Our last stay in Portugal was in Aveiro, a university town and ancient seaport south of Porto. Today it is known as "The Portuguese Venice", due to its system of canals and boats similar to the Italian city of Venice. The boats are called "moliceiro" and they were once used for harvesting seaweed. For 6 Euros you can take a very interesting 45 minute canal tour. During our stay here, we explored the nooks and crannies of Aveiro and sought out a "lavanderia." We now have freshly laundered clothing, a huge improvement over sink washed clothes. We spent a couple of days visiting the beaches of neighbouring coastal communities, Costa Nova and Barra (on the Sao Jacinto peninsula). If you take the bus early enough in the morning, you find yourself surrounded by locals who are returning from the market with their produce and a staple here, fresh fish. Costa Nova is known for its striped fishing huts which now serve as beach homes and cafes. Barra is home to the largest Portuguese lighthouse, which is also the 26th largest in the world. Both areas are bursting at the seams with vacationers of all sorts.
In our attempts to experience the " real places we go," in this case Portugal, there are always missed opportunities. We stumbled upon a tiny store called "rializacoes" selling, of all things, salt. Salt harvested from the sea. In talking to one of the owners we discovered that salt harvesting in the Aveiro region dates back to ancient times and of the 253 salt pans that existed in the mid 20th century, only 8 still remain. One of them is Puxadairos island and it belongs to this family. We tried to take a tour, but low attendance due to a lack of advertising and a lack of time on our part, made it impossible. We were quite disappointed, but we would encourage anyone in the area to take advantage of this authentic Portuguese experience before it disappears.
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