Aveiro, Viseu, Porto and the Douro Valley

As the Algarve starts to fill up with tourists in July, we decided to join in (be tourists that is). An aim is to hopefully find some cooler weather. The real impetus for the trip was Mark’s immigration appointment. Our appointments were assigned when we were given our visas, and they happen to be almost 3 months apart. We are really hoping they take me along with Mark at his. His appointment is in Viseu. A town a very long day’s driving from our home. So we are making a ten day trip out of it. As is our habit, we are mixing tourist destinations, while also checking out areas where we may want to live. This trip encompasses Aveiro, Viseu, Oporto and the Douro Valley. 

Aveiro

First stop Aviero. First impression is a very pretty Portuguese style train station. What makes it Portuguese style? Murals in blue tile. 

Aveiro is known as Portugal’s Venice. Because it has canals of course. But Venice it is not. The canals are few, short and really not that pretty. Entrepreneurs offer gondola rides. But not the romantic couples lounging on small low-slung boats propelled by poles Venice sports. These are boats holding about 40 passengers, powered by motors motoring along in the full sun. They are traditional Moliceiro boats painted in bright colors; originally used for moving merchandise. 

Every village or town in Portugal seems to have its own confection. The lineage of these geographical sweets comes from the fact that they were originally the mainstay of convents. Each convent would have its signature sweet or cookie that they would make tirelessly and sell to support themselves. Egg yolk is a prominent confection ingredient in Portugal, Spain and western europe. Why is egg yolk such a prominence? Because they had a lot of it. The nuns used egg whites to starch their habits; yolks were a byproduct.

Here in Aveiro, it is Ovos Moles de Aveiro. A confection made in different shapes, often a shell or a barrel, or boats. It is a sweet with a shell like a rice paper casing and a bright yellow filling, made from and resembling sweetened egg yolk. 

Fact or Fiction. There is a church in Aveiro where the patron was said to grant miracles. In exchange for these “fixes” the grantee was obligated not to say prayers or Hail Mary’s, but a required number of “cavacas” he needed to bring to the church on Festas de São Gonçalinho (the weekend around January 10). Cavacas are a confection shaped like a shallow bowl about 4-6” in diameter, and covered in an egg white icing that hardens. So on this weekend, thousands of cavacas are brought to the chapel… and tossed off the bell tower. People try to collect the cavacas with nets or upside down umbrellas. Sounds like a hoot. This story was told to us by a tour guide and those guys are known to make things up. So you’ll have to come here on the weekend nearest January 10th to know for sure. 

We found Aveiro to be a nice blend of historical charm and livability. There is a university, quiet when we were there, nice park area and it is clean as a whistle. It is supposed to have the most temperate climate in Portugal: warmer in the cool months, cooler in the summer. It was hot when we were there, just saying. Although we made this trip at a very inopportune time, it turned out.

Viseu

The site of Mark’s immigration meeting. We planned our stay at a spa hotel, bit of a splurge, hoping that we would be celebrating both getting our residence. No celebration would be had. They would not take my information along with Mark’s. So he is a legal resident of Portugal, I am not. And Viseu..it may be a lovely town, but it is steep. And Hot. And I was not in the most forgiving of moods. Thank heaven for the spa hotel. It really was nice, and perched on top of this steep city, looking down on the view. Our veranda at the top of the hotel was a nice perch to watch ….nothing happening. 

We partook in one tourist must-do while in Viseu. Mark tried a Francesinha. They call it a sandwich, I say heart attack on a plate. They are originally from Porto, but we tried it first here. It is a sandwich on thick bread, stuffed with all variety of cured meats and sausages. Then the whole thing smothered in melted cheese, a fried egg and beer sauce. We only needed the one.

One day we ventured out into the heat. Down a hill and up the next one, to visit the cathedral. We could see this cathedral from our hotel on the opposite hill and it looked worth a visit. Portugal’s version of church art may not surprise: it is usually blue tile. The inside of the cathedral was a cool respite from the hot July weather, so we lingered. Found a bench on a terrace at the top and enjoyed the view of the valleys around. When it was time to go, we found there was a wedding in between us and the door. The entire nave was full of wedding invitees. Knowing this may be a lengthy service, we fretted a bit, but decided to stay, we had the best seat in the house on a balcony opposite the altar.

So it was our first Portuguese Catholic wedding. Turns out they are very similar to our own. Except with the backdrop of a centuries old stone chapel. A single singer offered up the most beautiful rendition of Ave Maria, Either she was incredibly talented, or the acoustics are phenomenal; or most likely both. I turned on video to capture the sound. Video is rubbish, I was standing next to a pillar, but turn on the volume, you will not be disappointed. 

Next stop Oporto

Oporto (Porto in English) is supposed to be a lot like San Francisco, an area that gets dense fog and is usually 10 degrees (F) cooler than anywhere else around. Not so when we arrived. It was clear, and hot. Our first apartment was a bit outside of the tourist track, just a bit of walking. Lovely airB&B with lovely management that were so helpful. They even provide cell phones to their guests with local SIMS. Link to the manager. We would stay in one of her apartments again. 

Oporto is a fine tourist destination, but probably a decent place to live as well. We saw lots of locals out enjoying what the city has to offer as much as the tourists. 

This city is known as the home of Port, a fortified (aka more alcohol) wine, usually on the sweet side. It can be white, tawny, rose or red. Interesting fact, the port is grown up the Douro river, casks brought down to the other side of the river (a city called Vila Nova de Gaia). Port is not made or stored in Oporto at all. However, this Gaia is reachable by foot over a bridge where one can visit port storerooms and tasting experience beyond your alcohol tolerance. We found a lovely rooftop bar at Porto Cruz; one of the nicest rooftop bar experiences and best place to see the sun set in Porto. 

Porto has a rich history and many beautiful sights including another blue tile railroad station (São Bento), and supposedly the most beautiful bookstore in the world, Livraria Lello. Harry Potter fame. It requires a ticket €5.00 to get in. After waiting in line for the ticket, it is another long wait to get in. Very crowded, so we passed. There is another ticket option, more euros, but you get to skip the line and get some money back if you buy a book. Seems they are not selling enough books. 

Douro Valley

We took a few days out of our trip to visit Douro Valley for some wine tasting. Original plan was to take a boat up river. Due to the heat we opted to take a train instead. Likely the boat would be crowded and we would be sitting in the sun the whole way. The train ran right along the water, so we saw everything we would have from the boat. Out of the sun and at a fraction of the cost. We arrived at our Hotel in Régua in the afternoon. Turned out to be the hottest place in Portugal on that day since records have been kept. Wine tasting in this heat was going to be a chore. But we persevered. Visited on foot two wineries, one on each side of the river.

Our hotel had a gorgeous view from our balcony of the river and vineyards across, The evening and next morning we lost to the serene setting. The next day we again opted out of the boat transport and took the train to the next town up, Pinhão. Next time we go to Douro we will stay there, it is quainter and probably closer to more winery options. We had a wonderful tasting at Quinta da Foz. Still in unbearable heat and smoky from the fires burning all over Portugal

Home to the Algarve

We returned to Porto by train for a night in the city and a longer journey back to the Algarve the next day. This entire distance, most of the length of Portugal, we could smell and usually see smoke from the hundreds of fires burning at the time. Portugal fires are no joke. We got home to news that one of our friends’ homes had suffered damage from a fire in the Algarve; Algarve is usually safe from these runaway fires, but not this year.