Another town I picked based on the The 26 Most Stunning Coastal Towns in Portugal posting was Aveiro, a coastal town known for its canal boats.
After a bit of an adventure trying to determine which tracks our connecting train would depart from, we made it into town. There, next to the depot in Aveiro, stood a building decorated with those beautiful Portuguese blue tile murals.
With a little help from Google, we found our hotel located down a nearby side street.
After checking in, we found a small pizza place across the street for dinner — yes, another pizza in Portugal.
The next morning, we headed for the boats.
A number of different companies operate along the canals, with all charging about the same prices. We pretty much took the last one we found, bought tickets and hopped aboard for a one-hour cruise.
Unlike the gondolas of Venice, Aveiro’s canal boats hold more than a dozen people and they’re motor powered.
We sailed down canals in the older areas of town…
…cruised under arched walkway bridges…
…and into the modern area of Aveiro…
…where the foot bridge railings…
…were draped with love ribbons.
Other bridges displayed interesting artwork.
We stopped for lunch at a canal-side restaurant…
…where we discovered that our waitress was from the Cape Verde Islands. She was shocked to learn that I not only knew where those islands were located (off the coast of central Africa) and that I had actually visited there years ago.
Carefully following directions…
…we walked around town, passing old buildings that once served as salt warehouses…
…and nearby, a conveniently unlocked construction site sani-hut.
We wandered past outdoor art…
…and more outdoor art.
In the end, we passed by a small shop…
…where we learned that we were exactly where we needed to be.
We celebrated that truth that evening with glasses of 10-year-old tawny port at our hotel that night.
