Painted Boats, Pastel Canals and Sweet Surprises
Where the Vouga River meets the Atlantic lagoon, Aveiro has built a life around water. Gondola-like moliceiro boats drift along flower-banked canals through a townscape of extraordinary Art Nouveau architecture, while nearby the striped fishing village of Costa Nova and Portugal's finest sweet egg pastries - the famous ovos moles - await discovery.
Aveiro's most iconic sight - brightly painted wooden boats, decorated with whimsical and often irreverent scenes, gliding silently through the central canals. Once used to harvest seaweed (moliço) from the lagoon for fertiliser, the moliceiros are now the symbol of the city. A boat trip along the Ria de Aveiro is one of Portugal's most charming experiences.
Aveiro experienced a wave of wealth in the early 20th century as emigrant families returned from Brazil with fortunes to spend. The result is a concentration of extravagant Art Nouveau mansions - tiled façades in peacock blues and golds, sinuous ironwork, and organic carved details - unmatched anywhere else in Portugal. The Casa Major Pessoa is the finest example.
A short drive from Aveiro lies Costa Nova - a fishing village where the traditional wooden palheiros (beach huts) are painted in bold vertical stripes of red, white, blue and green. The effect is strikingly beautiful, the bright colours reflected in the still lagoon waters. Today the village is lined with seafood restaurants and craft shops, all against an backdrop of Atlantic dunes.
No visit to Aveiro is complete without tasting ovos moles - a centuries-old confection of egg yolk and sugar wrapped in a wafer-thin rice flour shell, typically shaped like fish, shells, and boats. Originally made by the nuns of the Convent of Jesus, these PDO-protected sweets are one of Portugal's great gastronomic treasures. Try them fresh from the oldest pastelaria in town.
Colours, flavours and reflections - Aveiro surprises at every corner
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