When we were looking at potential stops on our journey from Porto to Sintra, Aveiro was high on my list. Known as the “Venice of Portugal” the pictures of the moliceiro boats cruising through the city’s canals won me over. We haven’t made it to Venice yet so I figured this would be the next best thing.
The drive from Porto took about an hour and we immediately headed to Ria Pao, a bakery and pastry shop, for a late morning snack. Igor had us try ovos moles (soft eggs). A sweet treat native to Aveiro, the wafers filled with egg yolk and sugar cream were definitely like nothing we had tried before. And we weren’t huge fans. The communion wafers shaped like barrels and shells had a plastic look that had my boys question if they were edible and the creamy filling was too eggy for us. We much preferred pastel de nata, another of Portugal’s famous sweets but we are always happy to try something new (well, at least new desserts).
After our snack we headed outside to enjoy the view along the canal. The city’s early 20th century art nouveau architecture provided a stunning backdrop to the canals.
After wandering the street for a few minutes, we debated whether or not to take a canal cruise on one of the city’s famous moliceiros. The brightly painted boats get their name from their traditional use in harvesting molico, a type of seagrass used as fertilizer. The boats have a flat bottom for navigating the shallow waters and their ends are sickle-shaped and decorated with colorful designs. Historically these painting featured designs meaningful and/or representative of the ship’s owners. Today, many of the designs have a more erotic theme. Apparently meant to amuse the tourists, images of large chested women or men slapping a woman’s behind are found on most of the boats in the canal.
I have to admit that I was disappointed to see that the boats are motorized and not propelled by a captain with a long oar like on the gondolas in Venice. Still, we were all really excited at the prospect of exploring the city via its canals. But that sky. It looked so ominous. We just knew if we headed out we’d get caught in a rain storm.
And we were right. Shortly after we watched a moliceiro pull away, the skies opened up. We quickly headed through town square on the way to our car. I was sorry that our visit was being cut short – I really loved the town and would have preferred wandering its streets to dashing through them. We made a stop at the market – both to take advantage of the cover and to check it out. Igor had hoped they would have eels to show the boys but unfortunately they did not. We saw plenty of fish though and waited until the rain lightened a little more before going to the car.
Despite the terrible weather, I loved our stop in Aveiro. I thought it was such a unique town. The architecture, the boats, the canals. It all had a sort of magical quality. I would love to return for a proper visit one day when we can wander the streets and squares and meander through the canals on a boat. I am so glad we got a taste for Aveiro but it definitely left me wanting more.
