Aveiro

We left Pinhao on a bright sunny morning and while waiting at Pinhao station we noted the community gardens alongside the rail tracks with plenty of tomatoes, onions and potatoes growing well.

We arrived in Aveiro after a relaxing train journey (amazingly big comfortable seats and tons of legroom) from Pinhao to Porto - along the Douro Valley, hugging the bank of the Douro River - with beautiful scenery all the way - terraced vineyards to begin with, giving way to steep hillsides covered in trees - and then a train change at Porto with only 10 minutes to find our platform for the Lisbon train which would stop at Aveiro. Ivor was the hero and steered us to the platform (down stairs and up escalators).

When the train pulled in at our platform, it was like a rugby scrum to find our carriage and board the train. Fortunately we had first class tickets and the ticket inspector soon directed us and we relaxed for the short thirty-five minute train ride to Aveiro which hasn't originally on the plan, but after reading aboutit, and it being on the line to Coimbra, we decided to add it to the itinerary.

Our host Joao, kindly collected us from the station - another beautiful old building decked with blue azulejo tiles - and settled us into the apartment. It is compact but lovely; beautifully decorated and in a perfect location in the city centre. It is be our home for two nights, giving us one full day to wander around the city.

We dropped our luggage and headed off for coffee and a pasteis de nata (never insult the Portuguese national pastry by asking for a custard tart).

Needing more sunscreen, we found a rather unusual (for us) shop directly across from the apartment. Chock full of toiletries and cosmetics of every description - dozens of every item on the shelf - covering two floors and set up Ikea-style with a one-way path zig-zagging through half the ground floor, up the stairs, through the upper floor and back down through the other half of downstairs. Very bright decor!

Next stop the supermarket and then the tourist information office to collect a map and purchase tickets for the museums. Followed by an afternoon of wandering around the touristy old town area, admiring the colourful buildings and the tourist boats (moliceiros) cruising the canals.

In the evening we found a delightful restaurant next door to our apartment where we enjoyed a fabulous 'small plate' dinner; olives to start; pork with pickles; spicy prawns; mixed salad; and a carafe of sangria; all for €20 = AU$35 (cash only which is not unusual in Portugal). We were seated next to, and chatted to, a local businessman which is always a sign the food is good.

Interesting ceiling ornamentation in Taberno do Arco (Tavern of the Arch because it's located just inside a highly decorative arch attached to the building where our apartment is located).

Aveiro is famed for its canals, art nouveau and art deco architecture, and its colourfully painted moliceiros boats which were originally used to harvest seaweed and for fishing. The city lies on the edge of the Ria de Aveiro, a saltwater lagoon, and drying and harvesting salt was a significant industry in earlier times.

Aveiro is also referred to as “The Romantic City”. This is evident by the thousands of coloured ribbons tied to bridges over the river - a custom that began when a young couple began to exchange messages on ribbons tied to one of the bridges. There are many bridges over the canal, and almost all of them are festooned with ribbons, many of them have love messages written on them. I overheard a young girl saying it could become a problem when a couple breaks up as it would be impossible to find the original 'love you' ribbon to cut up.

We also stopped in briefly at the market in the late morning, but the action in the fish market stalls was well over by then.

A quick visit to the city museum gave an interesting insight into the history of the city, and being a very 'tiled' area, seeing the mould for a 3D tile and also the finished product caught our eye.

Also eye-catching was this Pina-colada claim in a back street....

Our main quest was to look for the interesting houses and buildings. A plaque in the front of the house to identifies it as protected. Many are in disrepair as we imagine the rules and restrictions in trying to renovate would be very costly.

What follows is a collection of photos of what we thought were interesting buildings, with the art deco and art nouveau influence showing through.

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We walked over 11 kms today on a warm 28 degree day and returned to the same little restaurant for an early dinner before settling down at our apartment for a glass of wine and chocolate. A perfect end to our stay in Aveiro.

Tomorrow Coimbra (the University town) awaits.