Granada, Spain | April 26, 2011

IF YOU’VE EVER been to Spain, you know that wherever you go, you will find tiles. Tiles on the walls, tiles on the floors, tiles on the ceilings, tiles on furniture, and hundreds and hundreds of souvenir tiles in tourist shops. All are colorful and many are beautiful and intricate. Granada, especially, has an interesting variety of tiles, incorporating Moorish design because of its long occupation by the Moors.

I’ve been tempted to buy some tiles, and I still may, but I haven’t really found any that I found particularly intriguing. Until today. Unfortunately, the tiles aren’t for sale, for they are in the men’s restroom in a restaurant below the Alhambra. I stopped there for lunch (beans with ham, bread and olives, and a beer) and after eating, I went to the restroom before continuing my exploration of this intriguing city, and it was there that I found the tiles. Black, or deep gray, and a brownish red. A simple design, one that I haven’t seen anywhere else, and which I won’t even attempt to describe because you can see the attached photo. Judging by the look of the building, those tiles have been on those restroom walls for years and years. I fell in love with them and wished I could rip at least one off the wall. What I can’t figure out is why they are so unlike all the other tiles I have seen here.