Aveiro west coast Portugal
Sometimes referred to as the "Venice of Portugal", the "Portuguese Venice" or the "Venice of the West". It is famous for it's university, the lagoon, a network of canals, brightly coloured boats called "molicieros", salt production, local food delicacies and some superb beaches in the surrounding area.
The boats used around Aveiro are called "molicieros" and unique to this area. Most of the boats are decorated with a scene depicting the life and stories of the fishermen in a humorous and sometimes slightly saucy way. The molicieros were used to collect seaweed which is used locally as fertilizer.
You may also find moliceiros for hire to tourists and for fishing purposes.
Aveiro has it's own food specialities, one of them is known as "ovos moles" (soft eggs) These are made from sweetened egg yolks and wrapped up in pastry.
As a city surrounded by water you will find plenty of fish on the menus of many resturants including Aveiro style eel stew and many varieties of fish soup.
Aveiro is an ancient city was a very important sea port on the mouth of the river Vouga. Unfortunately a severe storm in 1575 caused the mouth of the harbour to become silted up, effectively blocking the entrance and killing off the trades which relied on transportation by sea. Today tourism plays a large part in keeping the city alive
