Aveiro and Costa Nova—a day trip

The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm until Wednesday night [it was 75F (23C) today] when we might have some rain. So today we took the intercity train to Aveiro, a town that dates back to the Roman era and is famous for salt production, seaweed/kelp fertilizer, ceramics, and its canals.

We start our days at Cristal Pasteleria where we're regulars.
Diana, who waits on us, speaks excellent English and knows
our usual coffee and croissant order.

Aveiro is the so-called Venice of Portugal, and along its three canals you can ride in an authentic (although motorized now) brightly painted gondola-like flat bottomed boat that, in the day, was sail-powered and used to collect seaweed that was then used as organic fertilizer throughout the region. We skipped the barcos moliceiros (traditional boat) ride and walked the Old Town, enjoying some the narrow streets and old homes and buildings (14th-18th century) mixed in with some art nouveau buildings before taking a 40 minute bus ride out to Costa Nova, famous for its candy-stripped beach houses and amazing beaches. Nearby the 203 foot Praia da Barra (or Aveiro) Lighthouse (1893), the third tallest in Europe, is pretty darned spectacular.

This is Diana, our new best friend. She works at Cristal and
served us nearly every day. She asked us where we were from,
and when we told her Seattle, Diana said she loves Grey's
Anatomy and hoped someday to visit Seattle, so we invited
her to come stay with us, exchanging emails so we can stay
in touch.

Costa Nova reminded us of a larger version of Seaside Oregon. We're glad we visited, but I wouldn't make it a destination. Aveiro's Old Town is cute but once you've walked Porto, the Alfama district in Lisbon, or better yet, Barcelona's Gothic Quarter—you've seen what I think is the best of medieval villages. And the beaches along the Atlantic are stunning, but no more so than Il de Re's—the island we visited off La Rochelle. That said, here are some pictures of today's outing.

The mile or so walk from the train station into the heart of
Aveiro has these tile decorations on its sidewalks.

Kind of looks like Venice from this angle.

Our Lady of the Presentation is a 17th century
church but it's bell tower is 16th. We couldn't
get inside. 

Our Lady of the Presentation bell tower.

Traditional homes immaculately preserved.

Love how this modern home fit right in with
the traditional row houses.

A modern bridge built over a canal that leads to the salt marsh.
It was built to look Venetian. Still a nice pedestrian crossing.

This more modern design crosses the canal and connects
pedestrians to the large car park just outside the Old Town.

Town Hall (1797).

From down the street.

The Church of Mercy (1612) was
tiled on the interior and exterior
in the first half of the 18th century. 

It's an impressive chapel.

All the interior walls are tiled.

Costa Nova famed candy-stripped cottages.

On the way to the beach.

Praia da Barra Lighthouse, all 203 feet of it from a 1/4 mile away.

And back in Porto via the Intercity Train.

This street art is across from Cristal
Pasteleria. I've missed it the last
two mornings, because it's the
door to a green grocer and this
morning we were up and out for
coffee and croissants before he
opened for the day.

If you enlarge this, you'll see that the brains of this Ocelot (?)
and woman are connected. Love the commentary about the
animal in us. Gotta keep your eyes peeled for these gems.

Somehow on our 9 hour excursion we managed to walk a little over 8 miles today even though the train trip to and from Aveiro was an hour each way and the bus to Costa Nova was an additional 80 minutes round trip. How did that happen?