Aveiro

We were up relatively early and out the door just before 9am. We walked down to the Coimbra train station to buy our tickets to Aveiro for the day. Aveiro is about an hour away by train, and is closer to the coast. It is situated on the edge of the Ria, a shallow coastal lagoon which is rich in bird life. When we got to the station Ian realised he had left his glasses at home so, after we got our tickets for the 10.05 to Aveiro, we walked back to the apartment to grab his specs and a light jacket for me, as it was a bit on the chilly side. We made it back to the station with time to spare, and also clocked up some additional steps. The train was an inter regional one, and so we had many stops on the way in small little towns. There was a conductor on board who checked our tickets, and then at each stop he wandered through the carriages only asking the new people on the train for their tickets. Not sure how he remembered everyone, but he seemed to be on the ball.

We finally arrived in Aveiro and made our way to the city centre, about 15 minute walk. We found one of the canals, and followed that to the centre. We decided to walk around the colourful and narrow streets before we went on a boat ride along the canals. It had been quite overcast and foggy in Coimbra, and was still quite grey when we arrived in Aveiro, but by the time we got to the town centre the sun had broken through, and we had beautiful blue skies.

After exploring the streets for a while, we took a moliceiro for a trip to the lagoon and along the canals. These boats traditionally were used for harvesting seaweed (dried and used as fertiliser), but now most have been converted to take tourists along the canals and lagoon. The boat ride was quite enjoyable and, when we got back, we headed to a restaurant we had passed earlier for a late lunch, before walking back to the station to catch the train back to Coimbra.Read more