Patio & Walkway Inspiration in Europe

Please excuse the long absence, I was traveling and decided to unplug and tune out…I highly recommend it. Now that I’m back, I’ve been culling through the 2500 photos on my IPhone (yes, 2500…don’t laugh) and saw that I had taken quite a few photos of walkways. Always on the lookout for inspiration for patios and paths, I thought I’d share the photos with you.

Our trip started in one of my favorite cities…Berlin. It was raining almost the whole time we were there, but the Tiergarten was still lovely to walk in and this circular brick patio reminded me how much I love circular brick patios, especially when they’re wet.

This patio was also in the Tiergarten. I love the fountain focal point in the center and the way the slate was cut in angles to create the circle.

In what used to be East Berlin in an area called Mitte, there is an amazing artists’ community in an old bombed out factory called the Tacheles. This flooring was done by someone on one of the landings and I loved it. If you get to Berlin soon, you must go there…it’s suppose to be torn down within the year and it’s really a shame.

These were sad and lovely. As a memorial for the murdered Jewish families throughout Berlin, these Bronze tiles were laid into the cobblestones outside what was once their homes. They told you who had lived there and what happened to them. I hadn’t noticed them on previous trips but once I realized what they were, I saw them everywhere. There were far too many of them.

In Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi’s influence was everywhere. These tiles, designed by Gaudi, were used throughout the city as either interior or exterior flooring. The slightly embossed tiles were subtle but absolutely beautiful. Somebody needs to be making these.

In Gaudi’s house in Park Guell, all the rooms were “carpeted” in tile. I absolutely loved how the spaces were defined by the different tile. It gave me such great ideas for defining outdoor spaces in the same way.

These cobblestone streets in the ancient city of Toledo were really beautiful. I loved how spaces were defined by the stone bricks. I think it would work for either a modern or a more traditional garden.

Our trip ended in Lisbon where everything was cobblestone, even many of the main streets. Black and white stones were the most popular and used in all sorts of geometric patterns as seen in this square…

…or done into flowers like these. Even though when I think of European cities I think of walkways like these, they are very uncommon here and I would love to see them used more often. Lisbon was truly a remarkable city and I would recommend it highly.

Tags: antonio gaudi, barcelona, berlin, cobblestones, lisbon, park guell, patios, tacheles, tiergarten, tile, walkways

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