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A romantic place, unique in Portugal...
Aveiro
Aveiro is a small, cosy, romantic, sweet, and touristic city near Porto, in Portugal. It has many water canals, and some call Aveiro "The Venice of Portugal"; not everyone agrees though, and there are several reasons for it.
Aveiro has always been refactoring and evolving itself through time. Here you can expect to find lovely Art Nouveau buildings, enjoy the water canals, the lagoon, and the salt views, take a boat tour on a traditional "moliceiro" boat, taste unique mind-blowing desserts with roots in Aveiro, and more!
Things you can't miss
If you decide to visit Aveiro, which you should, there are a lot of things you can do. This page lists a sum up of the activities we recommend. There are many more; feel free to reach out and we'll point you in the right direction.
Enjoy the Art Nouveau buildings
There are still many Art Nouveau buildings in Aveiro; Aveiro is the biggest Art Noveau city in Portugal where you can enjoy the wonderful façades of these buildings. Other cities (e.g., Porto, Leiria, Lisbon) have also Art Nouveau buildings but not in this quantity and concentration.
One of the most lovely building is the Art Nouveau Museum, an antique house that became the museum for this kind of art/architecture. On the back of the building, there's a nice coffee and bar where you can enjoy a tea or even a gin.
There are many other interesting buildings; they are numbered. You can ask a map at the Art Nouveau Museum or at the Tourism Centre which is nearby.
Take a "moliceiro" boat tour
Enjoy a plesant "moliceiro" boat tour across the canals of Aveiro's river. Moliceiros are unique to Aveiro region; they are usually painted with some provocative, funny messages.
There are many boat tour operators. Most of them are in rossio near Aveiro Palace hotel, but you may find others in the old "Praça do Peixe" (old fish market), for example.
Enjoy Aveiro lagoon, its canals, and the salt landscape
Aveiro has a close connection with water, the sea, and the salt. The salty river water and the lagoon have been shaping Aveiro across time. The canals within the city remember other cities, such as Venice, but Aveiro is quite different from it except for the romantic environment that is part of its DNA. In the past, salt was produced in large quantities. Nowadays, salt production still persists and if you visit Aveiro, you can still see people working on it. The views are amazing, with or without salt, as the lagoon acts like a mirror. Besides, many birds inhabit these waters, including a large community of flamingos. Many of these places are easily walkable or ridable by bike.
Visit Aveiro's Museum / Santa Joana Museum
Aveiro's Museum, also known as "Museu Santa Joana" (i.e., "Saint Joanna Museum"), was a former female monastery called "Monastery of Jesus", where Princess Joamna lived and died.
It has a vast collection of art, mostly religious, and besides being able to know more about Princess Joanna, you can also see her magnificient tomb.
There's also a marvelous chapel, only accessible from within the museum.
Taste "Ovos Moles" and "Tripa" sweets
Whenever at Aveiro, you cannot leave without tasting "ovos moles" (sweet eggs). This is one of the biggest atractions of the city, that you will taste and repeat! The story behind sweet eggs goes back to the time the Monastery of Jesus, nowadays Aveiro's Museum, was still hosting female nuns, couple of centuries ago (probably late XV, early XVI century). Back then, the monastery had many eggs and egg white was used for ironing. There were plenty of egg yolks to foster ideas for a new dessert. And then sweet eggs appeared. Nowadays they are known not only across Portugal but also abroad.
Meanwhile, and more recently, a new dessert became known locally: "tripa". It's like a soft pancake very nice, hot, that people eat all year around but especially during winter. It can be tasted solo or with different creams, including chocolate. Of course, and since we are at Aveiro, "tripa" are also usually filled with sweet eggs. It's sold in small shops and probably you'll see some queues.
Surroundings: Visit Costa Nova
Costa Nova is a village roughly 10km away from Aveiro, with sea/beach in one side and the river in the other side. Many people visit Costa Nova to see the famous coloured houses in red, yellow, green, and blue stripes, and take pictures of them while enjoying the view of the river and the boats.
The history of these houses dates to more than 100 years ago whenever fishermans coloured their houses, usually in a kind of dark red, to store their fishing related materials. With time, these houses were renewed by younger generations that used them for vacations. And then new colours came and made them as we can see nowadays,
Surroundings: Visit the famous Vista Alegre
Vista Alegre (VA) is almost 200 years old; it is known worldwide as the brand behind fine porcelain. Vista Alegre factory and museum is nearby Aveiro, in a local village called... Vista Alegre. Besides a 5 star hotel complex, it has a museum detailing the history of the factory having many pieces on display. There are also some shops where you can view and buy VA pieces.
Nowadays, VA has a set of brands and includes crystals and Bordalo Pinheiro unique pieces. Bordalo Pinheiro items usually mimic nature and animals. Quite different but also quite interesting for sure!
