The colourful traditional houses of Aveiro. Photo Arq/Tourism Portugal

Bernard O’Shea

Boats, Aveiro. Photo AFP

Aveiro doesn’t like being called the Venice of Portugal. Sure, it has canals, waterways, bridges and traditional boats called moliceiros that could easily pass for gondolas, and there are some buildings that look Venetian, but just don’t call it a Venice. Even the guide books say not to do it. So what happens? The moment I get there I say, “Geez, this place reminds me of Venice.” It just slipped out.

The comparisons with Venice don’t do it any harm, of course, but Aveiro prefers to call itself “the city of water and light”. It is an apt description. The city, up on the mid-north coast of Portugal, is on the eastern fringe of a lagoon that stretches about 50 kilometres to the north and south. The lagoon, known as the Ria de Aveiro, and the surrounding inlets, salt pans, beaches and dunes give it a shimmering luminescence. Bring your sunglasses.

I went to Aveiro partly out of curiosity – there is no place quite like it in Portugal – and partly because I had a hunch that it would make a great base from which to do some touring. I wanted somewhere that was grand enough to keep you amused when you needed amusement, yet easy to navigate and not so big as to be intimidating. A place worth exploring but where it would be pleasant to idle around and do nothing in particular when you felt like it. Aveiro did the job perfectly well; so well, in fact, that it almost makes you forget about going elsewhere. It’s the kind of place that makes you linger longer.

To understand what makes Aveiro so different, you have to know a bit of its peculiar history. It was once a thriving port, but in 1575 a huge storm silted up its estuary for more than 230 years. As a result, substantial geographical changes took place. The area became a swamp. Its population diminished rapidly, and it must have come as a great relief to the few remaining locals when finally, in 1808, a canal was cut to reconnect it to the sea.

By the beginning of the last century Aveiro had recovered sufficiently to become a fashionable coastal resort – splendid art nouveau mansions sprang up alongside the main canal – and to this day the beaches in the vicinity make it a drawcard. It is not particularly large – its population is about 65,000 plus another 15,000 or so on the fringes – but its university and some important local industries help it punch above its weight, and it was worthy enough to have been one of the host cities when Portugal staged the European soccer championships in 2004.

It is the canals and the moliceiros in particular that give Aveiro its individual character and Venetian flavour. Moliceiros are flat-bottomed craft with colourfully painted prows that are peculiar to the area. They were developed to collect moliço (seaweed) in the shallow lagoon for fertiliser, an important local industry that kept the place ticking over during its darker economic days. Today, though, the moliceiros are used more to give the tourists some friendly route canal treatment.

The hub of the city, as far as tourists are concerned, is the Praça Humberto Delgado, a large bridge-cum-roundabout over the main canal; the major roads of the city converge here and the quays for boat trips are alongside and underneath. The tourist office is on the northern wharf, at number 8, Rua João Mendonça. Here you can buy tickets for whatever boat trips take your fancy, be they one-hour excursions, lunch cruises or fishing trips, etc. The options vary depending on the season.

Aveiro is a very compact city and its major attractions are within a short radius of the Praça and easily explored on foot. The north bank, formerly the poorer fishermen’s quarter, is full of pleasant little pedestrian alleyways full of boutiques, souvenir shops, cosy cafes and some great restaurants, particularly near the fishmarket, which abuts a secondary canal.

A little bit further up the quay from the tourist office is a park, known as Rossio, where there are craft markets and, if you are lucky, you will get to see locals in traditional costume performing traditional dances.

The south bank was traditionally the abode of the more wealthy and it is here the major historical attractions – the cathedral, the Museum of Aveiro housed in the Convento do Jesus, the Misericordia church and the town hall – are to be found.

Also on the south bank, alongside the canal, is the main shopping centre, the Forum Aveiro, where there are cinemas and eating halls that offer some traditional Portuguese dishes as well as the usual commercial fare.

The nearest beaches to Aveiro are those to the immediate south of the harbour entrance, Barra and Costa Nova (you have to drive around most of the lagoon to get to the beaches north of the harbour). Barra beach is more lively, but the suburb is mainly of holiday apartments, whereas Costa Nova is more attractive and has a quaint village feel, thanks to its distinctive candy-striped houses. It is worth the drive just to see them.

There are some great day trips from Aveiro. The beautiful Bussaco forest and Portugual’s most prestigious university city, Coimbra, are just 70 kilometres to the south, and the UNESCO World Heritage monasteries at Alcobaça, Batalha and Tomar are barely 50 kilometres beyond, as is the famed religious site at Fatima.

If you are thinking of exploring Porto and the Douro river valley, 70 kilometres to the north, my advice is to park your car at Aveiro station and take the train. Not only will this save you the stress of navigating your way through some of the busy, narrow and hellishly steep streets of Porto, you will get to see two of the world’s most beautiful railway stations.

Porto’s São Bento station is rightly famed for the grand azulejos (painted tiles) depicting historic scenes and suchlike in its huge foyer, but I reckon the azulejos on the exterior of the whitewashed old railway terminal at Aveiro are just as memorable (a new terminal has been built underground next door).

Depicting typical scenes of life on the Ria – the humble workman collecting seaweed in his moliceiro, the fishermen bringing their haul onto the beach – they are a poignant reminder of what the regional folk had to endure. There are some fun and funky modern sculptures in the little square in front of the station, too.

Have a coffee at one of the tables in the square, looking down the gentle slope of the Avenida Dr Lourenço Peixinho towards the city, sample some of Portugal’s famed pastries, including the local specialty, ovos molhos (a very sweet egg-based concoction) and it will dawn on you that Aveiro is indeed no Venetian imitation; it’s a special place in its own right.

The Australian Financial Review