"Chimney Pots"

As always to see a larger image click on the photo.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the influence of the Moors on Portugal and much of the Iberian peninsula persists in large and small ways. One of the architectural remnants that I find both interesting and charming is the chimney pots which are ubiquitous on both old and new buildings and endlessly, though subtly, variable.

For the Moors, such chimney tops were apparently both functional and decorative while, in 21st century Portugal they appear to be predominantly a decorative link to another period in history.

I had been aware of the chimney pots around Albufeira and elsewhere but on our rather long winding and somewhat boring bus trip to Loule I began to look at the chimneys more carefully and became increasingly aware of the enormous variability in size, shape, colour and decorative designs.

Since these pots are so prevalent I think that they quickly slip into the background for most of us so I thought it might be interesting to photograph them and put the photos together to bring some attention to the both their variability and attractive decorative character.

The day after we returned from Loule I went out to photograph chimney pots and in about a two or three block area around our place I took close to 40 photos of about 25 or 30 unique chimney pots, some of which are included here. I have put more of the chimney pot photos on my Picasa albums, if interested, have a look at a slide show of some chimney pots in Albufeira!