The “Venice” of Portugal: 24 Hours in AVEIRO
Discovering Aveiro: The Venice of Portugal?
Hello guys. This is some guy named Ismail Siddiky of Europe Diary welcoming you on a journey to see if Aveiro is really the Venice of Portugal. Sorry. I actually don’t sound anything like that. I’ll be joined by my friend Carlos and a vital native who is going to be showing us some of the best places to visit and translating some of the old perverted fishermen connotations painted on the back of the wooden boats. So sit back, grab yourself a glass of your favorite vino and let’s go.
First Impressions
Located about an hour drive from Porto. Situated on the edge of an extensive coastal lagoon system. Aveiro is a prosperous town with a good-looking center and a youthful, energetic buzz. It’s occasionally dubbed the Venice of Portugal thanks to its small network of picturesque canals. But where the Italian city has gondolas, Aveiro has moliceiro colorful boats traditionally used for seaweed harvesting but now used for canals cruises. Aveiro is a really cool little city lined with awesome bars, restaurants, and shops. Increasing in popularity in recent years, the city has been undergoing a transformation and has become quite modern compared to other city centers in Portugal.
First Impressions at the City Center
The moment I arrived in the city center in the Little Old Town area, I saw all the canals and the beautiful shops, and I thought to myself why the did I not move here.
Evening in Aveiro
Dinner with Carlos
Since I arrived pretty late in the evening, I wanted to have a quick dinner, so Carlos and I met up to have some Anjos com Mariscos translating to rice and seafood. This is one of my favorite dishes in Portugal. The restaurant is called O Lagar da Della. Then it was time to get some rest because tomorrow we have a big day to explore Aveiro.
Morning Meetup
In the morning we met at a café for breakfast. Carlos is an amazing photographer and wanted to show me some of the photos he had taken of the Caretos during the Entrudo Festival, a UNESCO World Heritage. This is the original carnival here in Portugal that was happening thousands of years ago.
Praia de Costa Nova
Then we headed to visit Praia de Costa Nova. This beautiful beachfront village is known for its unique and very photogenic striped bright-colored houses known as palheiros which translates to haystacks. These houses were built for fishermen to rest and store their fishing gear but now they have become Airbnbs and vacation houses for the Portuguese in the summer.
A Taste of Madeira
We stopped at an awesome little local café that served traditional Madeira-style food which was delicious. I got to try the Bolo do Caco which is a special type of bread from Madeira with a veggie burger because I’m trying to be healthy, and I got to drink some poncha which was a delicious passion fruit drink with aguardente which is basically a very strong Portuguese brandy. After having lunch, we decided to walk around a little bit and see the sights. The striped colored houses aren’t just along the beach but are all through the entire neighborhood behind it as well. Carlos told me that a lot of people paint their houses to match their favorite football or soccer team, and then we ended up at a beautiful beach which I can imagine is absolutely wonderful in the summertime.
Sweet Temptations
Oh my God, these things called tripas, they’re like a mix between a waffle and a crepe, and you can stuff anything inside of them, savory or sweet, and they’re just dangerous. They are just dangerous.
Portugal’s Love for Codfish
Bacalhau: A Portuguese Obsession
If you’ve ever been to Portugal, you know that they are very obsessed with one type of food. It’s on the menu at almost every restaurant, they eat it for Christmas dinner, and there apparently is 1,001 ways to cook it. Today, we’re gonna find out why Portugal is so obsessed with bacalhau codfish. When you walk into almost every grocery store in Portugal, you might notice a strong pungent smell coming from the fish section. That is the dried and salted cod that to any foreigner not used to it might seem a bit odd. It looks like some sort of giant hanging bat or something.
Codfish in the U.S.
In the United States, codfish is definitely not as popular. I’ve only really had it in fried foods like fish and chips. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some awesome codfish and bacalhau in Portugal, but it is not something that I am obsessed with. And one of the strangest things is despite all of the wonderful seafood in the water off Portugal, codfish has never been one of them. Most of the cod in Portugal actually comes from Norway and Iceland.
History of Bacalhau
The history of bacalhau can actually be traced all the way back to the 14th century and the exploration era of the Portuguese when they discovered cod in Newfoundland, Canada. The dried and salted cod could be kept in the ship’s holds for years.
Visiting the Santo André
We got to visit the Santo André, which is a ship from the 1940s that could hold 2,000 tons of cod and operated in the North Atlantic during fishing season. Salted cod represented an incredibly nutritious and long-lasting food source aboard the ships during the Portuguese sea expeditions to the Americas and Asia. Of course, the same could have been done with smaller fish caught off the Portugal coast, but cod was much more attractive. Above all, the Portuguese simply adore the flavor of the fish after it has been cured with salt. But enough about codfish, let’s get back to Aveiro.
Sunset in Aveiro
Evening Boat Ride
Then before sunset, it was time to return to the city center to ride on one of the boats and see how Aveiro actually compares to Venice—or does it at all?
The Perverted Paintings
Who doesn’t love being out on a boat on a canal? There is just something so romantic and charming about it. But if you look at the back of the boat, you will notice some rather perverted paintings with mysterious Portuguese sayings. But what could they mean? On the back of this boat, for instance, there is a naughty pun that says “Que rica pá,” which translates to “How delicious little bird.” Could this be saying something about the bird or about “the bird”?
Aveiro’s Art Nouveau Architecture
The Dual Nature of Portuguese Culture
This is a good one, but the front of the boat is saved for a little bit more of a noble meaning. Usually, the front is for commemorating people or something more related to religion or saints. For example, this is good luck to the fishermen. You can see the lighthouse and that’s something that represents the goodbyes of the family of the men that go out to the sea. This dual characteristic is very much a part of Portuguese culture, balancing between the sacred and the profane. However, don’t be bummed when you come to Aveiro because the kinky puns have been tamed down quite a bit in the past several years.
A Living Museum of Art Nouveau
And this is some of my favorite architecture. Art Nouveau was very popular in Portugal in the early 1900s, and Aveiro has become a living museum of these buildings. These designs are so cool to me and it’s hard to miss them when you come to Aveiro because they are literally all over the city center. The thing with Art Nouveau is that at the beginning of the 20th century, Aveiro got an injection of new money from the industries around here. That’s also when we started to see these buildings being constructed, and there are many of them. So that’s why there’s this living museum in Aveiro. The buildings themselves are part of the museum, and you can walk around the city and visit the museum pieces, but they’re still being used. Many people live in these houses, and it’s really interesting because it’s the concept of a living museum that is true—it’s true because homes are homes for people.
Sweet Ending
Ovos Moles: A Unique Dessert
And when you’re in Aveiro, you have to try the ovos moles. That’s pretty much an egg and sugar cream. These soft little bites made from egg yolks and sugar in a small rice paper casing, which is somewhat similar to communion wafers, are pretty darn delicious. These things are very unique to me as I don’t think I’ve ever had a dessert quite like it. According to popular legend, these were made by nuns who used egg whites to clean their habits, while they used the egg yolks to make these sweets in order to raise money for their communities. They are very delicious, and if you want something unique to bring back from Aveiro, you can buy boxes of them and bring them on the plane with you back to the United States or wherever you’re coming from.
Aveiro’s Nightlife
A Bustling College Town
One of the things about Aveiro that I did not expect was that it is a college town. This little city, surprisingly, has quite the bustling nightlife. So after exploring the city, is Aveiro anything like Venice? Let’s ask local Aveiro native Carlos himself.
Aveiro vs. Venice: The Verdict
A Local’s Perspective
Okay, so there’s the thing that people tell you about—that Aveiro is the Venice of Portugal. It’s not true. It’s nothing like Venice. I mean, you can call it that—it’s like the poor people’s version of Venice. Don’t come here just because you’re expecting to be in a gondola. We did ride on the boat, but that’s about it. That’s about all the experience you’ll have similar to Venice. It has its own charm, but it’s not something that should be called the Venice of Portugal. You’re going to be disappointed. You should come to Aveiro because it’s a cool place to visit and it’s beautiful. It’s one of the most beautiful cities in the country, and it is an amazing day trip. It’s an amazing city to just walk around. It’s easy to get there by plane, train, automobile, or bike.
Conclusion
And you’re not going to be disappointed if you have an open mind and don’t compare it to Venice. You’ll just fall in love with everything Aveiro has to offer. My name is Ismail Siddiky, and if you want to see more blogs about Portugal, stay with me. We’ll see you next time. Thank you so much!
Lisbon Travel Guide: Tips and Tricks
If a trip to the beautiful city of Lisbon is on your radar, then we’ve most certainly got you covered here. We’ll be looking at navigating around the city, saving some time by skipping all those queues, getting the most from the local cuisine, choosing the best location for your hotel, and offering a bunch of suggestions for visiting the popular day trip to Sintra. I’ve ordered everything into chapters, so feel free to jump to the section that’s most useful for you. So, number one, let’s talk about the two best ways of getting around the city.
Getting Around Lisbon
VivaCard
There’s the VivaCard, which acts like a prepaid top-up travel pass, and the LisbonCard, which offers unlimited travel and includes many of the most popular attractions that you might be visiting.
You can purchase the VivaCard from the machines at the airport or subsequent stations for just 50 cents. Here, you can decide how many upfront journeys you want to pay for, or you can simply add a 24-hour pass. They can then be used on metros, buses, funiculars, trams, ferries, and some train routes. This is a great way to keep on top of your spending, and each journey works out at half price when compared to paying in cash. However, it may mean sometimes waiting in line for top-ups whenever you run out of your prepaid journeys. The only other downside I saw was the massive queue at the airport when everyone was trying to buy the card for the first time and top it up, but overall it’s usually the most affordable way to get around Lisbon.
LisbonCard
The other option is the LisbonCard, which is what we opted for. This can be used over a 24, 48, or 72-hour duration. It can be purchased before arrival and then activated at the airport, which, for us at least, had a much shorter line for pickup. The best thing about the ticket was the convenience of never having to think about topping up or even waiting to top up during our entire stay. It also included entry to Lisbon’s most popular attractions, which we were planning on visiting anyway, so it worked out cheaper than buying everything separately. I’ve linked the LisbonCard in the description below, and it should be appearing in the top right of your screen now.
Skipping Queues at Popular Attractions
Santa Justa Lift
One of Lisbon’s most popular and unique sights is the Santa Justa lift. While it might give you wonderful views of the city, I’m not so sure they’re worth the up to 45-minute wait time. So, I wanted to share a way to actually skip all of this. Simply search and follow the directions for Carmo Convent, which is a 5-minute walk from the lift, and you’ll end up here. This alleyway to the right-hand side will lead you onto the same viewing platform, but without wasting your time in the queue. I almost wanted to yell at everyone below to help them out, but I feared they would just assume I was insane. I did read online that you need to pay €1.50 to access the platform this way, but for us, that wasn’t the case, and everything was just totally open and free. It also has the bonus that if you still want to experience the lift, taking a trip down is a lot less crowded than taking it up when it leaves full at the bottom.
Tram 28
Another popular attraction is Tram 28, which allows you to experience the city as if you’ve been transported back in time. It’s certainly a unique journey, but here are a couple of tips that should make it a little smoother. The first is that it can get really busy, even in the shoulder month that we visited. A few times when it passed us by, it was standing room only, which at that point becomes less of an attraction and more about holding onto a handrail and trying not to fall over. So, the easiest way to avoid the crowds is to visit early in the morning or after 9 pm. This was 8 am, and it meant we had a mostly empty carriage, making it a much more relaxing, enjoyable trip than if we’d been in commuter mode. In terms of where to join the route, its best and therefore longest queues are at the first stop, which allows you to grab a window seat. Our hotel was only a 5-minute walk away, so it was a no-brainer to start here. But if you’re near the end of the line, I’ve read that it’s a much quieter journey going in the opposite direction, so it should be easier to get a seat from there. I’ve linked the official transport page in the description if you want to see every stop along the route, so you can see what’s best for you.
Choosing the Best Hotel Location
As for where to stay in Lisbon, most of my saved places on Google Maps were in Baixa Chiado, so anywhere between these points is going to be super central and walkable. Because of that, I ended up really loving the location of our hotel as it was central but still on a quiet street. It was a simple 30 minutes from the airport via the metro, a 5-minute walk from the Santa Justa lift where most of the shops and touristy places are. As mentioned, it was 5 minutes from Tram 28 and also Rossio Station, which is the main train line that takes you into Sintra, a popular day trip location. I’ve linked where we stayed in the card popping up now and in the description, which helps the channel if you book any hotel after visiting. Despite looking fancy, the hotel itself was somehow cheaper than the nearby ones, but overall it just had a really good polish to it. For example, the mirror here doubled as a TV. There was a plug inside the safe so you could charge your stuff while keeping it secure. The curtains were automatic, we had pretty fast Wi-Fi, and the door handles lit up green when you turned off the do-not-disturb sign. It was just a generally well-thought-out modern hotel, and we had zero complaints.
Suggested Duration of Stay
As for how much time to spend in Lisbon, we had 4 full days, which for us was about perfect, so that’s my personal suggestion. But we totally could have spent a week here, to be honest, as there were still quite a few day trips and places we didn’t get to visit. For visiting mainland Portugal itself, you could easily spend two weeks in this country, traveling north and south. As mentioned at the end of the Lisbon travel vlog, we next took a domestic flight to Madeira, which is a beautiful Portuguese island. That video will be shared here soon, so please keep an eye out for it once it’s ready. This combination of city break and island escape was a great pairing and something I’d suggest as an option when visiting.
Best Time to Visit Lisbon
Weather-wise, since it’s one of the southernmost cities in Europe, Lisbon’s average temperature fares pretty well year-round, but November to March are the wettest times to visit. April to September are great in general, but May, June, and September stand out as overall winners without it being too hot, rainy, or during peak season. We visited in October, and when the sun was out, it was a perfect temperature, but it did rain about a third of the time, which was in keeping with this chart that makes me feel vindicated.
Culinary Recommendations
Now, I covered a bunch of great food in the main travel vlog, so check that out for the complete list, but one of our favorite restaurants I didn’t show was De Prata 52. This is a Portuguese tapas-style eatery, and to give you a bit of flavor, we ordered the cottage cheese pastries with pumpkin, octopus risotto, goat meat croquettes with sweet chili sauce, which worked really well together, diced beef, and shrimps in coconut milk, with the sauce here being particularly amazing. We ended up reserving this restaurant a day or two in advance as we noticed they were booking up, but you could also wait for a table if it’s busy. We booked using The Fork app, which we found was how most restaurants had set up their online reservations. The app also seems to regularly offer discounts of up to 50%, so it’s worth keeping an eye on just for that.
While we’re on the subject of food, if you are in Belem, you simply have to eat at least one Pastel de Nata at the famous Pastéis de Belem. My main tip here is just to be aware that there are two queues on arrival. The instinct is to join the big line on the right-hand side, but this is actually just for takeaway. There’s also an entrance to the left, which surprisingly acts like a TARDIS in that it opens up and goes on for longer than you assume. The other popular Portuguese appetizer I wasn’t able to showcase in the main vlog was the Pastel de Bacalhau. This codfish cake, sprinkled with salt, mixed with eggs and parsley, and then surrounded by hot baked potato, was exactly to my taste. Especially when the particular chain that we visited adds a dollop of runny cheese into the mix, and then neatly serves it up with a glass of sweet port, another Portuguese staple, which as you can see here, I certainly enjoyed.
Overall Cost of Visiting Lisbon
In terms of the overall cost of visiting Lisbon, when compared to other similar European capitals, I found it to be average to below average in price. For example, transport was average or cheap to use. Attractions within Lisbon mostly range from 3 to 10 euros, and the city itself is lovely enough to just walk around and experience for free if you’re on a budget. For the evening meals, keep in mind that we went to the top-rated restaurants on Google Maps, and they ranged from 55 to 80 euros.
Day Trip to Sintra
The number one day trip from Lisbon is to the town of Sintra and its impressive Pena Palace. And yes, even though weather-wise we were let down a lot, I’d say Sintra is worth the trip when the sky behaves. Again, have a watch of the main travel vlog for what we got up to on the day. To get to this charming town, the easiest means is by train, specifically from Rossio station. The journey takes about 45 minutes and was again included with our LisbonCard. After pulling into Sintra station, you just need to take the 434 bus, which departs from just outside. The 434 runs in a circular route in one direction and takes about 20 minutes to get to Pena Palace. The buses run 4 times an hour, and you can buy your ticket on board. We bought the 24-hour bus pass for €11.50, which gave us unlimited travel on all local routes. There is also a return ticket for around 7 euros.
The first stop is the castle walk, and we spent about an hour here. From there, we returned to the bus to take us up to the palace, or we could have just walked about 10 minutes up the steady incline. Now, I would definitely recommend pre-booking your tickets for the palace. The queues here were crazy, but we literally just walked to the front of the entrance and had our tickets scanned. I’ll link the pre-booked tickets in the pop-up appearing now in the top right and in the description below to check them out if you’re interested. If you’re ever given the option to add a shuttle bus to skip the 30-minute walk from the entrance, definitely skip this option unless you have difficulties walking. The 30-minute walk wasn’t that steep and was easily done in 7 minutes, so it is quite the exaggeration. Everything here is time-slotted, so if you have the 12:30 ticket, you can join the line 30 minutes before, and then you’ll be in by about 12:30.
It was really busy when we were there. I’m not sure if it was extra crowded because it was literally at the peak time of day, or if that’s just what it’s like to get inside. Arriving for the opening at 9:30 or mid-afternoon seems to be less crowded, but please let me know how your experiences have gone as I’d be interested to hear. For us, though, the inside of the palace was certainly not the highlight, especially if the weather had been better outside. Maybe it’s because we live in a country with a bunch of palaces and castles already, and so the interior was a bit more of what we’ve seen already in England. So, if there is a massive wait and you’re not feeling up to it, I don’t think you’d be missing out on much if instead you spent all your time marveling at the beautiful exterior, views, and acres of surrounding parks. When the weather is good, that is where this place truly shines and stands out as unique.
Taking a guided tour here is another good option. Having someone delve into the history and detail of this place would have given us a much more valuable perspective. There’s also the convenience of being taken straight from one attraction to the next, instead of having to wait for all the buses. We only had time for the Castle Walk, the Palace, and then the main town of Sintra, which we absolutely loved walking around, by the way. But there are heaps of other attractions in the area that do seem worth the trip, and the guided tours allow for that with their efficiency. Again, I’ll link those tours in the description and the card popping up in the top right of your screen now.
