One of my favourite things in Portugal is the use of painted tiles, or azulejos, on the outside of buildings. This is such a fabulous way to insert some personality into the look of a structure. If I were braver I would go for it, and cover the front wall of our house with some fabulous tiles. This makes sense for one substantial reason other than sheer beauty, it is also said to keep out the damp.
Some of the best examples of these tiles can be found today at the Sao Bento Railway Station in Porto, and the Metropolitano subway in Lisbon. Or, when driving around Lisbon you stand a good chance of coming across these tiles on the outside of structures built after the earthquake of 1755.
As for the abundance of them in blue and white, no matter what else you might have read, the most likely cause is that they came into fashion when the Chinese porcelain was ultra popular in Europe. Thought there have been periods of time where multi-coloured ones were most common, but the blue and white never fall out of grace.