Portugal – Aveiro (En)

Yesterday Sunday we went to Porto but when we arrived at the camping it was packed so we couldn’t stay there and drive around the city streets was a nightmare and really stressful so we decided to keep going to our next destination, Aveiro where we parked in the motorhome area just 5 minutes walking to the city centre and where we finally tried the typical dish francesinha.

Aveiro is a city on the west coast of Portugal set along a lagoon called Ria de Aveiro. It’s distinguished by its canals navigated by colourful boats called “moliceiros”, traditionally used to harvest seaweed. Therefore, the city is known as the Portuguese Venecia. We went through the canals and crossed a bridge to the fish market surrounded by bars and restaurants.

We had lunch in one of the restaurants in the square and we chose well as after we sat where a queue of people waiting for a table, maybe because it was a pretty good deal, a menu for 11 euros including jugs of wine, main course, dessert and coffee. We shared the famous francesinha which is sandwich bread filled with two kinds of Portuguese sausages, ham, steaks, melted cheese on the top and salsa with a little spice of tomatoes and beer, and a grilled meat platter.

After lunch, we went to see the rest of the city centre where the best things are the New Art Museum, the Obelisk of freedom, the Cathedral of Aveiro with its prominent bell tower and the Aveiro Museum housed in a former convent, which has a lavish tomb made of marble. The typical dish from Aveiro is a sweet called Ovos Moles made of yolk egg, sugar and communion bread. Many of the bridges crossing the canals have ribbons with the name of lovers, pretty cool.

Then we went back to the fish market square where we had a drink in a bar inside of an old house, really cool, and we went back to the motorhome walking through the street of the colourful houses and seeing the Sao Goncalinho church.

And today Monday we are in Coimbra, a riverfront city in central Portugal and the country’s former capital, home to a preserved medieval old town and the historic University of Coimbra and you can see it in the next post!