible. Pilar is 13 km/20 mins south of Panjim, while Bicholim is 33 km/ 1 hour away. WHERE TO BUY Azulejos de Goa, 7/1, M.G. Road, opp Club Nacional, Panjim; 0832-2431900, 98230 86867; azulejos degoa.com. Velha Goa, House No. 191, Rua de Ourem, Fontainhas, Panjim; 0832-2735294; velhagoa.com. Azulejos Tile Centre, Shed No. D2/13, Bicholim Industrial Estate, Bicholim; 0832-2360062; www. ghrssidc.org/handicrafts/handicraftsfacility/azulejos-tilepainting.
OCTOBER 2014 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA
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GREG ELMS/GETTY IMAGES
BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT. Just opposite Club Nacional on the Panjim Riviera is a tiny lane that takes you straight out of Goa’s capital and into the heart of Alfama, Portugal. The quaint pathway leads to Azulejos de Goa, a 250-yearold mansion that Orlando de Noronha painstakingly redesigned to resemble a house in Lisbon’s oldest district. “But this is with a Goan touch,” he tells me at the door. The house has the finest example of Goa’s azulejos, the distinctive coloured tiles that you see around the older parts of some Iberian countries. The first thing I see as I enter is a Mario Gallery, exhibiting tiles based on the eminent Goan cartoonist Mario de Miranda’s art. Azulejos are all over the sunshine state, adorning churches, hotel lobbies, and homes, especially in old neighbourhoods like Fontainhas in Panjim. They were introduced by Portuguese colonisers in the 19th century, and are still a vital part of the Latin cultural landscape. In Goa, however, the art slowly died after liberation in the 1960s—until 1998, when Noronha, fresh from a scholarship to Portugal, began producing them locally with paints imported from Portugal. Going up the rickety wooden staircase of the